Although Thais have been cooking unique dishes for hundreds of years, the country's first cookbook was not written until King Rama V's time. Tragically, lots of hard-to-make dishes have disappeared over the years, including many royal Thai specialities.

But that may not be where the story ends.

Ajaan Wandee na Songkla, an expert on authentic Thai cuisine, believes that bringing back the forgotten dishes is not impossible. "Old Thai cooking requires a long time for preparation. For example, some curries require hours of slow braising so that the curry paste and coconut milk blend perfectly," she says.

Gaeng sing hon (spicy creamy chicken curry) is an example of a dish that was shoved aside, before being resurrected by Wandee. "It tastes like a mixture of Penang and masaman curries, but also has pandan leaves, roasted kaffir lime leaf and lemongrass."

The curry is one of 22 forgotten classical Thai dishes that are now being served again at the Spice & Rice restaurant in the Siam City Hotel.

"Thai people should come at least once to have a look, taste and get inspiration from this culinary collection, which you can't find anywhere else these days," says Wandee. "My aim with this promotion is to see the next generation take up Thai cuisine as it used to be and carry it into the future."

By Juthamas Cholthavornpong

Daily Xpress