The Andaman Coast

The Andaman coast is the western shore of the Thai peninsula, running south from Ranong through Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi and Trang to Satun on the Malaysian border, and facing the Andaman Sea rather than the Gulf of Thailand. It belongs to the culinary south described in David Thompson's Thai Food, where the cooking is hotter, more pungent and more reliant on turmeric and fresh spice than that of the central plain.

The coast is a country of mangrove estuaries, limestone islands, sheltered bays and open water, and its table is built on what comes out of them: fish, prawns, crabs, squid and shellfish eaten very fresh. Thompson places the southern kitchen apart from the rest of the kingdom, and the distinction is plain in the pot. Where the central plain tempers its curries with sweetness and the coconut cream is rich and gentle, the south pounds its pastes with fresh turmeric Curcuma longa, fresh chillies and dried spices, and leaves them sharp, yellow and assertive. The southern curry is the clearest expression of this. A kaeng, or curry, of the region is often built on a paste heavy with turmeric and shrimp paste, kapi, and is made to be eaten with plenty of rice because it is pungent and salty enough to be a sauce for it. Seafood suits such a paste, since the turmeric and the spice answer the strong smell of fish and shellfish, and the heat is set to carry against a rich, oily catch. Sour preparations are equally characteristic, and tamarind and other souring agents give the region's gravies and relishes an acidity that cuts through the richness of the sea. The cooking of the coast also reflects the people who have lived on it. Thai Buddhists, Thai Muslims and communities of Chinese descent share the peninsula, and Thompson's account of the south acknowledges the Muslim influence on its curries and its use of dry spices. The trade routes that crossed the peninsula between the Andaman Sea and the Gulf brought merchants and their tastes, and the cumin, coriander seed and pepper that appear in southern pastes are part of that inheritance. The result is a cuisine in which fresh aromatics and dry spices are used together, which is uncommon elsewhere in Thailand. For the cook, the lesson of the coast is one of proportion and freshness. The seafood is cooked simply, grilled, steamed or simmered briefly, and the weight of the dish falls on the paste or the dipping sauce that accompanies it. Raw vegetables, bitter leaves and pickles are set beside the rice to temper the heat. The Andaman table asks for fish of good condition and a paste pounded fine and fried until its oil separates, and it gives back a flavour that is unmistakably southern.

The flavour of the Andaman coast is pungent, hot and sour, with fresh turmeric giving a bitter, earthy note and shrimp paste a deep saltiness. Dishes are eaten with abundant rice, and raw vegetables, bitter leaves and pickles are served alongside to relieve the heat and the richness of the seafood.