On the east coast of Phuket, in Southern Thailand is a world renowned restaurant and cooking school known as the The Boathouse Restaurant and Culinary Workshop. It has been attracting students from all over the world for 15 years and is not a bad way of spending a couple of days if you can pull yourself away form the beaches and bars. The restaurant itself actually prepares contemporary Thai cuisine and draws upon many regions of Thailand and other parts of the world to create its unique selection. Contrary to most popular belief in the western world Thai food prepared in Thailand varies considerably; the only thing in common across the various regions of Thailand is that all food is chock full of flavor. As much as I love Thai Curries I have to say my favorite food is southern Thai food which mainly consists of seafood, many stir fries and soups (hmm Tom Yum Goong for breakfast), as opposed to the northern Thai food where the Thai curries are more common. In fact I find many of the traditionally prepared curried in northern Thailand almost inedible, the quantities of Thai Basil, Coriander and mini eggplants (which I don't think are a true eggplant at all) are just too much for my pallet to endure, and I grew up in South East Asia and am very accustom to the flavors. 

Gulai roughly translates to sauce or curry; however the word "kari" which is a direct translation seems to be more regularly applied to the Malay Indian style of curry. Ayam translates to chicken therefore today's dish is chicken curry or chicken in gravy.

Very few foods found in Malaysia have not undergone some sort of cultural fusion, be that from the Chinese, Indians, British or Thai's from the north. This has  made for one of the most highly under-rated cuisines on the planet, and a plethora of fusion foods. (see Malay Cuisine) Outside the metropolitan regions of Malaysia and Indonesia a specific type of Kari Ayam is regularly served. This dish is always cooked with coconut milk, however not as creamy as the Thai curries, plenty of spice though not as intense as an Indian curry and almost always made from very very fresh chicken. By that I mean the cook is often seen wandering around with a parang (machette) in his hand shortly before preparation commences.  The dish is very similar in both Indonesia and Malaysia, however as most often is the case the Malay version is tastier as a result of the higher quality and more ready and wider range of available ingredients. I am sure there are tens of millions of Indonesians out there that would swear the kari ayam cooked in there province or region is far superior than anywhere else much the same as "my grandmother cooks the best chicken soup".

With a non meat eating sister in law up this week we jumped on the opportunity to cook up some seafood, prawns are my favorite however mother hates them and the trawlers down the Gold Coast had a god awful catch, so fish it is. I also felt I had to put something a bit more mainstream after the Padang of last week. So here we have it Goan Fish Curry, from Goa in South India. Goa seems to be to the Europeans and Isrealies what Koh Samui and Bali are to Australians. A tropical beach side cultural playground. It was in Goa that I was first introduced to Indian Chinese food (Indians cook spring rolls better than anyone else) one day I am going to have to learn how to  cook Chinese food the Indian way, though not today, today is Fish curry. Food from Goa often has a hefty serve of Portuguese influence as it used to be a Portugese outpost back in the 16th Century, so you will often see tomatos used in the curries, as this one does. Goa is actually famous for Vindaloo and pork curries which are rare in India, however these are typically celebratory dishes, its the fish curry that is the key staple in Goa, hence a great place to start.

Last Updated (Saturday, 03 October 2009 11:34)

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