“If you put rice in a vacuum, you’ll only need a one-to-one ratio of rice and water to cook. “My family has always been an absorption method family, like most Thai families I know,” she says, proceeding to explain the science behind this method. Grasby still cooks rice over the stove, echoing how her mother’s village has always done it with just a pot and a fire. The absorption methodĪs rice is often a recurring star of mealtimes, you cannot skimp on its cooking process. A mound of steaming rice is topped with dishes like curry or stir-fries, served up to customers in record time. Known as ahan jian diao, single-dish food centralises rice or noodles. With jok, we have a myriad of seasonings that we put in at the end, chilli vinegar, fish sauce, white pepper, and the texture is more on the soupy side instead of being pasty.”īesides fried rice and jok, another kind of rice dish that draws the lunchtime crowd to Thailand’s street-side stalls is ‘single-dish food’.
It is a lot thicker, the rice grains are broken down a lot more and there's less seasoning. For example, Grasby explains that “Chinese congee is the well-known cousin of Thai jok. While many different countries serve rice porridge, each type is distinct. In the midst of a second lockdown, Thai rice porridge concept Jok Club delivers comfort food in Melbourne. But if you are a young person in Thailand, there's definitely that sense of guilt if you don't treat rice as a precious commodity.” “Younger people, we tend to not appreciate those things as much, because it's a little easier to access things. When you have a food that is prominently woven into everyday life, it becomes very important.” “Rice growing and rice cultivation is historically very important to Thai people.
But the preciousness of rice is recognised by all, whether they live in a rural village or in a city, says Grasby. If they live in a rice-growing area, Thai people know the ins and outs and challenges of cultivating rice from scratch. Thai families were brought up under a notion passed down the generations that throwing rice away would bring bad luck.Ī great area of Thailand is dedicated to rice production. “She would never waste a single grain of rice,” says Grasby, who is a cook, author and host of Wok Vs Pot. Marion Grasby’s mother grew up in a rice-growing village. Catch Marion Grasby cooking jok alongside Silvia Colloca in the three-part mini-series, Wok Vs Pot, Thursdays at 8pm from 27 August on SBS Food or stream it on SBS On Demand .
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