Monday, March 2, 2015

Tear Jerkers and Bak Kut Teh

It all started with this emotional Thai commercial a few months ago. Then, out of nowhere it re-appeared and I have a new hobby now, watching short films on Youtube. Well! You can overdo that too,  but the Thai commercials have a way of wrenching emotions out of you.
Anyways, I had always assumed that the old Maa - Beta ( Mother - Son) Hindi movies had a monopoly over your tear ducts, but then I discovered the Thai commercials and I was hooked. I am sure a couple of those videos have gone viral too. If you haven't seen them, you should.





I must have seen about 15 or so of these Thai emotional commercials, then short films made in Singapore caught my attention. They were sort-of emotional but what really caught my attention was the focus on food and family eating together. The various soups with noodles and the delight with which the family was consuming them, was rather infectious, or must I say religious. The spices and the freshness of the vegetables and the order of putting them in the broth was rather meticulous.

In the process of watching half a dozen such short films, I  discovered  Bak kut Teh and I was hooked. It is a popular Singaporean dish that causes people to risk their own lives or the lives of their  "not so loved" ones. I saw two short films devoted to the powers of Bak Kut Teh. Well! the first film I saw, was of a teenage boy escaping from prison with the sole purpose of making his own dish of Bak Kut teh - just the way his mother made it.

Then the other film that was titled "Bak Kut Teh" was about a woman who visits her parents with her boorish husand, who loves to beat her up. Her mother can smell it in the air that things are not fine between the two of them, but then it is time for dinner and she starts cooking, you guessed it! This time she explains the whole process of making this precious dish to her daughter.

As the soup is being made, the mother - daughter duo decide to take matters into their own hands regarding the abusive guy in the room, ( It is to be seen to be believed, what they end up doing to him). Even though the ending sent shivers down my spine, and the main ingredient happens to be pork ribs, I was intrigued by spices like angelica root, solomon seal and white peppercorns, so I find  a vegetarian version, perhaps called Veg Kut Teh.

The difficult part of the recipe, for me is to under-cook, in order to retain the crispness of the veggies and herbs. While, I have the tendency to overcook, considering Indian food happens to be cooked that way. So, I meticulously make a long list of ingredients, blissfully leave it at home and end up shopping for more than an hour. After all racking your brain is a good form of exercise, right! It is all together logical that I end up with a huge box of veggies and other miscellaneous items, that I can't even carry by myself.  "It is just one of those rare cases of binge - shopping", I console myself.

By the time, I get home I know everyone is hungry, but I simply have to make that soup, even it means quickly chopping the veggies. I make it as fast as I can. The nice part is nobody knows how it is supposed to taste, so it doesn't matter how it turns out. Then, while enjoying our own bowl of soup, we decide to watch a another Singaporean short film " Closer Apart", as an added touch! It is sort of sad, though not as emotional as the Thai commercials. We end up discovering more short films, from other countries such as Malaysia and Philippines. So the next to-do item on the list is SiaPao - a Filipino steamed bun, after watching SiaPao.  

3 comments:

Arti said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Arti said...

Hi Ish. Firstly, I like the new look and that picture is awesome. Did you click it?
Your post about food and family has given me a lot of food for thought.
The short film about the domestic abuse and its repercussions was eery. I couldn'd eat my dinner last night- what a powerful message, though.
The rest of my evening was spent in watching the other short films. Thank you for opening this door.

ishmusings.blogspot.com said...

Thanks for the compliment Arti! The picture was taken by my brother. He is supremely talented!!! Glad you enjoyed the short films. If you haven't yet watched a short Thai commercial of Pantene shampoo on Youtube... please do... it was different but another major tear jerker....