Thai prawns, Indian setting

Some dishes stay with you because of their flavour. Others because these teach you something about a cuisine.

Golden Goong Sarong was one of those dishes for me during my culinary collaboration at Praya Palazzo in Bangkok, where I worked with the Praya Dining team on an Omakase-style Indo-Thai menu. The experience was built around a simple idea: Indian and Thai cuisines can speak to each other without either losing its identity.

What I find particularly interesting about this dish is its relationship with texture. The prawn remains delicate and succulent while the vermicelli becomes crisp and almost architectural around it. Then comes the contrast of fresh aromatic herbs and a tangy dipping sauce. It is a dish where balance is created not through one dominant flavour, but with several elements working together.

That is something Thai cuisine taught me to appreciate even more deeply. Thai cooking has a remarkable understanding of contrast — sweet, sour, salty, spicy and umami — but balance does not mean making every flavour equally loud. It means knowing exactly how much of each element the dish needs.

For me, that is also where the idea of Indo-Thai cooking becomes interesting. Fusion should never mean simply adding an Indian spice to a Thai dish or putting Thai ingredients into an Indian recipe. You first have to understand what gives each cuisine its character. India brings depth, warmth and layered spice; Thailand brings brightness, freshness, aromatics and contrast. The challenge — and the fun — is finding the point where those ideas complement each other.

Golden Goong Sarong

Ingredients

For the prawns

Prawns (large) 8

Salt To taste

White pepper To taste

Thin rice vermicelli As required

Oil for deep frying As required

For tangy dipping sauce

Fresh lime juice 1 tsp

Light soy sauce 1 tsp

Palm sugar 2 tsp

Fresh chilli (finely chopped) 1

Garlic clove (finely minced) 1

For garnish

Spring onion (finely sliced) 1

Fresh coriander A sprig

Thai basil A few leaves

Mint A few leaves

Method

Clean and devein the prawns, keeping the tail intact. Season lightly with salt and white pepper.

Soak the rice vermicelli briefly in water until pliable, then drain thoroughly.

Carefully wrap each prawn with the vermicelli, keeping the layers light and even so that the prawns cook properly and the vermicelli turns crisp.

Deep-fry in hot oil until the vermicelli is crisp and golden and the prawn is cooked through. Drain on absorbent paper.

For the dipping sauce, combine lime juice, soy sauce, palm sugar, chilli and garlic. Adjust balance as per taste.

Garnish the prawns with herbs and spring onion. Serve with tangy dipping sauce.

— Chef Vaibhav Bhargava is a food stylist and culinary consultant