Wok this way

MONITOR:No flames or theatrics, a lesson in genetic at of Thai cooking

WOKS ARE intimidating. Big, dark, forbidding and often not suited to a domestic stove. Watch any Asian kitchen in action and it is akin to a war zone. Like well-trained soldiers, it all seems to happen in good order, but to the untrained eye it can seem confusing.

So I have come for a lesson from Taweesak Trakoolwattana, or Tao, the Thai chef behind Saba restaurant in Dublin. He stands beside his wok, which is on a portable gas ring, the heat turned down while he explains a few things about his ingredients. Apart from the aubergines and basil, there is nothing too surprising. A table of chicken, beef and prawns along with onions, three colours of peppers, spring onions and chillies.

Tao explains that Asian cooking in general, and Thai in particular, is the reverse of European cookery where the idea is to season a little and often, building the dish from the early ingredients to the last. In Thai cuisine, you cook pretty much everything and only then do you add the herbs. Sweet basil for a gentle, aniseed finish, typical of Thai curries; holy basil when you want the end note to be hot and spicy.

With the wok still over a medium heat, he adds half a ladle of oil and then the garlic, the two are inseparable he says. The garlic cooks and goes golden, but the process is gentle and takes a couple of minutes, just enough time for him to chop a few strands each of yellow, red and green pepper to add to the onion and spring onion already prepared.

We are making goong phad namprik pao, which translates as stir-fried prawns with chilli-oil paste in oil. Once the garlic has lost its raw aroma, in goes the chilli paste in oil, then the prawns and, a minute later, the vegetables. The baby corn has been blanched in boiling water with turmeric, considered a cleansing spice. For the Thais, health and well-being are very closely linked to diet.

We are about to get on to the seasoning but I am intrigued – the wok has hardly moved. Tao has done no tossing, just a little activity with his ladle. There are no flames. In a domestic environment, he explains, you don’t want too high a heat. It is difficult to control and unless you are experienced, it is hard to be quick enough. You want the ingredients to fry rather than stew, but as long as everything is sizzling you are okay.

So now we season: his base rule is two parts light soy to one part oyster sauce, half of dark soy and a pinch of sugar. For meat, it is soy; for fish, he prefers fish sauce. After that, it is a handful of holy basil leaves at the last moment. Now to the chillies, which can bring a bare kick or some serious welly. You have to find what works for you, he says. For Thais, there has to be some kick, a background heat, but you need to work up to that over time.

For anyone keen on Thai food, some of the most intriguing ingredients are the aubergines, in their Thai and pea varieties. More like a fruit than a vegetable, the Thai version is much smaller than a European one and has an elegant fruitiness to it. The pea version is more bitter, but still with a fleshy all-round flavour when raw, which you don't get with a standard aubergine. How was the goong phad namprik pao? Elegant, sophisticated, complex and very satisfying, with not a flame in sight and perfect seasoning.

Saba, 26-28 Clarendon Street, Dublin 2, tel: 01-6792000