Phak Kat ผักกาด

[Kanga Japan]

PHAK KAT is often shown as lettuce, daikon, turnip, etc.

It is obviously a prefix for a certain group of vegetables. Could someone possibly provide me with an accurate description, as is shown in the Thai dictionaries?

Common web sites are not clear enough.

Thank you for your help.

[AyG]

Rough translation of definition of กาด (not that I think it's going to help you much):

ชื่อไม้ล้มลุกหลายชนิดหลายสกุล บางชนิดใช้ใบ บางชนิดใช้หัว

The name annuals from many families. For some kinds we use the leaves (as vegetables); for some kinds we use the heads

เป็นผัก เช่น ผักกาดกวางตุ้ง (Brassica chinensis Jusl.) ผักกาดขม

as vegetables. For example, Cantonese phak kaat (Brassica chinensis Jusl.) bitter phak kaat [usually translated as spinach]

หรือ ผักกาดเขียว (B. juncea Czern. et Coss.) ผักกาดขาว หรือ

or green phak kaat (B. juncea Czern. et Coss.). White phak kaat or

แป๊ะช่าย (B. chinensis Jusl. var. pekinensis Rupr.) ผักกาดหัว

[Chinese] Uncle Chaay (B. chinensis Jusl. var. pekinensis Rupr.). Head phak kaat [radish]

หรือไช้เท้า (Raphanus sativus L.) ในวงศ์ Cruciferae, ผักกาดหอม

or ??? foot (Raphanus sativus L.). In the family Cruciferae, fragrant phak kaat [lettuce]

(Lactuca sativa L.) ในวงศ์ Compositae, ผักเหล่านี้เป็นพรรณไม้

(Lactuca sativa L.). In the family Compositate, these species can be a kind of tree

ที่นําเข้ามาปลูกเพื่อเป็นอาหาร.

which is grown for food.

[Kanga Japan]

Dear AyG,

Thank you so much for that. I appreciate the time you have taken to look this up, as well as provide the translations.

There must be some underlying point connecting vegetables in this group. At first I thought it was 'head vegetables', such as lettuce, cabbage, etc., but it seems that daikon and carrot also use this prefix.

I will manage to get around it somehow, by providing some examples, such as those listed.

I appreciate your help.

[AyG]

All these vegetables have edible leaves, which might be the connecting factor. The leaves are green, slightly bitter, and not aromatic (i.e. they are not herbs). You can be pretty certain that in the olden days people used both the leaves and roots of some species, though now the leaves aren't eaten so much, hence the name being primarily associated with the root.

[Pla shado]

My wife became exasperated with me when I pressed her on the relationship between vegetables that were called ผักกาด. Other than to list a number of them, she had no explanation as to why they were grouped as they are. Although it is common knowledge which vegetables are phak kat it seems that lots of folks don't know distinctly why they fall into that category.

[Kanga Japan]

Dear AyG,

Thanks for that theory. You could be right. I will add the words 'with edible leaves'.

Your help, as always, is much appreciated.

[Kanga Japan]

Dear Pla shado,

Thank you for your (and your wife's comments). It is quite exasperating sometimes to try and determine the connections to some vegetables using prefixes - particularly PHAK KAT.

AyG has kindly provided some information and it seems that this prefix applies to cabbage, lettuce, daikon, carrot, etc. - with the connection being that they have edible leaves. Thank you for your concern.

[fire69water]

Actually, once I came across ผักกาด as a menu option in a ผัดไทย foodstall. I asked the staff to show me what it looked like, expecting some kind of vegetables. What she showed me was something similar to Singapore's fried carrot cake. I ordered it on another occasion and indeed it is a Thai version of our fried carrot cake. Not as soft as Singapore version. Not that tasty, really.

[AyG]

Actually, once I came across ผักกาด as a menu option in a ผัดไทย foodstall. I asked the staff to show me what it looked like, expecting some kind of vegetables. What she showed me was something similar to Singapore's fried carrot cake. I ordered it on another occasion and indeed it is a Thai version of our fried carrot cake. Not as soft as Singapore version. Not that tasty, really.

That had me confused. I was thinking of a sponge with raisins and walnuts, topped with cream cheese icing. And then you fry it???

It turns out that Singapore carrot cake is made from daikon/mooli/white radish, whatever you call it, which is grated, boiled, then bound with flour, steamed and fried. Not even a slice of carrot in it. Anyway, that would explain the Thai name, given that daikon in Thai is ผักกาด.

Pretty certain this is a Thai-Chinese dish, rather than a native Thai one.

[Kanga Japan]

Dear fire69water and AyG,

That is interesting. I am sure that what AyG is referring to is what is called DAIKON MOCHI (大根餅) in Japanese. I understand that it is also called the following:

English: turnip cake or daikon radish cake

Cantonese: law bock gaw

Although it is Chinese in origin, it is not served very often at Chinese restaurants here in Japan - mainly at Taiwanese restaurants. I also have a recipe for it in a Taiwanese cooking book I have. It is one of my favourite foods.

Just for your information, there are quite a few sites on DAIKON MOCHI in English.

[fire69water]

Actually, once I came across ผักกาด as a menu option in a ผัดไทย foodstall. I asked the staff to show me what it looked like, expecting some kind of vegetables. What she showed me was something similar to Singapore's fried carrot cake. I ordered it on another occasion and indeed it is a Thai version of our fried carrot cake. Not as soft as Singapore version. Not that tasty, really.

That had me confused. I was thinking of a sponge with raisins and walnuts, topped with cream cheese icing. And then you fry it???

It turns out that Singapore carrot cake is made from daikon/mooli/white radish, whatever you call it, which is grated, boiled, then bound with flour, steamed and fried. Not even a slice of carrot in it. Anyway, that would explain the Thai name, given that daikon in Thai is ผักกาด.

Pretty certain this is a Thai-Chinese dish, rather than a native Thai one.

Yes, there is usually no hint of carrots in Singapore's fried carrot cake; it was probably an early mis-translation as back then, people were more familiar with the word 'carrot' than 'radish'. But I think most stalls don't even bother with adding radish, so it's just rice flour. But I did come a across a stall which sprinkled carrot slices before serving.

Fried carrot cake in Singapore comes in two version: the first one is usually served in dim sum shop and they are the same as daikon mochi in Japan, the second one is cut into small pieces and fried with oil on a flat round plate. You can request for black or white versions, black is with sweet black sauce added. ผักกาด is the Thai version the second type.

[Mole]

Daikon is called หัวผักกาด [hua phak kat] or ผักกาดหัว [phak kat hua].

wikipedia

[Kanga Japan]

Dear Mole,

Thank you for those. I already knew HUA PHAK KAT, but not PHAK KAT HUA.

I also have HUA CHAI THAO หัวไชเท้า as daikon and trust that this is correct also.

Your help is appreciated.

[Mole]

Yes, "chai thao" is Teochew Chinese loanword.

[Kanga Japan]

Thanks Mole,

I appreciate your confirmation.