Ethnic Food Guide - Part Two

By: Deepti Dhir and Eve Solomon

This month Athena brings Japanese and Thai to our ethnic food series.
After satisfying your Chinese and Indian palettes, we now help you to
explore the regions of Thailand and Japan in all their flavorful glory. Bon
Appétit!

Thai
Don’t confuse Thai food with your Saturday night paper-plate take-out
dinner. Thai food is in a class all by itself. Curries and sauces containing
ingredients such as basil, coconut milk, chili peppers and lime form the
base of this food.

Gart Guygaew jointly owns Suvarnabhumi Kiri, a restaurant serving a mix
of Thai, Cambodian and Sushi in Allston, Massachusetts. He recommends,
in addition to red curry and stir-fry basil, a Thai salad for first time eaters of
Thai food. A possible salad might contain grilled shrimp or beef mixed in
with ingredients such as mint leaves, garlic, fish sauce, chili pepper and
limejuice. If you are not in the mood for the much-adored pad thai noodles,
Guygaew sees foods such as basil fried rice and drunken noodles receiving
growing applause.

“I learned from my mother’s cooking that you should have at least three or
four tastes in one dish. There should be a balance, for example, of salt,
sweetness and sourness,” says Guygaew, a native of Bangkok, Thailand,
“What makes Thai food unique is the harmony in tastes.”

For those who want a more authentic Thai experience, Guygaew suggests
salmon with wild ginger, an entrée made with Asian tomatoes, wild ginger,
crushed chili pepper, lime leaves and peppercorn. Many Thai dishes can be
interchanged between chicken, beef, shrimp, tofu or vegetables, allowing
you to savor your favorite entrée many times over without getting bored.
As far as spiciness goes, take note of the little chili peppers or stars near
each of the entrées and make sure to inform the waiter of your preference.
If you miscalculate, feeling a burning tongue and an increasingly inedible
dinner, do not dismay. I discovered a little secret: If you politely tell your
waiter that you were hoping for a milder dish, in just a few minutes, you
may find a newly revised version of your half-eaten basil chicken making its
way to your table!

Japanese Food
Nobody ever says: “Let’s go out for Japanese
food tonight”—instead, it is always, “lets go
out for Sushi.” However, most Sushi restaur-
ants serve a variety of other types of Japanese
food. And in Japan, the food is certainly not
limited to Sushi. The cities are filled with
restaurants specializing in all of the different
Japanese foods found in the United States on
the same menu. For example, one restaurant
will only serve tempura, lightly fried
vegetables, fish and meat, while the next will
serve tepinyaki, a style of cooking where the
chef fries rice, veggies, and meat on a hot grill
in the middle of the restaurant.

The owner of Hamasei restaurant in Rome suggested that “beginners stick
to sushi, tempura, and sashimi—these are the most simple.” Maguro, tuna,
sake, salmon, and hamachi, yellowtail, are the most simple and also the
most common types of sushi, which is fish on top of rice. For the fish
without the rice, go for sashimi; and for a combination of flavors, order a
roll. Vegetarians don’t have to miss out either: she suggested the sweet
potato tempura roll for those avoiding fish. In addition many Japanese
restaurants make their own tofu, which is served either hot or cold wish soy
sauce, and seaweed salad or algae salad are typical Japanese dishes.
However, her favorite dish at Hamasei is soba noodles, which she prefers
hot in broth, but they also come cold, dipped in soy sauce.

Hamasei’s owner explained that the food at her restaurant “is very similar
to that in Japan, very authentic, but in Japan you don’t find all of these
foods together.” She has found finding the ingredients necessary for the
dishes extremely easy, and couldn’t think of anything that she had trouble
finding in Italy. “I’ve even seen Italian Tuna in the market in Japan—and of
course there is Japanese fish here in Italy.”

We hope that our food guide gives readers the opportunity to invite a
variety of tastes, cultures and ethnicities into their lives. If your taste buds
are not done relishing in all the exotic entrée options, you can now use your
newly acquired ordering skills to keep those delicious meals coming your
way!