Thai
cuisine is known for its balance of five fundamental
flavors in each dish or the overall meal - hot (spicy), sour,
sweet, salty and bitter (optional). One of the important ingredients
is nam pla (Thai), a very aromatic and strong tasting
fish sauce. Typically a full meal consists of many complementary
dishes served concurrently instead of a single main course with
side dishes.
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. Rice dishes are accompanied
by highly aromatic curries, stir-fries and other dishes, incorporating
sometimes large quantities of chillies, lime (Citrus aurantifolia)
juice and lemon grass. Noodles are popular as well. Noodles usually
come as a single dish, like Pad Thai
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 especially in Australia, New Zealand,
some countries in Europe such as the United Kingdom, as well as
the United States, and Canada.
Ingredient
The ingredient found in almost all Thai dishes and every region
of the country is nam pla
(Thai), 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
(bai makrut, Thai). The characteristic flavour of kaffir lime
leaves' appears 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. Other typical ingredients include the small green
Thai eggplants, tamarind,
palm and coconut sugars,
lime juice, and coconut
milk. A variety of chilies and spicy elements are
found in most Thai dishes.
Other ingredients also include pahk
chee (cilantro or coriander), rahk
pahk chee (cilantro/coriander roots), curry
pastes, pong kah-ree
(curry powder), si-yu 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), prik
Thai (Thai pepper), 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, gailan
is used.
Breakfast dishes
- Jok (Thai) - a rice porridge very
commonly eaten in Thailand for breakfast. Similar to the rice
congee eaten in other parts of Asia.
- Khao Tom (Thai) - a Thai style
rice soup, usually with pork.
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 ( jay ).
- 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 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 sweeten pork and vegetables.
- Khanom chin namya - round boiled
rice noodles topped with various curry sauces 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
- Gai pad grapao - minced chicken
with garlic, chilies, and Holy basil
- Gai pad med mamoung himaphan -
juicy chunks of chicken with cashew nuts and chilies
Central
Thai shared dishes
- Tod man pla krai with dipping sauce
Massaman curry
- Tom yam - hot & sour soup with
meat. With shrimp it is called Tom yam goong or Tom yam kung ,
with seafood (typically shrimp, 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.
- Saté - grilled meat, usually
pork or chicken, served with cucumber salad and peanut sauce (actually
of Indonesian origin, but now a popular street food in Thailand).
- Red curry (Gaeng Phet lit. 'hot
curry') - made with copious amounts of dried red chillies
- Green curry (Gaeng khiew-waan,)
- 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 prik - usually beef stir fried
with chili, called Neua pad prik
- Pad kaphrao - beef, pork or chicken
stir fried with Thai Holy basil.
- Pad pak ruam - stir fried combination
of vegetables depending on availability and preference.
- Panaeng - dry curry with beef (Panang
beef), chicken, or pork. It includes some roasted dried spices
similar to Massaman curry.
- Tod man - deep fried fishcake made
from knifefish (Tod man pla krai) or shrimp (Tod man kung)
- 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 chili
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 - known in Lao/Isan language
as Tam mak hung. 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 (Yam Wun
Sen), or with seafood (Yam Talae).
- Tom saep - Northeastern-style hot
& sour soup
- Gai yang - marinated, grilled chicken
- Sticky rice
- Nam prik num - dipping sauce made
from roasted eggplant, green chillies, and garlic grounded together
in a mortar and pestle.
Desserts
and drinks
- Mo Geng, a cake mainly made of
eggs
- Kao niao ma muang - Sticky rice
and ripe mango
- Kao niao Durian - Sticky rice and
durian in coconut milk
- Gluay buad chee - Banana in coconut
milk
- Foi Tong , Tong yib , Tong yod
- Different forms of egg yolk mixed with sugar and other ingredients.
Some believe this is European in origin, particularly through
the influence of Maria Guyomar de Pinha in the 17th century.
- Kanome Maw Gaeng - sweet potato
pudding
- Fried Banana with Ice Cream
- Cha Yen - Thai Iced Tea
- Kah-Feh Yen - Thai Iced Coffee
Coconut is a main ingredient in desserts, in particular the milk
and the shredded coconut pieces. The coconut milk is used in a
lot of dishes as the soup or base and some of the desserts are
rolled in shredded coconut for taste and look. These are some
of the desserts that contain coconut:
- 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
