Gaaeng naawk maaw is a light and refreshing soup served at room temperature. The ingredients are meticulously sliced as if for a salad, placed in a serving bowl, and covered with a salty and naturally sweet shrimp broth. At the table, diners can adjust the soup to their preferred flavor profile using granulated sugar, lime juice, or pickled garlic brine; hence the name – gaaeng naawk maaw – which literally means “a curry dish outside the pot” or “to cook curry outside the pot”. (Note: The word gaaeng (แกง) in Thai is both a verb and a noun).
The ingredients added to the soup include hand-pulled shrimp meat threads and two types of hand-pulled smoky and savory grilled fish flakes, along with elongated slices of cooling and calming cucumber, thin strips of sour mango, and thinly sliced sweet and sour pickled garlic. Some versions also include madan (sour cucumber, มะดัน) (garcinia schomburgkiana), pickled Asian spiderflower (ผักเสี้ยนดอง), or crispy fried Thai garlic (กระเทียมไทยเจียว).
The broth is made by cooking whole unshelled shrimp heads-on in water, and then seasoned to a sharp-salty profile using fish sauce or salt. The broth should be salty enough to accommodate the other sour and sweet elements, yet clear and transparent so as not to mask the natural sweetness of the shrimp. In addition, the broth serves as a savory, cushioning canvas, with the dynamic, salad-like interactions between the ingredients playing on top.
Since, no heat is involved when bringing together the elements of the dish, the natural textures of the cucumber, mango and pickled garlic are preserved, and their taste remains unburst and contained. This paves a sensory path that begins with the soft, smoky umami of the grilled fish flakes, and continues through the sweet, orangey pieces of shrimp meat. It then progresses through the brittle cooling sensation presented by the cucumbers, and takes a turn into the crunchy, sour mango notes. The path culminates delightfully with the pickled garlic’s sweet and sour, fresh yet warming sensation.
Finally, the dish is garnished with brilliant stripes of greens and reds from thinly julienned fresh chilies and tender green coriander leaves, which contrast beautifully with the color of the other ingredients.
Gaaeng naawk maaw first appeared in Bpradtithin Bat Laae Joht Maai Haeht (ประติทินบัตร แล จดหมายเหตุ), a monthly journal published in 1889, containing recipes by Lady Plean Passakornrawong. Two decades later, Lady Plean published the same recipe in her book Maae Khruaa Huaa Bpaa (MKHP) (ท่านผู้หญิงเปลี่ยน ภาสกรวงศ์ตำราแม่ครัวหัวป่าก์) under the name Khmer-style dtohm yam soup.
Nevertheless, the first name, gaaeng naawk maaw, survived and appeared in subsequent recipe books describing dishes allegedly prepared for King Rama VI. Later, the dish was occasionally given new names such as gaaeng dtohm goong bproong soht (แกงต้มกุ้งปรุงสด). Gaaeng naawk maaw even survived the Siamese revolution of 1932, appearing in 1938’s Popular Modern Dishes under the alias of “Democracy Curry” (แกงประชาธิปไตย ตำราแม่ครัวทันสมัยนิยม; gaaeng bpra chaa thip dtai).
Since the 1950s, however, the dish gradually disappeared from the global consciousness of Thai cuisine.
In MKHP, Lady Plean Passakornrawong begins preparing the dish by pulling the black vein from the backs of giant river prawns before cooking them, shell-on, in boiling water. When the shrimp are cooked, she seasons the broth with fish sauce, suggesting salt as an alternative for those who dislike fish sauce. She then removes the shrimp from the pot, peels the shells, and pulls the meat into small pieces.
Lady Plean continues, grilling the sun-dried semi-salted snakehead fish and snakeskin gourami fish; she refers to these fish by their Old Siamese names,bplaa haang (ปลาหาง) for the snakehead fish and bplaa bai mai (ปลาใบไม้) for the gourami.
After grilling the fish, she pulls their meat into small flakes. She then slices the green mango into thin elongated juliennes and the cucumber into equal-length long pieces.
Lady Plean uses less pickled garlic than the amount of mango and cucumber, which should be used in equal amounts. She peels the garlic and slices it thinly.
When all the ingredients are ready, she arranges them in a bowl and pours the shrimp broth over them.
She seasons it with lime juice and granulated sugar to a salty-sour flavor profile, and then garnishes the dish with fresh red long chilies and coriander leaves.
Thaifoodmaster’s version
Similar to a salad, we can adjust the intensity of each ingredient’s identity through size and shape. Try thin and elongated juliennes for a tingled texture, or use small, diced cubes for an individual burst of textures – but whatever you do, be attentive to the visual rhythm, which, when cooking Central-style aristocratic Siamese cuisine, should always express a calmness.
Mixed Clear Shrimp Soup with Salted Fish, Shrimp, Cucumber, Mango and Pickled Garlic (แกงนอกหม้อ ; gaaeng naawk maaw)
Gaaeng naawk maaw is a light and refreshing soup served at roomtemperature. The ingredients are meticulously sliced as if for a salad, placedin a serving bowl, and covered with a salty and naturally sweet shrimp broth. Atthe table, diners can adjust the soup to their preferred flavor profile usinggranulated sugar, lime juice, or pickled garlic brine; hence the name – gaaeng naawk maaw – which literally means "a curry dish outside thepot" or “to cook curry outside the pot”.
This soup dish features crispy rice vermicelli noodles, a chicken broth that has a three-flavor profile infused with the aroma of bitter orange, and a plethora of other ingredients such as crispy fried tofu, chicken, pork, crab and pickled garlic.
In Thai, the phrase mee naam baan raat thuut refers to a rice vermicelli noodle soup in the style of the Ambassador’s house. The dish was not new when it appeared in the 1956 book Snacks, Tea Nibbles, Hors D’oeuvres and Drinking Food (ตำราอาหารว่าง – เครื่องน้ำชา และ เครื่องเคี้ยว หรือ กับแกล้ม) by Jeeb Bunnag (จีบ บุนนาค), as noodle dishes were often the preferred ingredient for light meals or snacks. In Grandparents Recipes: 100 Years Old Recipes (จานอร่อยจากปู่ย่า สูตรโบราณ 100 ปี), a volume printed in 2014 that highlights recipes from the kitchens of fifteen prominent families, a similar version of the dish is referred to as mee naam baan bpaak naai leert (หมี่น้ำบ้านปาร์คนายเลิศ) and is associated with Nai Lert.
Seasoned rice dishes have been a staple of rice-consuming societies almost since the first grains were cultivated. Adapted according to local resources, traditions and individual preferences, seasoned rice dishes are relished and savored across all walks of life. Within Siamese society, these dishes offer insight into the flavor instincts and eating habits across all demographics, revealing which food items were locally available and valued.
In this delicious seasoned rice recipe from the kitchens of the daughter of King Chulalongkorn, Princess Yaovabha Bongsanid (พระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ พระองค์เจ้าเยาวภาพงศ์สนิท) (1884-1934), the Princess uses a variety of common preserved and inexpensive ingredients, clearly drawing inspiration from the cuisine of the Central Plains with nods to the rural and coastal living atmosphere.
In this dish, slices of pork belly are coated with a sticky sauce; the sauce is reduced from braising a slice of grilled salted fish with coriander roots, garlic and white peppercorns (saam gluuhr). The dish is served with a sour-leading green mango chili relish that adds tartness with fiery accents to the saltiness of the pork. The salted fish gives the pork an initial fishy aroma that, although robust, gives way to a sense of home as it merges into the sourness and fruitiness of the mango chili relish. As an ingredient commonly used in the kitchens of rice-growing communities, salted fish signifies a comforting familiarity that conveys simplicity and warmth to the table. I like to pair the salted, fishy pork with seasoned rice dishes in which sour-leading relishes are mixed with rice along with other condiments.
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