HER ROYAL Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn last Saturday brought a little light into the sombre mourning period for her father by lending a hand in the public kitchen.
Opening the Patpat Camellia Oleifera Tea-seed Oil Festival at the EmQuartier mall, the Princess used the oil to season gai naab krata (chicken in a pan) and kai pra athit (the more charmingly named “fried egg and the sun”).
The Chaipattana Foundation and The Mall Group are hosting the festival, which ends today.
Princess Sirindhorn recalled that, when she was young, her father, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, occasionally cooked kai pra athit for the family, so all of his children know how to prepare it.
“His Majesty would crack an egg into a bowl and add boiled rice seasoned with sauce,” she said. “The rice has to be beautifully well-cooked already and then fried in the pan, so that on the plate it looks as if the sun is shining on the rice.”
She recorded the name of the dish in her journal and remembers asking her father why he called it that. He explained that the sun’s surface, viewed through a special telescope, looks like a mass of rice grains.
While cooking the dish at the mall, the Princess asked Sumet Tantivejkul of the Chaipattana Foundation where the eggs came from. He confirmed that all the ingredients were locally produced in different areas under the foundation’s auspices.
The Princess flipped the egg, joking that a professional chef would toss it in the air, but she didn’t dare, lest it end up on the head of a nearby photographer recording the action.
While preparing the kai naab krata, she said it wasn’t one of His Majesty’s specialities, but the palace chef made it. The chicken is marinated overnight in garlic, pepper, coriander root and brandy, then “pressed” into a heated pan rather than being fried. She sprinkled some Patpat Camellia oleifera tea-seed oil into the pan first.
She said she’d been up at 5am practising this dish. If you prefer the chicken darker, oyster sauce will do the trick, she said, but it makes it salty too. “And if it’s too salty, you just eat it with rice.”
Adding white wine to the pan, the Princess quipped that monks would still be able to eat the dish because all the alcohol evaporates during the cooking.
It was Princess Sirindhorn who in 2004 suggested that the Chaipattana Foundation cultivate Camellia oleifera tea seeds from China. A research centre was established and tea-seed oil eventually went into production. A factory now produces the high-quality oil both for consumption in food and as an additive for cosmetics.
The Doi Tung Development Project in Chiang Mai is the focus for the venture. As of last February the tea was being grown on 952,000 bushes over 3,650 rai. The plantations have proved to be an excellent use for deteriorated forest areas. The income earned by local residents underlines the late King’s lessons in living in harmony with the land in a sustainable way.
Nutritious Camellia oleifera tea-seed oil has been known in China for a millennium. It’s been called “the olive oil of the East” thanks to its anti-oxidants, healthy fats and absence of trans-fats. Its saturated fat is said to prevent or help with heart and arterial disease, paralysis, high blood pressure and diabetes.
With a boiling point of 250 degrees Celsius, the oil can be used in frying, marinating and in salad dressings.
Tea-seed oil is healthy for all ages and equally for people who are overweight or pregnant. Its quality is guaranteed in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practice under the Thai Food and Drug Administration and Thai Heart Foundation. It even has a halal rating.

– The Patpat Camellia oleifera Tea-seed Oil Festival ends today in the Quartier Gallery on M Floor of B Building at the EmQuartier.
– On sale are the tea-seed oil, cosmetics containing it, and other products from Patpat, the Chaipattana Foundation and Junkapak.
– Chefs including ML Kwantip Devakula are hosting cooking demonstrations using the oil and coffee beans from Dao, Thai Peppery and Happy Beef by M.
– Patpat Camellia oleifera tea-seed oil is sold at Patpat shops (Sanam Suea Pa, Rama VIII, Rama IX), Chulalongkorn Hospital, the Paseo Town, Gourmet Market, Home Fresh Mart, Central, Big C Super Centre, Golden Place, |Phufa, Doi Kam, Verasu and S&P.