Village Food in Thailand - SHRIMP CURRY and FORAGED VEGETABLES in Trat, Thailand!

- Good morning, I hope you are having an incredible day. I'm Mark Wiens, I'm in Trat, Thailand, and this is day four of our

food

and sightseeing tour of the eastern provinces of Thailand. Today I have a very special day for you. We are on our way to Baan Huai Raeng, which is a community in the Trat forests, and they are going to cook us some local, very seasonal dishes, using some of the local ingredients from this area. I'm not sure what they are going to cook for us, but I know it will be delicious and I will share it all with you in this video right now. (engaging music) It was about a 25 minute drive to get here from the center of Trat Town and we are at Wat Plai Klong which is a temple where someone from the community is about to pick us up and then we will go.

They started cooking and eating, they should be here any minute. (upbeat tropical music) They came to pick us up. We're following them to town now. (upbeat tropical music) Okay and here we are. Wow, this place, this place is beautiful. (conversing in foreign language) - Many friendly dogs, we have met with the family; This is where we are going to cook, this is where we are going to eat, it is delicious. They are fruit trees; It's exuberant. Wow, this house is absolutely gorgeous. You must love that doormat: an old pair of jeans, but you walk onto this platform, it's elevated, it's a huge community platform, it's traditional Trat style, and it's beautiful.

I mean you have the breeze of the outdoors; You have this whole section of the community here. I think the kitchen is back there and then on this side you have more of a section of the room where you can sleep, and they have mosquito nets there too. I already love it. (speaking in a foreign language) (scraping the pan) (upbeat tropical music) (speaking in a foreign language) - Actually, it will be very, it's not just fried rice, it will be combined with a bunch of ingredients and wrapped in some time . of leaf wrapper but also a banana leaf, so let's go find a banana leaf as well. (adventurous music) Oh, this is a tropical paradise, there are durian trees, bananas, mangosteen, rambutan, and it's not season yet, so you can see a little bit of land;

Oh, an ant just bit me. Oh yeah, look at that ant. (tapping feet) (speaks foreign language) - You remember the dish called chamuang, which in English is called cowa garcinia. Oh, the ants are biting me. Cowa garcinia leaves, this is the tree here, these are the leaves; I know it is a type of evergreen tree, but it is very commonly eaten in this region of eastern Thailand. They literally have everything you need for a Trat Thai feast inside their garden, inside this jungle, it's beautiful, absolutely beautiful. (upbeat tropical music) What's your real name? (speaks foreign language) - It's like a small bag, (speaks foreign language), and that is the official name of it; so he took some of the fried rice stir-fried with that numb pork and then added all the ingredients components, specifically quite a bit of pineapple, a cucumber, a salted egg, a handful of cashews and fried fish.

And all of that is wrapped first in a banana leaf and then in that extra giant leaf, and she shapes it into a pear, that's it, that's great. (Utensils rattle) - Michael, can you show your loot? It's like a small lunch box that contains everything you need for a full meal wrapped in that one sheet. Another thing that is great, and that I didn't know from the beginning, is that it is a spoon, completely natural, and that she includes in this package. And even this thread, this is all natural, this is made of the same sheath, the greater sheath.

It's absolutely beautiful. One little package, the spoon is particularly cool, this is what I'm most excited to use. I'm going to grab a little bit of that salted egg. I'm going to eat some of that pineapple, that fish and, oh, I have a cashew, I have to put a cashew in this bite too. Pick some up and there's also a purple sweet potato in the rice, what a mouthful! (speaking foreign language) - Oh, that's delicious. I mean, the rice has a little bit of a

shrimp

paste flavor, I think there's a little bit of

shrimp

paste in that nam phrik, and then you have the starchy sweet potato chunks; you have that sweet balance of tart pineapple and then the crispy fish, that's amazing.

It's like a relaxing mix. (speaking in foreign language) - It's really incredibly good. Yes, it's a great harmony of ingredients and so many different things happen. (speaks a foreign language)-She's getting me started immediately on the next dish and she's making a

curry

with this fruit called kradom, and if I had to guess, she's never seen it before in Thailand, she's never seen it. before in my life, but if I had to guess it looks pretty bitter, with little green fruits like that, but the first step is that I could be totally wrong, the first step is that she added a little salt and just mixed that and Then they are going to cook it with shrimp. (pan rushes) Back in the kitchen, they're squeezing coconut milk by hand and you know that's going to be what raises the bar, the fresh coconut milk that makes all the difference. (speaking in foreign language) (upbeat tropical music) - While the

curry

was cooking, we went out to search for a seasonal ingredient along the water's edges.

Now we get on a boat to look for an ingredient; It's a leaf, I'm not totally sure what it is, I've never had it before, let's get the leaf; We'll bring it back, they'll prepare one more dish, and then we'll eat. I can't wait to try that other shrimp curry and then the other dish she's going to make. (Leaves rustling) So the house is actually right next to a river. (conversing in a foreign language) (engine revs) (upbeat tropical music) -And she again told me that this was brackish water and that is why the fruit and ingredients from this area are so good;

They say that due to the brackish water the mangoes are extremely sweet. (engaging music) (speaks foreign language) - And this is the type of leaf, I think it's actually a vine, it's the red vine, it has a red color. It looks like it's a little tangled with some bamboo and that's what we're going to get. (leaves rustle) Wow, the whole vine. (speaks foreign language)-she has plucked that vine, which is direct fodder for leaves, vines, from the jungle for the dish she is going to prepare. (upbeat tropical music) (foreign language spoken) - Now we are back at the house, with that leaf, with that vine, they are going to make gaeng som, which is a sour curry.

Gaeng som from Son Don. - While the menu is being prepared we take another break to eat another previous meal. This time, a royal Thai dish called Kanom Jeen Sao Nam Uncle had prepared it himself for the family and we were honored to be there for the occasion. - It was a surprise. He didn't even know they were making this dish, but it's called Kanom Jeen Sao Nam, and it's a very old traditional Thai dish, very hard to find, but it's a summer dish in the warm weather. eat with the khao kan chin, which is the soft rice noodles and you have all the different components, with the curry, yeah, it's fantastic, and we're all sitting down to eat it right now. (plates are scraped) (speaks foreign language) - There are so many ingredients.

This is an exciting dish to eat. (uptempo music) - Pineapple? - Yes. - Is this ginger? - Yes. - Raw garlic. (people chat in a foreign language) - I have all the components and now it's time to add the actual curry with the fish balls here. I'll add it to the side there. (the woman speaks a foreign language) - The fish balls are fresh and very spongy; Oh, garlic and ginger too. I need a little bit of all this. (conversing in a foreign language) - Oh wow. (speaking in foreign language) -And the uncle is telling us that he made this special, very special, it was not planned at all.

The sum of all the ingredients together that make it spectacular; you have the coconut milk with the fish balls, you have what I like is the ginger and garlic, but combined with that salty fish sauce and then the sweet pineapple. What a contrast! What a delicious mixture in the mouth and this is actually a traditional Thai dish from the Royal Palace. (speaks foreign language) - So can I get half? - Yes. - Okay, it's very good, I need a little more, a little more. (speaking in foreign language) - There's no way you won't have a refill on this.

The complete sum of the ingredients, but these fish balls stand out, they are impressive, that elastic texture, totally natural, all fish, you just mash it with salt, he said, and mash it with your hand, the fish balls; That's why they're all random shapes and sizes, and those are some of the fish balls you'll ever own. It's amazing and I really don't know what we're doing; The day has changed, we are just walking around eating and I enjoy every moment. (upbeat tropical music) (foreign language speaking) (pot hums)-At first I can see that he added the chili paste, added some additional chilies and then just added some sour tamarind. (speaking in foreign language) (pot clinks and stews) - It's barracuda, very fresh barracuda, and he said: once you put the fish and shrimp in it, don't stir it too much or it will smell bad. (upbeat tropical music) (foreign language speaking)-he put the whole pile of those leaves down and that was a pile of leaves, and they immediately turn from a bright green color to a kind of greenish-brown color. (speaks in foreign language) - And the last step is to add a bunch of shrimp. (speaks in foreign language) - Mm, mm, okay, it should have three flavors, sour, salty and sweet. - Yes.

Switzerland, goodbye. (speaks foreign language) - Acidity coming from the leaves and tamarind. Oh, that's wonderfully bitter. (speaking in foreign language) - We are sitting down once again to eat but these are the two dishes that are specifically seasonal dishes from this region of Trat; these are ingredients that the forage guesses and then that other fruit with the shrimp curry, it looks delicious and I can't wait to try it. This is the gaeng kradom with the little fruits, they're all down here, all that coconut milk and then the shrimp; First I have to try some of that fruit with some of that curry. - Wow I like it.

I like it. (speaks foreign language) - Okay, that's exactly right, it's telling me that the first taste is bitter and then as you keep chewing it starts to get a little sweeter as it goes down. But yeah, I totally expected it to be sour, not really sour; but yes, it is bitter, like bitter corn, but with a more subtle bitterness; then it's wrapped in that fresh coconut milk and then it's a little spicy, you've got those shrimp in it, oh that's spectacular. That is fantastic. I love that bitterness. Well, next up is Son Don's gaeng som, which again is that leaf and there's fish here, and we saw it done all on these giant shrimp, ah, but that leaf;

What excites me the most is that sheet. Those leaves are extraordinary, with such an acidic flavor, when you really cook them they are softer and silkier than spinach; They require almost no chewing, they simply dissolve in the mouth. And he was very careful not to overcook the shrimp; Oh wow, these are very soft, the shell. Eat the shrimp first and then I'll accompany it with this bite of rice with some leaves. (speaking in foreign language) - Oh, that shrimp is amazing. It is so tender and then the mangoún, which is the tamale, the head and the juices from the butter, is so creamy and so rich.

What a fantastic leaf and there is nothing better than

foraged

leaves and greens. Just wild, supremely natural, that's one of those leaves that is so acidic that it immediately leaves that bitter chalk on your teeth. (upbeat tropical music) And that one is spectacular too. You know they're both really good. Both totally opposite in flavors. (upbeat tropical music) And on the way out, the family kindly gave us a whole bag of bananas straight from their garden. What a fantastic day. What delicious

food

. And a small vision of

village

life, of community life in Trat; Many thanks to the family for hosting us and to the grandmother for cooking, and to the uncle also for those special dishes.

We didn't really plan much of what we were going to do and it just unfolded the way it did. I'll have information in the description box below, but the community is called Baan Huai Raeng, and remember to give this video a thumbs up and if you're not already subscribed, click subscribe now and also click the little bell. icon so you receive notifications of all future videos. Thanks again for watching and I'll see you in the next video.