Chefs arrive in their kitchens via many routes. Most of these talented individuals share a passion for culinary skills, artistic impression and the adrenaline rush from preparing and presenting food in a collaborative and intense environment.
For Sarawut Klongklaeo, the restaurant kitchen doubled as his nursery. The child of restaurateurs in northeast Thailand’s Loei province, Chef Klongklaeo’s earliest memories revolved around the restaurant, where, as a child, he would make steamed rice each day before going to school.
“The first meal I fully prepared was wok-fired vegetables with fried eggs,” he recalls. “I still remember the thrill of smashing the eggs and adding the soy and fish sauce.”
Today, as executive chef at Snoqualmie Casino’s 12 Moons restaurant, Klongklaeo oversees an expansive menu that includes a full page of sushi rolls, nigiri and sashimi in addition to noodles, soups and even katsu curry, among other wok-fired fare.
Greater Seattle is nationally known for its exceptional Asian cuisine, whether sampling Korean BBQ on Aurora Avenue, dim sum in the International District, or sushi at one of dozens of Japanese restaurants. Klongklaeo’s 12 Moons celebrates many of these traditions on one menu, not as “Asian fusion” per se but by offering a culinary encyclopedia of authentic entries.
Klonghlaeo often calls on his personal history when creating daily specials. His favorite dish as a child was his mom’s tom kha kai soup, the coconut chicken soup she would serve on special occasions.
“My parents also made chashu pork belly on holidays,” says Klonghlaeo, who in 2007 emigrated to the U.S. to cook. “I like to add these and other items like stir-fried Thai basil as daily specials throughout the year.”
Klonghlaeo says he adapts both tom kha kai and tom yum soups when he prepares them here, reducing the spice level and some ingredients to satisfy the American palate. Heat lovers shouldn’t despair. Many 12 Moons dishes, including pad thai, are available “Thai spicy,” somewhere well north of 5 stars!
Pad thai, available on every Thai menu in America, is also prepared authentically in Klonghlaeo’s kitchen. Diners won’t find ketchup, a regular pad thai ingredient, in his recipe.
“I would never use ketchup, though I know it is used along with sugar in many American Thai restaurants,” he says. “I use tamarind sauce, fish sauce and white vinegar, among other ingredients my parents used in their restaurant. I also use palm sugar, which we create from mashing the palm.”
Chef Klonghlaeo says he takes great pleasure in describing Asian culinary nuances to his customers, encouraging them to try unfamiliar dishes and better understand where they originate in his native culture. He often adapts an everyday item like chicken satay differently than one might encounter in Bangkok.
“Chicken satay, always presented on a stick, is Thai street food available on every corner in Bangkok and other big cities in Thailand,” he says. “I translate it to the plate where I serve it as an entrée with a side of curried fried rice and a cucumber salad. I also char the chicken thigh for a distinctively grilled taste. Our customers appear very pleased with our housemade peanut sauce.”
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Chicken satay
INGREDIENTS:
For chicken satay marinade
- 2 pounds chicken thigh
- 1 fluid ounce clover honey
- 1.5 fluid ounces fish sauce
- 7 fluid ounces coconut milk
- 4 fluid ounces canola oil or soy oil
- 1 ounce by weight sugar
- ¼ ounce yellow curry powder
- ⅛ ounce whole fennel seed, toasted and ground
For Thai peanut sauce
- ¼ ounce red curry paste
- ¼ ounce massaman curry paste
- 2 ounces granulated sugar
- 9.5 fluid ounces coconut milk
- ½ ounce tamarind paste
- ½ fluid ounce fish sauce
- ⅛ ounce palm sugar
- 3 ounces peanut butter
STEPS:
- In a 2 quart sauce pan in little oil over medium heat, fry the red and massaman curry paste until they start to brown slightly and the oil is stained red.
- Add the coconut milk, both sugars and fish sauce.
- Heat until sugar has dissolved and add the tamarind.
- Bring to a boil while stirring and turn off the heat.
- With the heat off, whisk in the peanut butter until smooth.
This sauce can be kept warm but if it gets too hot or boils, the sauce will break and the oil in the peanut butter will separate.
For cucumber salad:
For the salad dressing, use equal amounts by volume of vinegar and sugar and add a pinch of salt. Toss the cucumbers in the dressing and let sit for 30 minutes and garnish with chopped green onion and red pickled chili pepper rings.
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The Pacific Northwest is fortunate to have exceptional Asian markets that provide access for Chef Klonghlaeo and his peers to the freshest ingredients like lemongrass, Thai basil and other herbs.
Snoqualmie Casino’s 12 Moons impressive sushi menu also benefits from our proximity to Asia. The kitchen receives twice weekly deliveries of the freshest sushi-grade fish from the Japanese fish markets. The rainbow roll alone includes five species of this fish. The blackjack roll features shrimp, red crab, tuna, unagi, salmon and red and black tobiko.
You quickly realize Puget Sound’s exquisite culinary scene when you travel to other regions of the U.S. Though only the 15th largest area by population, greater Seattle’s restaurant offerings are among the most diverse in America. Nowhere is our vibrant cuisine on better display than in our Asian restaurants.
Snoqualmie Casino is Seattle’s closest casino, boasting 1700 slots games, 50+ gaming tables, poker room, live entertainment and fine dining.
