The city of Sakai has maintained relations with countries in South East Asia since the period of the Nanban trade. Keeping this tradition alive, the Sakai-ASEAN Week Executive Committee has organised the “ASEAN Culture Course”. The Thai Cuisine course is among its most popular ones; it was recently held at the Westy (Sakai City West Cultural Center) in Nishi-ku.

What is needed to cook original Thai food in Japan?
The course teacher, Ms. Tassanee Muraki, from the province of Krabi in the Southern Thailand, runs a cooking school in Amagasaki city. Ms. Tassanee speaks fluent Japanese and is also a professional classical dancer, who studied traditional Thai dance in the Thailand National Dance School. “Do not throw away the roots of the coriander, they are very important!”. Very knowledgeable, she teaches things that may not be written in cookbooks.

Many condiments and seasonings used in Thai cuisine are not commonly seen in Japan. “Sugar made from coconuts adds a very soft taste. Thai ‘miso’ has a different feel to it, the texture is coarser.” Oyster sauce is commonly used in Chinese cuisine, but the Thai version of it is also sourer.  The differences are in the details.< One might think that gathering all these different seasonings in Japan might be very difficult. “Not really. These days we can order most of the things using the Internet. The difficult part is finding other ingredients like vegetables”, explains the course’s staff. The climate in Japan is obviously very different from Thailand, so the available vegetables are very distinct. “To find out what can be used to replace the Thai vegetables, Ms. Tassanee has to go to the market herself.” But that is not the most difficult part, when it comes down to learning how to cook Thai food.