Cuisine of Thailand
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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). Although popularly considered as a single cuisine, Thai food is really more accurately described as four regional cuisines corresponding to the four main regions of the country: Northern, Northeastern (or Isan), Central and Southern. Southern cuisine, for example, usually contains lots of heat from chillies while northeastern tends to include lime juice in the ingredients.
Serving
Instead of a single 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.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. Steamed rice is accompanied by highly aromatic curries, stir-fries and other dishes, incorporating sometimes large quantities of chillies, lime juice and lemon grass. Curries, stir-fries and others may be poured onto the rice creating a single dish called khao rad kang (Thai ข้าวราดแกง), a popular meal when time is limited. Sticky rice (Thai ข้าวเหนียว) substitutes ordinary rice in Northern and Northeastern cuisine. Noodles are popular as well but usually come as a single dish, like the stir-fried Pad Thai or noodle soups.
There is kind of meal called nam prik (Thai น้ำพริก) which refers to sauce. The sauce is prepared by crushing together various ingredients such as ginger, garlic, chilli, etc. by mortar and pestle according to the recipe. It is then served with vegetables such as cucumbers, cabbage, string beans. The vegetable is then dipped into the sauce and eaten with rice.
With the exception of noodle soups, Thai food is generally eaten with a fork and a spoon, rather than with chopsticks. The fork, held in the left hand, is used to shovel food into the spoon. However, it is often common practice for Thais and hilltribe 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. Muslims also frequently eat meals with only their right hands.
Ingredients
One of the important ingredients is nam pla (Thai น้ำปลา), a very aromatic and strong tasting fish sauce. Many Thai dishes in the Central and Southern regions use a wide variety of leaves rarely found in the west, such as kaffir lime leaves (Thai ใบมะกรูด). Usually fresh - kaffir lime leaves' characteristic flavour appears in nearly every Thai soup (e.g., the hot and sour Tom yam), stir-fry or curry from those areas. It is frequently combined with garlic, galangal, ginger and/or fingerroot, together with liberal amounts of chillies, blended together to make curry paste. Fresh Thai basil is needed for the authentic fragrance of certain dishes such as Green curry. Other typical ingredients include the small green Thai eggplants, tamarind, palm and coconut sugars, and coconut milk.Famous dishes
Many Thai dishes are familiar in the west. In many dishes below, different kinds of meat can be chosen as the ingredient, such as beef, chicken, pork, or seafood.Single dishes
- Pad Thai (Thai ผัดไทย) - rice noodles pan fried with fish sauce, sugar, lime juice or tamarind pulp and egg combined with chicken, seafood, and tofu.
- Lad nar (Thai ราดหน้า) - noodles in gravy, with beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, or seafood. (Originally from China)
- Pad see ew (Thai ผัดซีอิ๊ว) - noodles pan fried with soysauce, with pork or chicken.
- Pad kee mao (Thai ผัดขี้เมา) - noodles pan fried with Thai basil
- Khao kluk kapi (Thai ข้าวคลุกกะปิ) - rice stir-fried with shrimp paste, served with sweeten pork and vegetables.
- Khanom Cheen Nam Ya (Thai ขนมจีนน้ำยา) - round rice noodle in topped with soup containing fishmeat and fishball and vegetable.
- Khao soi (Thai ข้าวซอย) - crispy noodles in sweet chicken curry soup (Northern cuisine).
Central Thai dishes to be eaten with rice
- Tom yam (Thai ต้มยำ) - hot & sour soup with meat. For shrimp soup it is called Tom yam goong or Tom yam kung (Thai ต้มยำกุ้ง), for seafood (typically shrimp, squid, fish) Tom yam talae (Thai ต้มยำทะเล), for chicken Tom yam gai (Thai ต้มยำไก่).
- Tom kha gai (Thai ต้มข่าไก่) - hot sweet soup with chicken and coconut.
- Satay (Thai สะเต๊ะ) - grilled meat, usually pork or chicken, served with peanut sauce (originally from Indonesia).
- Red curry (Gaeng Phet = 'hot curry') (Thai แกงเผ็ด) - made with dried red chillies
- Green curry (Gaeng khiew-waan) (Thai แกงเขียวหวาน) - sweet green curry, made with fresh green chillies and flavoured with cumin, with chicken or fishballs.
- Massaman curry (Thai แกงมัสมั่น) - yellow curry, usually with beef.
- Pad prik (Thai ผัดพริก) - stir-fried with chilli, usually beef called Neua pad prik (เนื้อผัดพริก)
- Pad kaphrao (Thai ผัดกะเพรา) - stir-fried with basil, beef, pork or chicken.
- Panang (Thai พะแนง) - dry curry with beef (Panang beef, พะแนงเนื้อ), chicken, or pork.
- Tod man (Thai ทอดมัน) - fried fishcake made from knifefish (Tod man pla krai, ทอดมันปลากราย) or shrimp (Tod man kung, ทอดมันกุ้ง)
Northeastern Thai dishes to be eaten with rice
- Som tam (Thai ส้มตำ) grated papaya salad, pounded with a mortar and pestle. There are two main variations: Som tam poo (ส้มตำปู) with crab, and Som tam Thai (ส้มตำไทย) with peanuts.
- Larb (Thai ลาบ) - sour salads containing meat and gravy.
- Nam tok (Thai น้ำตก) - sour salads containing meat and gravy, with rice roasted and ground into powder.
- Yam (Thai ยำ) - various sour salad, such as with glass noodles, peanuts, and seafood (Yam Wun Sen, ยำวุ้นเส้น).
- Tom saab (Thai ต้มแซบ) - Northeastern-styled hot & sour soup
- Gai yang (Thai ไก่ย่าง) - marinated and grilled chicken
- Sticky rice (Thai ข้าวเหนียว)
Miscellaneous
Throughout the country there are many interpretations and variations on these common dishes. Other dishes from the northern part of Thailand include unique sauces, such as nam prik num (น้ำพริกหนุ่ม), and exotic foods, such as raw beef, fermented fish paste, and deep fried 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 shit chillies".External links
- [Royal Thai Consulate General in Vancouver - Thai Cuisine]
- [ThaiTable's Thai Food Recipes]
- [Appon's Thai Food Recipes]
- [wokme.com Asian Cooking Guide - Thai Cuisine]
- [Authentic Thai Vegetarian Recipes Archive]
- [Thai Recipes]
- [Thai Food Directory and Resources]
- [Thai Food Blogs] with [quiz]
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