Glorious Thai Cuisine
The Taste of the Orient
There is no simple way to say it but Thai food is simply delicious. Having lived in Thailand I simply love Thai food. Let’s begin…
Thai food base their recipes on blending 5 basic flavours salty, sweet, sour, bitter and spicy hot.
Rice is the main dietary staple diet in Thailand, there are 2 kinds of rice, the standard white rice and glutinous or sticky rice. It is eaten at almost every meal and also made into flour used in noodles, dumplings and yummy desserts. Most of the main dishes use beef, chicken, pork or seafood, there are also some wonderful vegetarian dishes also to be sampled.
Thai food is famous for its very unique combinations of seasoning, though it is hot and very spicy, Thai cuisine is carefully balanced to bring out all the wonderful flavours in each dish. Curries is one of the best dishes which you will get to sample all these flavours from.
Pad Thai Noodles
The other common flavourings are fish sauce, dried shrimp paste, lemon grass, and the spices coriander, Thai basil, garlic, ginger, cumin cardoon and cinnamon. A soup is often eaten with most meals as this helps balance all of the hot flavours of the dishes, as do steamed rice, mild noodle dishes and lastly the sweet desserts.
Many of the dishes are accompanied with dipping sauces the most famous one being Nam Pal Prig.
Coconuts play an important role also in the Thai diet, coconut milk and shredded coconut are used in so many of the dishes, especially desserts, including papayas, mangoes.
Thai cuisine differs from one region to another. Seafood in popular southern coastal areas. The spiciest Thai food being in the northeast region, extremely hot if you like hot you have to try it.
Food for Holiday & Religious Celebrations
Thais celebrate numerous seasonal festivals and all of the Buddhist holidays feast with banquets of all the amazing foods available. Lots of the foods eaten have symbolic meanings. One of the most important days to celebrate with food is Songkran, the traditional Thai new year, this is celebrated in April. It is a real site to see, people tend to throw water over each other to let everyone start fresh for the coming year. The traditional egg rolls are normally eaten during this period.
Mealtime Customs
Thais are notorious for their love of snacks, and there are so many to choose from. Food stalls are almost everywhere due to the Thai habit of snacking throughout the day. Stalls sell hundreds of different snacks, the most popular being fish cakes, egg rolls, fried rice dishes and not forgetting noodles which are served with a choice of many seasonings.
Thais eat 3 meals daily, plus snacks. Dinner would have to be the main meal. Breakfast often consists of fried rice, boiled eggs, and foods from the day before which were not eaten. Lunch is normally a single dish either rice or noodles, if rice is it usually accompanied with a lovely fried egg on the top. Dinner time consists of more dishes and many different flavours and cooking methods. A soup will also be served and generally sipped during dinner. This would be an average Thai dinner steamed rice, curry, vegetables, cold salt and soup. I strongly recommend some Thai beer also to accompany the dinner, Singha beer, and Chang beer are the popular ones.
Fresh fruit is tends to be served at the end of the meal.
Street Food
The best way to sample Thai Food
You can’t be in Thailand and not try street foods, you get the real deal here and at really affordable prices. Bangkok has to be one of the best places to sample street food. Ready to eat meals, snack, fruits and drinks sold by hawkers or vendors at food stalls or food carts on the street side in Thailand are the best. It has the best variety of offerings and the abundance of street hawkers. The atmosphere is something else, you really get to see all sorts going by as you eat or you can simply order and take it home and enjoy in the comforts of home.
Thai food in general
Food markets in Thailand, open air hall with permanent stalls tend to operate as a collection of street stalls, each vendor supplies their own set of table and limited service. Night food markets have the hustle and bustle of the lifestyle and mobile vendors spring up almost at any space which is fit to serve. The best thing about Thai food is its freshness and the aromas circulate in the air as you walk past it is heaven and always will make you hungry, you will for sure gain a bit of weight. Food is a very social event here in Thailand.
The Top 10 Foods to try
All of them are number 1
Kai Pad Med Mamuang Himmapan – Stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts
Por Pia Tord – Fried Spring rolls
Panaeng – Meat in spicy coconut cream
Som Tam – Spicy Papaya salad
Moo Sa-Te – Grilled pork sticks with turmeric
Tom Yam Kai – Spicy chicken soup
Tom Kha Kai – Chicken in coconut milk soup
Kang Keaw wan Kai – Green chicken curry
Pad Thai – Classic fried noodles
Tom Yam Goong – Spicy shrimp soup (The most famous dish in Thailand)