A dinner of weeds

The so-called weeds

I call this a dinner of weeds because essentially that’s what it seems like to me. Get some chili sauce (nam prik [น้ำพริก]) to dip the veggies, a plate of rice as the base, and maybe a tiny fish for some protein. There’s countless combinations this dish can take with all types of chili sauces and plenty of odd vegetables to use. The vegetables are generally a mixture of fresh and parboiled. Pictured here are some of the standards all though there are many, many more to pick from. From left to right:

• baby long eggplants (makua yao [มะเขือยาว])
• long beans, hidden underneath (tua fak yao [ถั่วฝักยาว])
• water acacia (cha-om [ชะอม])
• ivy gourd greens, under the cha-om ( pak dtamlung [ผักตำลึง]) (I could be wrong about this one)
• round eggplants (makua [มะเขือ])
• some other ‘weed’  (pak gwaangdung [ผักกวางตุ้ง])

The cha-om is interesting in that it has thorns on it! If not boiled enough the thorns are still hard and can really hurt your mouth. Trust me on this. Once soft enough, though, it is a tasty vegetable.

Closeup of the cha-om