The best Thai food I ever tasted in the Four Corners area was at Mini Thai Cafe in Poncha Springs, Colo., where U.S. 50 and U.S. 285 intersect. Expecting little from a crossroads diner that advertised Thai food and hamburgers, I was shocked when the pad thai prepared by owner Nopavan Kalivoda rivaled anything I'd eaten on the West Coast before moving to Santa Fe in 2003.

Until that moment, I had despaired of ever tasting anything remotely resembling Thai food in or around New Mexico. I hadn't tried every Thai restaurant in the region, but I had sampled the offerings at all the Santa Fe restaurants that claimed to serve Thai cuisine. And while many served food that tasted good, it didn't taste Thai.

I suppose that's to be expected in an area where few Thai people settle and most non-Asians don't seem to know the difference between true Thai cuisine and its various imposters.

If I sound like a snob, it's because I was fortunate enough to eat my first Thai meal in the home of a woman who had moved to Tacoma, Wash., from Thailand shortly before I met her. When my host opened her own Thai restaurant — Tacoma's first — a year or so later within driving distance of the newspaper where I worked, I became a steady customer until I left for the Southwest nearly two decades later.

Bye-bye Thai

I was missing authentic Thai food long before retreating to my hermitage in the sagebrush highlands of southeast Utah two years ago.

Hungering for the real thing but unwilling to return to the congested Northwest, I bought Jennifer Brennan's The Original Thai Cookbook, which claims to be "the first complete, authentic Thai cookbook published in America." But I never found time in Santa Fe to put the book to work, especially when the city's major supermarkets stocked curry pastes and soup bases with which I could make flavorful versions of my favorite dishes at home.

In Utah, there was time to cook but nowhere to buy specialty ingredients like galangal (Thai ginger) or kaffir lime. Taste of Thai's delicious Coconut Ginger Soup base became a staple, but Moab supermarkets quit stocking it soon after my house was built and I moved
50 miles from town. The only option was to learn to make these dishes from scratch.

Complex combinations

The secret to swimming rama is the viscous peanut-chile sauce that's blended with chicken or tofu and poured atop a small mound of spinach and served with rice. Peanut sauce epitomizes the delicate, complex balance of sweet and spicy, salty and sour, soothing and scalding that characterizes the eclectic cuisine of Thailand.

Prepared for disappointment, I was amazed when the first swimming rama recipe I tried was as good as any I had eaten in a West Coast restaurant.

My experiments with tom kha gai soup were less thrilling, and I came to believe the online chefs who insisted that regular ginger couldn't stand in for galangal.

But, by following a recipe posted on the Thai Kitchen Web site, I produced a promising facsimile of tom kha gai. I'm confident it will taste better with galangal and the proper amount of coconut milk (14 ounces rather than the 8 I had on hand), which should shove the sodium-saturated fish sauce into the background where it belongs.


Sautéed tofu can be substituted for chicken in this recipe that combines the sweetness of peanut butter with the intense heat of chile.

SWIMMING RAMA
(Serves 4)

1-3/4 to 2 pounds fresh spinach, washed and stemmed (or two 10 ounce packages fresh spinach)
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 11/4 pounds), sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide strips
Peanut Sauce (recipe follows)
1 fresh red chile pepper, seeded and finely chopped
4 to 6 cups cooked rice, for serving

Set vegetable steamer in large pot; add water to within 1/4-inch of bottom of steamer basket. Bring water to a boil over high heat. Layer about one-quarter of spinach in basket; cover and steam 15 seconds. Quickly turn leaves over with tongs. Cover and steam 15 seconds or until leaves are bright green and barely wilted. Transfer spinach to colander. Repeat with remaining spinach. Lay spinach on serving platter or individual plates.

Bring 6 cups water to a boil in large saucepan over high heat. Add chicken to boiling water; remove saucepan from heat. Let stand, covered, 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center.

Prepare peanut sauce (recipe follows).

Drain chicken; stir into hot peanut sauce and pour mixture over spinach. Sprinkle with reserved chile pepper. Serve with rice.

PEANUT SAUCE
(Makes about 2 cups)

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chunky or creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons lime juice

Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes or until tender.

Reduce heat to medium. Add peanut butter, brown sugar, fish sauce, paprika and red pepper; stir until smooth. Slowly stir in coconut milk until well blended. (At this point, sauce may be cooled, covered and refrigerated up to 2 days in advance.)

Stir sauce constantly over medium heat until bubbling gently. Reduce heat to medium-low. Combine water and cornstarch in small cup; stir into sauce. Cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes or until sauce is thickened. Stir in lime juice.

COCONUT-GINGER SOUP
(Serves 3 to 4)

12 ounces chicken, or shrimp, or firm tofu, strained
1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk (regular or lite)
1/2 cup water
3 pieces fresh lemongrass (tender bottom 2/3-inch of stalk only)
6 tablespoons fish sauce
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
2 kaffir lime leaves (optional)
1 inch piece fresh galangal (Thai ginger) or Chinese ginger, sliced and bruised
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons roasted red chili paste
1 (15-ounce) can straw mushrooms, drained
Optional garnish: sprigs of fresh cilantro

Bone and skin chicken or clean, shell and devein shrimp. If using chicken or tofu, cut into large bite-size cubes. In a large pot, combine the coconut milk, water, lemongrass, fish sauce, lime juice, kaffir lime leaves, galangal and sugar.

Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add roasted red chili paste and stir well to incorporate.

Add the mushrooms and chicken, shrimp or tofu; simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Remove lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and galangal from soup before serving. Garnish with cilantro, if desired.