How this chef has been bringing authentic Thai flavours to Souris
That is Half 2 of a three-part collection in Might — Asian Heritage Month — about individuals who have been bringing Asian flavours to rural Prince Edward Island. Yow will discover Half 1 right here.
Fuel Anusorn loves it each time he should purchase a number of ripe, candy mangoes for a very good deal in Charlottetown. He stated when he is ready to do this, he takes them again to his restaurant in Souris, makes giant batches of mango sticky rice — a well-liked Thai dessert — after which offers it away to clients who order something from the restaurant.
It is his technique to let folks in the neighborhood know extra about Thai meals, Anusorn stated.
“Folks right here adore it.”
Anusorn is the proprietor and chef of Souris Thai Meals. He opened the restaurant final yr, and since then, he is been listening to a number of good suggestions about Thai meals from folks in the neighborhood, he stated.
‘Blissful that we symbolize Thailand’
It wasn’t at all times that approach. The restaurant struggled rather a lot at first as not many individuals in Souris knew concerning the delicacies and had been hesitant to strive, stated supervisor Thi Arunvipas. However over time, issues have modified.
“Folks right here did not learn about Thai meals but the primary week of opening the enterprise,” he stated. “And once they style it, they’re similar to, ‘Wow, Thai meals is wonderful.'”
A favorite dish together with his clients, Arunvipas stated, is the mango sticky rice, or khao niaow ma muang, made with glutinous rice boiled with coconut milk, giving the rice a wealthy flavour and an fragrant coconut scent.
The cooked rice is served with a candy coconut milk sauce, and what makes it particular is that the sauce is boiled with some pandan leaves — a tropical plant utilized in many Asian nations — to deliver out a candy, soothing aroma, stated Arunvipas.
The ultimate contact is slices of juicy ripe mangoes on prime or on the aspect.
“Once we combine it collectively and eat with the candy mango, it is going to have the aroma, the style of [sweetness], the odor of coconut, of the pandan leaves. It’s totally scrumptious,” he stated.
One other standard dish is pad thai. Arunvipas stated the chef tries to make the dish as genuine as attainable, sticking to the 4 key flavours of Thai delicacies: candy, bitter, salty and spicy.
The salty flavour comes from fish sauce, the bitter from tamarind and lime, and the spicy from floor dried chilies, though the chef tends to make pad thai much less spicy as he is discovered many locals can’t eat spicy meals, stated Arunvipas.
And for the sweetness, the chef makes use of palm sugar, which is a lot better than refined white sugar, he stated, as it’s not solely candy, but additionally has a pleasant aroma and a butterscotch-like style.
Folks in Souris and neighbouring communities are giving good suggestions concerning the restaurant’s Thai dishes in individual and thru social media, stated Arunvipas.
“It sort of makes me blissful that we symbolize Thailand and Thai meals.”
‘Folks listed below are very nice’
For proprietor Fuel Anusorn, opening the restaurant was not solely due to his ardour for cooking, he stated, but additionally due to his love for rural P.E.I.
He and his household arrived in RisePEI in 2007, the place he labored for 10 years as a prepare dinner, Anusorn stated. Then, he moved to a couple different provinces earlier than settling down in Souris the place his spouse bought a job with an area firm.
Earlier than, he did not really feel protected dwelling in giant cities whereas now he is been having fun with the sense of group in Souris, Anusorn stated.
“Souris is a small city, folks [are] very nice. You stroll on the street and other people say hi there. Folks listed below are very nice than huge cities.”
