Menu
Betel leaves with
accoutrements
Nutty palo cortado sherry
Grilled eggplant salad
with prawns
Golden, bottle-aged riesling
Hor mok
Refreshing cold
pilsner-style lager
Stir-fry of young angled
gourd and tendrils
Hoppy, cloudy New England IPA
Green curry of chicken
Rich, textural orange wine
Sour orange fi sh curry
Off -dry, tangy chenin blanc
Pandan, tapioca and young
coconut pudding
Passito-style sweet wine
100 gm shredded coconut
30 betel leaves, washed
and patted dry with
paper towels
100 gm dried shrimp (see note)
100 gm small roasted peanuts
100 gm young ginger, fi nely
diced (see note)
3-4 red shallots, fi nely diced
10 red birdseye chillies,
thinly sliced
Finger limes, halved, or
diced lime fl esh, to serve
MIENG KHAM SAUCE
2 tbsp dried fi nely grated
coconut (or desiccated)
10 gm (2cm piece) galangal,
coarsely chopped
I
t started off as a joke with our
neighbour, John Picone. John is a fruit
grower whose reputation extends well
beyond his northern New South Wales
region. The climate and the soil here are just
right for growing temperate, subtropical and
tropical produce, and John’s orchard is filled
with rare and delicious fruit, which he grows
as much for himself and his family as for the
local farmers’ markets.
It was the variety of fruit at John’s stand
that caught my eye at the Byron market, but
it was the green Kampot peppercorns that
made me stop and take a serious look. I work
in Sydney, with my husband Matt, on the
Chat Thai group of restaurants founded by
my mum, Amy Chanta, and we almost never
see green Kampot pepper in the markets down south.
We struck up a conversation with John, trying to impress
upon him how much we wanted his produce. This led to
a friendship which has developed over the years during our
annual visits to Byron during fig season – April – which
I think is the best time to enjoy Byron in its prime.
After a few years, John suggested that we try growing our
own Kampot peppercorns just across his fence line. The next
day we went to inspect the property and not long after, settled
into growing exactly what we wanted.
Boon Luck Farm, which we started in 2015, has made
for a challenging and eye-opening reckoning with how our
food system works. Mum started our restaurants in 1989 and
over the decades we’ve moved closer and closer to working
MIENG KHAM
Betel leaves with accoutrements
SERVES 8-10 // PREP TIME 20 MINS // COOK 45 MINS (PLUS COOLING)
“Thai food is so much about textures and the immediate
fl avour on the palate,” says Palisa Anderson. “And this is
one of those dishes that defi nes Thai cookery: simple and
showcasing good ingredients.”
1½ lemongrass stalks, white
part only
350 gm soft palm sugar
2 tsp shrimp paste
60 gm dried shrimp, fi nely
ground in a food processor
1 Dry-roast shredded coconut
in a wok or frying pan over
low-medium heat, tossing, until
golden (10 minutes).
2 For mieng kham sauce,
dry-roast coconut in a wok
or large frying pan over
medium heat until golden
(8-10 minutes). Set aside. Add
galangal and lemongrass to
wok and dry-roast until fragrant
directly with farmers to source our
fresh produce. Growing our own has
brought us the quality and quantity that
always seemed beyond our control. In
learning about land management and
natural farming, I have become deeply
passionate about growing nutrient-dense
food, which goes hand in hand with
responsible land stewardship.
Through growing our own produce we
have developed a greater holistic approach
to cooking for ourselves and our guests.
These recipes are a snapshot of how we
like to eat at home – food that is fresh,
uncomplicated and mostly vegetables.
You will be able to source most of
the ingredients for these dishes from the
supermarket, and if not, it’s food that is forgiving of substitutions.
But buying fresh produce from local organic grower’s markets will
make a noticeable difference.
Much of Thai cooking is about gathering the ingredients
and the prep – the work you do before you fire up a pot or wok.
With that in mind, if you’d like to push the envelope further,
as we are trying to do, challenge yourself by growing some of
the ingredients at home – start with the fine herbs, which can
be done in pots, then get brave and grow some eggplant; if you
have a shady spot, betel leaves are your next step – you’ll enjoy
this food so much more, I promise you.
Boon Cafe and Jarern Chai Grocer, 1/425 Pitt St, Sydney, NSW,
(02) 9281 2114; Chat Thai has several Sydney locations; its Thaitown
HQ is at 20 Campbell St, Sydney, NSW, (02) 9211 1808.
(2-3 minutes). Finely pound
galangal mixture with a mortar
and pestle, then place in a large
saucepan with palm sugar,
shrimp paste and 600ml water.
Bring to the boil, stirring to
dissolve sugar, reduce heat
to medium and simmer,
whisking occasionally, until
sticky and reduced by a quarter
(10-15 minutes). Stir in ground
shrimp and roasted coconut
and cool to room temperature.
3 Serve betel leaves with dried
shrimp, peanuts, ginger, shallot,
chilli, roasted coconut and lime
with sauce on the side.
Note Dried shrimp is available
from Asian grocers. Young
ginger is soft and juicy; look
for ginger with thin, pale skin.
Wine suggestion Nutty palo
cortado sherry. ➤
110 GOURMET TRAVELLER