RECIPE INSPIRATION
Try this authentic feast by Thai chef and restaurateur Saiphin Moore, the woman behind the Rosa’s Thai empire
Getting a glimpse of the creative process that drives Saiphin Moore, the tour de force behind the Rosa’s Thai restaurant group, is quite the experience. ‘I am like a crazy woman when I’m in the kitchen – all these dishes just pop into my brain and I have to keep cooking!’ she says.
As someone who has had the unique privilege of being hosted by Saiphin, I can confirm this to be absolutely true. No meal with her consists of fewer than 15 dishes, and her passion for the food of her heritage bursts through with every bite.
Last year, I spent a week with Saiphin in Thailand learning about Thai food culture and the ingredients that form the backbone of its most famous dishes. Saiphin has been surrounded by food her whole life. Leaving school at 12 years old to harvest vegetables grown on her father’s farm, by 18 she had moved to Hong Kong to work as a nanny. Before long she had opened a shop selling Thai ingredients to local residents, and later started a takeaway and then a 30-cover restaurant. This foray into food sparked a passion that would continue when she moved to London and set up the first Rosa’s Thai restaurant in 2008. Fast-forward 16 years and the menu is is almost identical to that in her first restaurant, and it’s this authenticity that keeps people coming back again and again. ‘At Rosa’s, we don’t hold off on spice, we don’t try and cut corners or twist it – it’s very authentic food cooked with authentic Thai ingredients,’ she says.
This month, it’s Songkran in Thailand (13-15 April), the new year festival, and to celebrate, Saiphin has shared her favourite menu. It’s a time for coming together with family and friends, and Saiphin describes it as three days of non-stop eating. ‘You wake up in the morning, have a Thai whiskey and then basically don’t stop eating! It’s just so much fun,’ she says. Sounds very much like a festival I could get behind.
SERVES 4 as a starter GF DF
HANDS-ON TIME 20 mins
TOTAL TIME 40 mins, plus infusing
Starter
‘This is one of my favourites to have at Songkran, the Thai new year celebr
