Thai Cuisine

Thai cuisine refers to typical foods, beverages, and cooking styles common to the country of Thailand in Southeast Asia. Thai Cuisine is well-known for being hot and spicy and for its balance of five fundamental flavors in each dish or the overall meal - hot (spicy), sour, sweet, salty, and bitter (optional).

Although popularly considered as a single cuisine, Thai food would be more accurately described as four regional cuisines corresponding to the four main regions of the country: Northern, Northeastern (or Isan), Central, and Southern, each cuisine sharing similar foods or derived from those of neighboring countries. Southern curries, for example, tend to contain coconut milk and fresh turmeric, while northeastern dishes often include lime juice. The cuisine of Northeastern (or Isan) Thailand is heavily influenced by Laos. Many popular dishes eaten in Thailand were originally Chinese dishes which were introduced to Thailand mainly by Teochew people who make up the majority of the Thai Chinese. Such dishes include jok, kway teow rad na, khao kha moo (also known as moo pa-loh) and khao mun gai.

Thai food is known for its enthusiastic use of fresh (rather than dried) herbs and spices as well as fish sauce. Thai food is popular in many Western countries.

 

Serving

 

Instead of a multiple main course with side dishes found in Western cuisine, a Thai full meal typically consists of either a single dish or rice with many complementary dishes served concurrently and shared by all.

Nowadays, Thai food is eaten with a fork and spoon but traditionally, it was eaten with the right hand. Only noodle dishes (and then mainly only the noodle soups) are eaten with chopsticks and a spoon.

Rice is a staple component of Thai cuisine, as it is of most Asian cuisines. The highly prized, sweet-smelling jasmine rice is indigenous to Thailand. This naturally aromatic long-grained rice grows in abundance in the verdant patchwork of paddy fields that blanket Thailand's central plains. Steamed rice is accompanied by highly aromatic curries, stir-frys and other dishes, incorporating sometimes large quantities of chillies, lime juice and lemon grass. Curries, stir-frys and others may be poured onto the rice creating a single dish called khao rad gang, a popular meal when time is limited. Sticky rice is a unique variety of rice that contains an unusual balance of the starches present in all rice, causing it to cook up to a sticky texture. It is the daily bread (so to speak) of Laos and substitutes ordinary rice in rural Northern and Northeastern Thai cuisine, where Lao cultural influence is strong.

Noodles, known in much of Southeast Asia by the Chinese name kway teow, are popular as well but usually come as a single dish, like the stir-fried Pad Thai or noodle soups. Many Chinese cuisine are adapted to suit Thai taste, such as kway teow rua, a sour and spicy rice noodle soup.

 

Nam prik is Thai chilli sauce or paste. Each region has its own special versions. It is prepared by crushing together chillies with various ingredients such as garlic and shrimp paste using a mortar and pestle. It is then often served with vegetables such as cucumbers, cabbage and yard-long beans, either raw or blanched. The vegetables are dipped into the sauce and eaten with rice. Nam prik may also be simply eaten alone with rice or, in a bit of Thai and Western fusion, spread on toast.

 

Thai food is generally eaten with a fork and a spoon. Chopsticks are used rarely, primarily for the consumption of noodle soups. The fork, held in the left hand, is used to push food into the spoon. However, it is common practice for Thais and hill tribe peoples in the North and Northeast to eat sticky rice with their right hands by making it into balls that are dipped into side dishes and eaten. Thai-Muslims also frequently eat meals with only their right hands.

 

Ingredients

 

The ingredient found in almost all Thai dishes and every region of the country is nam pla, a very aromatic and strong tasting fish sauce. Shrimp paste, a combination of ground shrimp and salt, is also extensively used.

 

Thai dishes in the Central and Southern regions use a wide variety of leaves rarely found in the West, such as kaffir lime leaves. The characteristic flavour of kaffir lime leaves appear in nearly every Thai soup (e.g., the hot and sour Tom yam) or curry from those areas. It is frequently combined with garlic, galangal, lemon grass, turmeric and/or fingerroot (krachai), blended together with liberal amounts of various chillies to make curry paste. Fresh Thai basil is also used to add fragrance in certain dishes such as Green curry. Thais also use grapow (kraphao) (holy basil), which has a distinctive scent of clove.

Other typical ingredients are the small green Thai eggplants, tamarind, palm and coconut sugars, lime juice, coconut vinegar, and coconut milk. A variety of chillies and spicy elements are found in most Thai dishes, including the small and very hot phrik khi nu (Thai pepper [a.k.a. bird, bird's eye, or mouse-dropping chilli]).

 

Further ingredients include pahk chee (cilantro or coriander), rahk pahk chee (cilantro/coriander roots), curry pastes, pong kah-ree (curry powder), see-ew dahm (dark soy sauce), gung haeng (dried shrimp), pong pa-loh (five-spice powder), tua fahk yao (long beans or yard-long beans), nahmahn hoi (oyster sauce), rice and tapioca flour, and nahm prik pao (roasted chilli paste).

Although broccoli is often used in Asian restaurants in the west in pad thai and rad na, it was never actually used in any traditional Thai food in Thailand and is still rarely seen in Thailand. Usually, kana (gailan) is used

 

Breakfast dishes

 

Jok - a rice porridge very commonly eaten in Thailand for breakfast. Similar to the rice congee eaten in other parts of Asia.

 

Khao Tom - a Thai style rice soup, usually with pork, chicken or shrimp.

 

Individual dishes

 

Khao Pad - One of the most common dishes in Thailand, fried rice, Thai style. Usually with chicken, beef, shrimp, pork, crab or coconut or pineapple, or vegetarian.

 

Pad Thai - rice noodles pan fried with fish sauce, sugar, lime juice or tamarind pulp, chopped peanuts, and egg combined with chicken, seafood, or tofu.

 

Rad na - wide rice noodles in gravy, with beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, or seafood.

 

Khao pad naem - fried rice with fermented sausage (typically from the Northeast)

 

Pad see ew - noodles stir-fried with see ew dum (thick sweet soy sauce) and nahm plah (fish sauce) and pork or chicken.

 

Pad kee mao - noodles stir-fried with Thai basil

 

Khao khluk kapi - rice stir-fried with shrimp paste, served with sweetened pork and vegetables.

Khanom chin namya - round boiled rice noodles topped with a fish based sauce and eaten with fresh leaves and vegetables.

 

Khao soi - crispy wheat noodles in sweet chicken curry soup (a Northern dish)

Khao pad gai - fried rice with chicken

 

Khao mun gai - rice steamed with garlic, with boiled chicken, chicken stock and a dipping sauce

 

Gai pad grapao - minced chicken with garlic, chillies, and Holy basil

 

Gai pad med mamoung himaphan - juicy chunks of chicken with cashew nuts and chillies

 

Central Thai shared dishes

 

Tom yam - hot & sour soup with meat. With shrimp it is called Tom yam goong, with seafood (typically squid, fish) Tom yam talae, with chicken Tom yam gai.

 

Gai Pad Khing - chicken stir-fried with sliced ginger.

 

Tom kha gai - hot sweet soup with chicken and coconut milk.

 

Red curry - made with copious amounts of dried red chillies and usually served with chicken.

 

reen curry - green curry, made with fresh green chillies and flavoured with Thai basil, and chicken or fish meatballs. This dish is one of the spiciest of Thai curries.

 

Massaman curry - an Indian style curry, usually made by Thai-Muslims, containing roasted dried spices, such as coriander seed, that are rarely found in other Thai curries.

 

Pad kraphao - beef, pork or chicken stir fried with Thai holy basil.

 

Pad pak ruam - stir fried combination of vegetables depending on availability and preference.

 

Phanaeng curry - a mild creamy curry with beef, chicken, or pork. It includes some roasted dried spices similar to Massaman curry.

 

Tod man - deep fried fishcake made from knifefish or shrimp

 

Boo Jah - crab cakes with pork, garlic, and pepper served with a simple spicy sauce, such as Sri Rachaa sauce, sweet-hot garlic sauce, nahm prik pao (roasted chilli paste), or red curry paste and chopped green onions.

 

Choo-Chee Plah Ga-Pong - snapper in choo-chee curry sauce (thick red curry sauce)

 

Northeastern shared dishes

 

The cuisine of Northeastern Thailand is shared with the cuisine of Laos, as Isan people are of Lao heritage and speak a language that is mutually intelligible with the Lao language.

Som tam - Grated papaya salad, pounded with a mortar and pestle. There are three main variations: Som tam poo with salted black crab, and Som tam Thai with peanuts, dried shrimp and palm sugar and Som tam plara from north eastern part of Thailand (Isan), with salted gourami fish, white eggplants, fish sauce and long bean.

 

Larb - sour salads containing meat, onions, chillies, roasted rice powder and garnished with mint.

 

Nam Tok - made with beef and identical to larb, except that the beef is cut into thin strips rather than minced.

 

Yam - general name for any type of sour salad, such as those made with glass noodles or with seafood.

 

Tom saep - Northeastern-style hot & sour soup

 

Gai yang - marinated, grilled chicken

 

Suea Rong Hai - grilled beef brisket

 

Khao niao - Glutinous rice is eaten as a staple food both in the Northeast as in the North of Thailand.

 

Nam prik num - dipping sauce made from roasted eggplant, green chillies, and garlic ground together in a mortar and pestle.

 

Desserts and drinks

 

Kao niao ma muang - Sticky rice and ripe mango

 

Lod Chong Nam Ka Ti - Pandan flavored rice flour noodles in coconut milk

 

Kanom Tan - Palm flavored mini cake with shredded coconut on top

 

Ruam Mit - Chestnuts covered in flour, jackfruit, tapioca, and Lod Chong in coconut milk

 

Kanom Chun - multi-layers of pandan-flavored sticky rice flour mixed with coconut milk

 

Kanom Bua Loy - taro root mixed with flour into balls in coconut milk

 

Variations

 

Throughout the country there are many interpretations and variations on these common dishes. Other dishes from the northern part of Thailand include unique sauces and exotic foods, such as raw beef, fermented fish paste, and deep fried insect larvae (also enjoyed in the Northeast). The culinary creativity even extends to naming: one tasty larva translates as "freight train" and the smallest, hottest chillies are known as phrik khii nuu , literally "mouse dropping chillies". They are called that because of their size. In the Northeast, eating insects is common, and the giant water bug is popular.

The dish nam prik pla too is particularly common in central Thailand because of its low cost. It consists of deep fried Indian mackerel, Rastrelliger kanagurta (pla too) served with a dip made from shrimp paste and chilli (nam prik kapi). The fish are traditionally presented in pairs, placed head-to-tail on a round bamboo dish.