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Thai food: colourful, inexpensive, full of flavour,
often spicy and always available - you just can't
beat it. There are five flavours which make up every
Thai meal - hot (spicy), sweet, sour, salty and bitter.
Thai people are very passionate about their food,
and love nothing more than sitting down to a huge
meal with family or friends. Usually, several dishes
will be ordered at one time for people to share. Most
visitors quickly become hooked on trying the hundreds
of Thai dishes, which can be anything from extremely
spicy vegetable salads, rich curries or incredibly
sweet deserts.
Although each dish is different there are certain
ingredients that are essential for Thai cuisine. Almost
all dishes contain nam pla, a pungent and strong tasting
fish sauce as well as shrimp paste, a combination
of ground shrimp and salt. Most Thai dishes contain
a range of chilies and spices as well as curry pastes,
soy sauce, dried shrimp, Thai pepper, and roasted
chili paste.
Vegetarian food can be found if you know what to
ask for. If you tell a waitress you are vegetarian
(mung-sawirat), they will usually be able to suggest
vegetarian dishes. Fish and seafood is easy to find.
Here are some of the most popular Thai dishes which
should not be missed.
Breakfast is very different to what is served in
western countries and can take a little getting used
to. There are two main breakfast dishes, Jok, a kind
of rice porridge with pieces of meat, ginger and herbs
and Khao Tom, a Thai style rice soup.
In Thailand, main meals can be eaten at any time
of the day and are often enjoyed 3, 4 or even 5 times
a day.
Khao Pad literally means friend rice and is
very popular. It is usually made with chicken, beef,
shrimp or pork.
Pad Thai is pan fried rice noodles with fish
sauce, sugar, lime juice, chopped peanuts, and egg
mixed with chicken, seafood, or tofu. Look out for
carts selling this incredibly cheaply on Khaosan Road.
Tom yam is rather spicy and sour soup with
meat. With shrimp it is called Tom yam goong or Tom
yam kung with seafood. Eat this dish with rice to
reduce the spiciness.
Tom kha gai is hot sweet soup with chicken
and coconut milk.
Rad na is wide rice noodles in a thick gravy-like
sauce with beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, or seafood.
Khao pad naem is found in the Northeast and
is fried rice with fermented sausage.
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Pad see ew is noodles stir-fried with thick
soi sauce, fish sauce and pork or chicken.
Gai Pad Khing is chicken stir-fried with sliced
ginger.
Red curry or gaeng phet meaning 'hot curry',
is made with large amounts of dried red chillies.
Green curry or gaeng khiew-waan, meaning green
curry, is made with fresh green chillies and Thai
basil, chicken or fish balls. This dish is spicy,
rich and creamy.
Massaman curry is an Indian style curry which
is not quite as spicy as the Thai alternatives, containing
roasted dried spices, chicken and potato.
Pad pak ruam - stir fried vegetables, great
a vegetarian option or side dish.
Som tam is a fresh, spicy grated papaya salad,
where the flavours are pounded with a mortar and pestle
to combine them. Som tam poo is made with salted black
crab, Som tam Thai has peanuts, dried shrimp and palm
sugar and Som tam plara is from north eastern part
of Thailand with salted gourami fish, white eggplants,
fish sauce and long bean.
Larb are very spicy sour salads containing
meat, onions, chillies, roasted rice powder and garnished
with mint.
Yam is the name for any type of sour salad,
such as those made with glass noodles.
There are a large selection of deserts available,
all sweet and many involving banana or another fruit
and coconut cream.
Kao niao ma muang is the world famous sticky
rice and ripe mango.
Kao niao Durian is sticky rice and durian
in coconut milk.
Gluay buad chee is banana in coconut milk.
Make sure you try Cha Yen - Thai Iced Tea
and Kah-Feh Yen - Thai Iced Coffee. Very sweet and
creamy, they can be a good way to cool down.
Although beer is widely available, most Thais choose
to drink whiskey, sharing a bottle between the group
and adding water and ice.
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