THAI CUISINE

Thai cuisine

Features:

Thai cuisine is one of the healthiest foods you can eat. In fact, several Thai dishes, such as  tom yum soup, are currently under scientific study for their incredible health benefits.

Thai food is generally spicy, but there are plenty of tasty dishes suited to the western palate. Chillies have been used in Thai kitchens for the past 400 years.

it's already known that many of the fresh herbs and spices used in Thai cooking - such as turmeric, galangal, coriander, lemongrass, and fresh chillies - have immune-boosting and disease-fighting power.

The secret to successful Thai cooking lies in the preparation of ingredients ahead of time, especially when using a wok, since the actual cooking is fast and furious. Most Thai stir-fries (including noodle dishes) are cooked at high heats and for only a few minutes, which is what makes them particularly fresh and delicious. Another advantage of this method is that most of the nutrients remain in the food—vegetables, especially, maintain their vitamin content as well as their satisfying crunchiness.

Herbs and Spices are an essential part of Thai cooking. Used in combination, they help achieve a balance of the four essential Thai tastes: salty, sour, spicy, and sweet.

Regional Cuisine

Thailand can be divided into five main culinary regions, the north, the northeast, the south (including the Gulf of Thailand), the central plains, and of course, Bangkok. Each region has its own cooking style according to available ingredients and local tastes. Try sampling recipes from the various regions to get a feeling for Thai cooking as a whole. If you’re like me, you will find your culinary instincts relate better to some areas more than others. This, in turn, will give you a clue as to where you might like to travel if ever you have a chance to visit Thailand and taste Thai food at its magnificent source.

. Northern Thailand
Northern Thailand is known for its vegetable dishes due to its fertile land and cooler climate  The meals are milder than in other parts of Thailand. In the North food is mild or hot salty and sour but never sweet. People use a lot of condiments but not many spices  Noodles are so popular that there are many street shops selling only this noodle dish, which is normally eaten for lunch by local people.

Northeast Thailand also called E-Saan Food
Northeastern food is fiery hot. Their favorite foods include papaya salad (som tam) sour chopped meat salad "koi" sour minced meat salad (larp). Their meals generally consists of sticky rice and nam phrik pla raa accompanied by a lot of vegetables. A popular dish is Somtam (papaya salad) made with green (unripe) papaya mixed with sliced tomatoes chopped garlic and chillies to which are added finely pounded dried shrimp plus lemon juice. Other specialties include Laab (spicy meat salad) with chicken, pork, beef, or fresh blood, grilled fish or chicken, Jaew (dipping sauces), and Plara (Northeastern-style anchovy). Grilling is the preferred cooking method.

Central Thailand
In the central region food is mild salty sweet and sour. Food here is decorated very artistically with finely cut vegetables that look like flowers.. The most popular dish here is chicken green curry served with a salted egg and Thai salad. Popular here are various kinds of curries, soups and salads.

Southern Thailand
 . Lots of spices are used in the South and many condiments are served.   Here curries are very popular and are made hot and spicy. Red meat is rarely eaten in southern Thailand.  Muslim communities of the deep south are partial to all kinds of curries and yellow and red curry is popular here.  Fish and seafood are very popular here and is coated with a mixture of turmeric and various herbs and spices then deep-fried and served with an aromatic sauce. Famous curries of the South are   (yellow curry  (fish curry , (dipping sauce

All over Thailand
Chicken is the most popular meat in Thailand. Rice is the main stay of every Thai meal.  Thai meals consist of five or six or more dishes. Vegetables play an important part in Thai cuisine and there are abundant vegetables in the Thai markets.Salads are refreshing in the hot climate and balance hot Thai food and are a must in all meals

Bangkok

It has been said that in Bangkok there are more food establishments per square mile than anywhere else on earth. And if you were to visit Bangkok, you would believe this claim to be true. The city seems to revolve around food. Everywhere there are indoor and outdoor eateries, as well as “fast food” stalls on most street corners  .

In Bangkok, food from every region of the country is represented, with the addition of “palace food”. The Chinese presence is strong in Bangkok, with a thriving Chinatown that is a must-see for visitors. Here one can find Thai versions of sweet-and-sour dishes , noodles, chicken-rice, and various other traditional Chinese meals.

Palace-style cooking is more refined in flavour than Thai home cooking, and especially in presentation, with intricately carved vegetables (often made into flowers) decorating each dish or included within the dish itself.

One last food item that must be sampled on a   Bangkok is Thai dessert. Here you will find hundreds of cakes, puddings, jellies, and other desserts, most made from a base of coconut, rice, egg, and sugar.  

Essential Thai Ingredients :


Basil (Sweet & Spicy), Beansprouts, Celery, Chilli, Chive, Cinnamon, Coconut Milk, Coriander, Dried Prawns, Eggplant, Fishsauce, Galangal, Garlic, Kaffirlime Leaves, Lemongrass, Mint, Noodles, Oyster Sauce, Palm Sugar, Pepper Corn, Plum Sauce, Rice, Shallots, Shrimp Paste, Soy Sauce (Black & Light which is sometimes referred to as white), Spring Onions, Star Anise, Straw Mushrooms, Tamarind, Tofu, Vinegar

Bean Noodles: Noodles are an important ingredient in many Thai foods.   Bean noodles or mung bean noodles are referred to by many other names such as transparent noodles, glass noodles or thread noodles. In certain dishes, the glass noodles are just plunged into hot water and quickly taken out.

Brown Rice: Rice is an important ingredient in Thai food but, what is very interesting is Thai brown rice which is infact unpolished rice. Brown rice is believed to have a high nutritional value and the most important health benefit of brown rice comes from it's high fibre content. Rice is normally polished and this is what makes rice seeds white in color.  

Thai Curry Paste: The curry paste is an important ingredient in many Thai food dishes.  

 Coconut Milk
This unsweetened liquid made from grated coconut flesh and water , is an essential ingredient of many Thai dishes. It is available in cans, compressed blocks or in powder form.
Coriander
The leaves and seeds of the coriander plant are one of the most essential in Thai cooking. The root is also used, often pounded with garlic and other ingredients, to make a marinade.

Lemongrass. Lemon Grass is a plant that looks like grass, smells minty and tastes similar to lemon (hence the English name Lemongrass). The thick, woody base of each leaf has long been a key ingredient in Thai cooking. You can easily grow your own by putting a few stems in one inch of water, set in a sunny area, then transfer to your garden after roots start to grow.

Galangal: This is a very common ingredient in Thai food, yet people often mistake it for the more common ginger. Galangal has a much lighter color as compared to ginger, it sometimes has pinkish portions. There are two types of galangal and these are called khaa and krachaai in Thailand. Fresh galangal tastes the best, you can however use dried or powdered galangal if fresh galangal is not available  However, the taste and flavour of ginger and galangal are distinctly different. Galangal is much harder than ginger and is therefore sliced into pieces before it is crushed. Delicious Thai curry pastes use galangal as one of the main ingredients.

Fish sauce.  Fish sauce provides the salty dimension in Thai cuisine, and it's high in protein as well as minerals and vitamins. It's made from small fish, salt-fermented for a long time, then the juice is extracted and boiled. Good fish sauce should be clear and brownish in color.

Garlic. Most Thai recipes start with sliced garlic frying in oil, and go from there. It would be hard to eat a Thai meal without having garlic in one form or another.

Thai chile peppers. Thais cannot imagine food without chile--they sometimes eat them as a snack. Chiles come in different types and sizes.

Palm Sugar
Strongly - flavoured, hard brown sugar made from the sap of the coconut palm tree. Available in Oriental stores. If you have trouble finding it , use soft dark brown suger instead.
Vinegar
Thais use a mild, plain white vinegar. Cider or Japanese rice wine vinegar can be used intead.
Shallots
Thai shallots have a lovely pinkish purple colour and are used extensively in Thai cuisine instead of onions.

THAI COOKING METHODS

Thai cooking traditionally has been done in very simple cooking utencils and in simple ways.  There was a simple clay pot and fire and using natural wood from the forest.  With this the Thais came up with delicious dishes. Thai food cooking is still simple.  the following are some Thai cooking methods

Grilling -   Thai people love grilled meats and fresh seafood.  These are grilled using thai seasonings and then dipped in various dips called 'Nam Phrik' which has sweet-and-sour flavors to further enhance the taste of grilled food.

Salads - or 'Yam' basically a kind of salad. Thai-style salad have for the dressing simple ingredients like fish sauce, salt, lemon juice, chili, and sometimes, garlic and shallot. Popular salads include shrimp salad, pork salad, papaya salad, beef salad.

Boiling is another typical way of Thai food preparation. Soupy curries is Thilands national past time and soups are popular all over Thailand.  'Tom Yam Goong' also originated from boiling technique.

Stir Fry - The art of Thai cooking was also influenced by China which gave it the stir fry method.  Stir fry dishes are now popular in Thailand and the most popular dish is Pad Tai.

Stews - Thai monarchs were educated in Europe and brought back with then western culture and western taste in food. The stew is one of the imports into Thailand. Thais especially love beef tongue stew.

Related articles

• How to Make a Pad Thai in 5 Minutes (theflyingfugu.com)