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BANGKOK: Just two subway stops from the Sukhumvit skyline of glittering and bustling malls is a slum with a reputation for violence, a neighborhood few visitors to Bangkok know about or dare to venture into.
And in this slum, the oldest and largest in the city, there are cheap and delicious treats like live shrimp salad and an Isaan plate of bile and pig’s blood only for the brave.
“This is the Klong Toey slum. This area is known for drug dealers and other illicit activities, ”said resident and street vendor Pranee Wiangnon, known as Big Mama there.
If someone gives you trouble, tell me. I’m not afraid of the people here … No one will dare to mess with me.
Sirathorn, her roommate, recounts how, when she moved 30 years ago, drug addicts were always asking for money. “It took me a long time to decide if we could settle here forever.”
Despite this slum’s notoriety for crime, street vendors like Big Mama and Sirathorn feel right at home here, serving one of the capital’s largest low-income communities, as Slumfood Millionaire discovers.
This documentary series looks at how resourceful street vendors, using cheap and unique ingredients, offer delicious street food to the slums of Asia.
Klong Toey is home to more than 100,000 low-income residents, many of whom are considered squatters who are facing eviction at any time.
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Big Mama serves an unusual “dancing shrimp” (Goong Ten) salad plate, so named because the shrimp are so lively and jump on the plate when served.
“They dance and make a ‘kadok-kadok’ sound,” he described. “Sometimes people can’t eat shrimp because everyone has jumped off the plate.”
Freshwater shrimp, which are typically used to feed fish, are found in canals or rice paddies in Thailand.
After mixing in some fish sauce, toasted rice powder, chili, herbs, and sour lemon juice, Big Mama uses a net to scoop a handful of shrimp out of a fish tank, quickly dumping them into the mixture.
“When the shrimp are mixed with the chili, lime and fish sauce, they start to dance,” he said.
WATCH: Street Food from Bangkok’s Most Famous Slum (Full Episode, 11:00 PM)
She sells this dish for 50 baht (S $ 2.10) a pack and says she can’t price it cheaper because the ingredients are expensive. She advertises her meal, which includes another signature dish, Grilled Pork Kidney, on social media and receives delivery orders over the phone.
Event organizer Sombatsara Teerasaroch reveals how each “scoop of shrimp will explode in your mouth” when fresh ingredients and garnish react with enzymes in saliva.
“It makes everything sweet and full in your mouth. It makes my mouth water, ”she laughed. “I think it is an incredible dish. It’s a Thai sashimi. “
Shrimp salad dancing.
BLOOD AND FOOD ISAAN
An even more acquired taste is Sirathorn’s (Larb Lerd Sook) Bile and Blood Beef Salad plate, which he also sells for 50 baht from a wheelbarrow.
Sirathorn hails from the Isaan region of northeastern Thailand. Isaan’s cuisine, using fermented and preserved ingredients, is known for its fiery, sour and spicy dishes.
To remove the bile, Sirathorn boils a cow’s gallbladder and opens it, after which the green-colored bile oozes out “like sugar syrup,” he said.
“This is how it is known to be good quality bile. If it’s not fresh, it’ll come out too fast, ”he added.
This bile is then added to diced minced meat, chili, toasted rice powder, and herbs, and fried. Sirathorn also adds diluted blood to the mix.
“Blood must be used at all food stalls in Isaan. Without it, the food will not be considered authentic, ”said Sirathorn. “Bile is for customers who like their food a little bitter.”
His clients are mostly office workers and area residents. “I hardly make a profit, but I don’t want to increase my prices, so that less well-off customers can still buy our food, ”he said.
She added: “I never imagined that we would have so many clients supporting us. No matter what people say about Klong Toey, we make a living here, so it’s good.”
Go on a delightful journey through the slums of Asia – watch the series Slumfood Millionaire here.
