thai food pops

For a long time, I associated only two colors with Thai food – red and green. Thai, for many of us, meant green or red curry. I have now added a new color to my list of Thai dishes: and that is pink.

A few days back I had some beautiful dishes – which were both pleasing to the eye and the palate. And pink was one of the reasons it looked cool. For example, there was a charred garlic fried rice – something crunchy, deliciously fragrant and pale pink. And there was a red curry water chestnut and mushroom dim sum, which acquired a pink-magenta hue from the curry.

Clearly, the Thai food being offered today is breaking walls. Pop Thai, a new restaurant in Vasant Kunj, is turning up old recipes, and doing quite a good job of it. For example, I was curious by their prawn donut—which looked like a crisp Vada (or a very thick onion ring), but was actually a dish of minced shrimp, cooked with fresh lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and fresh Thai ginger.

I love Thai food: The flavors are bright, and the use of fresh greens and herbs adds a freshness to the dishes. For example, a lot of dishes are lightly roasted with Morning Glory greens. Ziu, a restaurant in the Sangam complex, offers Nouvelle Thai, and its menu features steamed fish with morning glory. and its innovations lease-Flavored Tom Kha Spicy Rice Crackers.

Pop Thai also has some interesting variations of old dishes. They have a dim sum variation called Money Bag, which is served with hot truffle oil dip – short ‘ bundle’ Like the dumplings, the button and shiitake are made with mushroom stuffing mixed with red curry paste and cream cheese.

The red curry paste is prepared in an in-house and tastes its watery chestnut mushroom dumplings, as well as their hot and delicious red curry. I also enjoyed some spicy basil pepper cooked with basil, black pepper, kaffir lime leaves, dried red chilies and yellow chilies. This pink garlic went well with rice – which got its color from the lesser beetroot, tossed in a skillet with the rice.

Thai food is a popular dish, and is on the menus of many pan-Asian shops. Soy x Neung Roi in Radisson Blu Plaza has an interesting menu with appetizers such as battered fried pork belly with green chili sauce and garlic pepper sauce.

Shrimp Donuts | photo credit: special arrangement

Thankfully for us, eateries like Pop Thai, Ziu and Thai Crate (a delivery outlet near Moolchand) are spreading the Thai flavor all around us. And I can, of my own accord, have a whiff of lemon grass and kaffir lime, which will taste like galangal and morning glory.

pop thai; Kothi No. 19A, AB Plaza, Green Avenue Street, Vasant Kunj 110070; phone 956088288; Open Monday-Sunday; 11:00 am-11:00 pm.

Meal for two: Around Rs 1,000.

Green Curry | photo credit: special arrangement