Mangoes, Sticky Rice and Constitutional Monarchies
December 10th, 2008
Mango & Sticky Rice Cart
Bangkok, Thailand – Thailand seems to have a lot of holidays. Depending on where you work, you could have up to 15 days off. Friday was the king’s birthday, which meant I got to go to the beach with friends eager to take advantage of the long weekend. Today was Constitution Day, commemorating the constitutional monarchy established in 1932 and not to be confused with the 1991, 1997 or 2006 constitutions. It also meant that I got to spend a stunningly lazy afternoon (even for me) poolside with a group of friends on the rooftop of a friend’s apartment building. After constitution revelers had their fill of beer, swimming and talk of this week’s banned Economist, we headed back down to Bangkok’s noisy streets and on to Thong Lo, otherwise known as Sukhumvit Soi 38, which is famous for the street stalls that set up in the early evening and stay open past midnight.
A group of seven, we ordered nibbles of this and nibbles of that from various carts. First came the nam tok muu, barbecued pork tossed in a dressing of chilies, shallots, fish sauce and lime juice, which was less spicy than my tablemates had hoped for. Perhaps we got the farang (foreigner) version one girl puzzled aloud. No matter, more food was on its way. My only individual dish was a mild egg noodle soup with roast duck that I propped up with the standard table condiments of chile flakes, sugar, fish sauce and chile vinegar. Hawy thawt, oysters fried in an egg batter, arrived. This dish, I’m told, started out as a Chinese dish of mussels fried in egg batter, but when Thais adopted it, they gussied up the original by making it with oysters. This version was crispy, but seemed to skimp on the oysters.
After all was said and done, it was time to order khiaw niew manmuang, mango with sticky rice and coconut milk, for which a few of my friends know Thong Lo. This was certainly the best dish of the night. Even though one observant eater made a connection between the coconut cream pooling on top and certain intimate results, we still dug in. Loose and creamy rice topped with crunchy nut bits and flanked by a silky soft, perfectly ripe mango, it was one sexy dessert. Perhaps she was right.
Barbecue Pork (Nam Tok Mu)
Roast Duck Soup
Oysters Fried in Egg Batter (Hawy Thawt)
Mango & Sticky Rice with Coconut Milk (Khiaw Niew Manmuang)
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