Some titbits of Thai food

Thai people always use spoons and forks to have their meals. They show proper respect to the elders while having food in any occasion. Most of the population in Thailand is Buddhist and that is the reason why the impact of Buddhism can be seen in Thai food. Usually the Thailand food is served with roasted pork or duck topped on it. In that case the fork becomes a must to eat such food. If you are having a noodle soup then chopsticks would be the best choice. The influence of Chinese, Indian and Japanese styles can be prominently seen in Thailand food culture. Some of the Thai dishes are really delicious and tempting because of its color, aroma and healthiness.

Puffed rice cake, hors d’oeuvre, snacks like rolls, satay etc. are some of the tidbits of Thai food. The dips can be made from lime juice, chilies, garlic, fish sauce, etc. Fish sauce and lime juice bring the sour taste in Thai food while chilies are responsible for the spicy taste. The curries are also important in Thai cuisine. The main ingredients in Thai curries are fresh herbs and powdered dried spices. Thai people love to use fresh ingredients. The tinned products are not readily available in Thailand.

Thai salads are always very colorful. The Thai salads are normally sour, sweet and salty which are topped by different kind of meat textures. Desserts have always satisfied the sweet tooth of the Thais. No typical Thai meal is complete without sweet dishes. The Thai people like to take something very sweet after a spicy treat and that way they try to balance the taste bud. Soups are usually taken as a side dish with rice. The Thai soups are very healthy as the best quality of herbs and spices are used in it. Thai people are very fond of eating rice with their meal. They take it as their principal food. Thai dishes are really exotic if they are taken in a proper way.

Exotic Thai cooking

If we are talking about internationally famed food, Thai takes an important part. The Thai cuisine is famous in the whole world because of its taste. It can attract an array of tourists because of its unique blending of plants, aquatic animals and herbs. All the five elementary tastes are present in Thai food and these are bitter, spice, sweet, sour and salty. A typical Thai dish contains lime juice, lemon grass, chilies, garlic, and fish sauce as common ingredient and it is on these ingredients that the taste of the Thai food matters. Basically the specialty of Thailand food depends upon, by whom it is cooked and for what occasion it is cooked. A little influence of Chinese cuisine can always be seen on Thailand food.

In Thailand you will get fresh fruits and vegetables in almost all departmental stores. People love to take fresh salad along with lunch and dinner. Rice is one of the principal food ingredients. This is omnipresent in all kind of Thailand food. Thai people love to take the jasmine rice and sticky rice. Chicken curry is a famous Thai dish which is best accompanied with sticky rice. The fresh herbs are generally used while preparing Thai food. This mainly increases the quality of the aroma of the food. In a single time a Thai people consume a hot cup of soup, a dip accompanying fish and vegetables and a curry dish with condiments. Some spicy salad can be added to the meals to make it heavier. The garnishing of Thai food is always colorful and that’s why it is very attractive to others. A proper balance is always maintained in Thai food such as the balance between bland and spicy taste is kept by the cooks while serving the spicy and non spicy dishes. For desserts one can enjoy the Thai sweets and fresh fruits. The ice crèmes are also very popular in Thailand and you can get a wide variety of it throughout the year.

The process of preparing Laab

Laab is a famous Thai dish which is relished by most of the Thai people. This is very popular in Thai feasts. Laab is also known as Larb and Laap which is a northeastern food. Laab is usually eaten as a part of a set such as salad made of papaya, laab, and sticky rice. The set is accompanied by string beans, water spinach, sliver of cabbage and Thai basil. Laab can also be served as an appetizer as well as a main course along with some other non-northeastern food. Some of the variations of Laab can be named as chicken laab, duck laab, and normal laab. Sometimes pieces of livers are added in the Laab to make it tastier.

One third of the lime should be squeezed on to the ground pork. Afterwards it should be marinated for just a couple of minutes. Thai people need small pots to cook this dish. Cast iron pans can also be used to cook the food because they become heated very soon and retain it for long. The pan should be placed on high flame until it becomes very hot. Two tablespoons of water should be added which is followed by adding marinated pork. Then the whole thing should be stirred well. At first the pork sticks to the pan but later when the juice comes out the meat loosens from bottom. The stirring should be continued. Traditionally the pork should be undercooked but it is not advisable due to health reasons.

The pork should be put in a large mixing bowl. The other ingredients should be added afterwards which include green onion, cilantro, shallot, fish sauce, lime juice, chili pepper, toasted rice, etc. Toasted rice can also be used to garnish the dish from top. It should be mixed well and tasted later. The dish is hot with little bit of tartness. All the mixed ingredients should be added to a serving bowl and then should be garnished with spearmint and toasted rice. Various vegetables like lettuce, cabbage, Thai basil, and green beans are usually added from top.

Eating and Ordering Thai Food

Thai food is really tasty if you can eat proper food in proper time. You should also know proper etiquette of having Thai food. Thai food is usually eaten with a fork and spoon. Some of the single dish meals such as steamed rice topped with roasted duck or fried rice with pork are served in slices or chunks. The spoon is used to take the food in to mouth. Thai food is internationally famed. People from around the world relish this food with great interest. Sometime Thai foods are chili-hot while sometimes they are bland. Thai cuisine can be interpreted as a combination of Eastern and Western types and now these are uniquely Thai. Thai cooking depends on many aspects such as who is cooking it, for whom is the dish being cooked, for which specific occasion, etc.

In has been seen from past that waterborne e.g. aquatic animals, herbs, plants, were the major ingredients of Thai food. Large pieces of meats are usually avoided. And that is the reason why sizeable chunks of meats are introduced to Thai food. Eating Thai food is ideal with two or more people in a group. This is useful because greater the no of the persons, greater the no of dishes ordered. When the diners are two, they should order three side dishes besides their own steamed rice plates. When the diners are three, the side dishes should be four and the counting should continue like this. Soups can be a good starter in most of the cases. Spicy dishes are usually taken to balance with the bland dishes.

The ideal Thai dish is a mixture of hot, sour, sweet and spicy. It should definitely be satisfying to nose, eyes and also palate. A typical Thai meal includes a clear soup like melons stuffed with minced pork, a steamed rice, a hot salad made of onions, lettuce, chilies, lemon juice, and mint, a fried dish, and different kinds of sauces into which food is dipped. All these dishes would be followed by some fresh fruits such as jackfruit, mangoes, grape, papaya and melon. A sweet dessert can also be added to the end part of a nice meal.

Chicken curry of Gang Gai in Thailand

Chicken curry is very common in Thailand. Thai people used to taking it almost every day. You will get this at any street vendors roaming in Thailand. Chicken curry is best goes with rice or ‘kanom jeen’ noodles. The popularity of this chicken curry can be seen in the temples where Thai people bring classic dishes like chicken curry to feed various temple patrons and Buddhists monks. Chicken curry can also be a good dish for your guests. This is very easy to prepare and ingredients are also very simple. It requires three cups water, two tablespoons fish sauce, one cup coconut milk, three to five springs of Thai basil, one and half pound eggplant, one tablespoon red curry paste and one chicken breast.

Thai eggplants are usually golf ball sized but you will not get this always. So, regular eggplants will do which are readily available in the supermarkets. Chicken should be cut into pieces. If the chicken is with bones, thighs and legs can be used as bones make this chicken curry tastier.

A first half of the coconut milk should be poured in a pot. The heat can be set at medium low heat. Red curry paste should be added, followed by mixing the paste with the coconut milk. The mix should be stirred continuously. If it is splattering too much, the heat can be lowered. Chicken is usually added when red oil bubbles on top. Curry sauce is usually used to coat chicken. When the chicken is completely cooked and the flesh turns white, you can add eggplant. Rest of the coconut milk, fish sauce and water can be added later. The dish should be boiled till the eggplants become dark. The thickness of the curry depends on the amount of time you are boiling the dish as because the eggplant thickens the sauce. The basil leaves should be added just before serving. These should be quickly submerged to preserve the color. Your dish is ready to serve with rice noodles or rice.

Green papaya salad in Thailand

Green papaya salad is one of the important dishes in Thailand. This is mainly popular among Thai women. This is a northeastern Thai dish is eatable with sticky rice. The other side dishes are beef salad, laab, bamboo shoot salad, etc. Two most popular green papaya salads are best accompanied with salted crab or shrimp. When dried shrimp or peanuts are added, the salad is named as som tum Thai and when it is added with crab, this is called som tum pbooh. The other ingredients remain same in both the cases.

The ingredients can be summarized as one or one and half tablespoons palm sugar, three fourth lime, 2 cups green papaya, five cherry tomatoes, one and one and half tablespoon fish sauce, two chili peppers, one tablespoon dried shrimp, six green beans, one clove garlic, and two tablespoon toasted peanuts which is optional.

If you are preparing vegetarian som tum, dried shrimp should be avoided. You can use fish sauce or soy sauce in place of that. Sometimes lime can be replaced with tamarind and palm sugar can be replaced with regular sugar. The balance of lime juice, fish sauce, peppers, and palm sugar should be properly maintained. In Thailand shredded green papaya is available in every supermarket. Even if you are getting whole papaya, you can peel it and grate it with cheese grater with medium and large sized holes. The seeds should be discarded if there are any. Green papaya salad is usually prepared with the help of a clay mortar, spatula and a wooden pestle.

At first the clove or garlic should be smashed. Green beans and half cherry tomatoes are added afterwards. Chili peppers should be crushed and added to the salad. It should be followed by adding green papaya, toasted peanuts, dried shrimp, fish sauce, palm sugar and lime juice. The pestle is used to push up the mixture in the mortar while spatula is used to push down in order to mix well the mixture. Not much effort is required to prepare the green papaya salad so just go for it and relish it with yours friends and family.

Thai Food Preparation

Thai food is really good in taste. These are very healthy as you will always get less sweet, less salt and less spice in Thai food. Paste is a real important word while preparing Thai food. Spice can be grounded to make paste. A pastle and mortar help them in doing in an effective way. A food processor helps to grind the dry spices. After that all vegetables should be chopped well and can be kept aside. Lastly chop the meat if that is at all included in your menu. Minimum utensil and cooking tools are used in Thai kitchen. You will get ‘wok’ everywhere because this is regarded as primary cooking tool. This is a sort of deep frying pan. A wooden spoon and spatula like shovels is usually used to stir fry different ingredients. Purchasing of high quality steel wok is really advisable as because this is a one time investment.

Only soft spatula will work well on non stick cook ware. Chefs mainly use peanut and coconut oil for deep frying in Thailand. Some of the organic oils really have nutritional values. Heat tolerant oil like canola corn, sunflower, almond oil and safflower or any other nut oils are also used in preparing different Thai food.

When you are starting the stir fry, please keep that in mind all your ingredients are closely placed. Because when you start something you won’t get time to look back actually. For all the stir fry the flame should be at medium high or high because with this heat the dish is expected to be good. If the oil in your wok splatters sometimes, think that the heat is too high. Lastly garnishing is another important part. Make sure that the serving plate is clean. Also see that your guests are around as Thai foods are at its best when serving hot from the wok.

Thai Cooking Methods

The authentic Thai food cooking is always a great challenge for all Thai chefs and cooks. The secret of preparing an excellent Thai dish lies in the preparation of the ingredients. It takes a lot of time to arrange the ingredients in preparing Thai food than in actual cooking. If you are using wok, you should be extra cautious. Thai cooking is usually very fast and also furious. Thai stir fries are cooked in high heat and for a short time period. In this type of cooking the important ingredients remain in the food such as vegetables containing vitamin remain intact and it enhances the food value. Thai cooking is usually done in a simple manner. Previously clay pot utensil and natural wood were used in Thai cooking. Now a day they are using gas, microwave oven, glass utensil and many more advanced things but the excellent taste of Thai food remain the same as before. Some of the simple cooking methods are discussed as below:

Boiling: Boiling is regarded as an important part of Thai cooking. Soups and curries are famous all over Thailand. ‘Tom Yam Goong’ is a good example of boiled Thai food.

Grilling: Thai people love to consume fresh seafood and grilled meats. The taste enhances if the grilled foods are dipped into ‘Nam Phrik’ i.e. sweet and sour flavored dips.

Stir Fry: This method of Thai food cooking has been influenced from China. Though stir fried dishes are common in all over Thailand still ‘pad thai’ demands special attention.

Salads: Salad is always specially dressed in Thai style. ‘Yam’ is kind of salad which is very famous in Thailand. simple ingredients like lemon juice, fish sauce, salt, garlic, chili, and also shallot are used to garnish it in a lucrative way. Some of the popular salads of Thailand are pork salad, beef salad, shrimp salad, and papaya salad.

Stews: Thai monarchs were educated in western country like Europe and brought back the western culture as well as the western taste in food. One of such imported dish in Thailand is known as stew. Thai people love eating beef tongue stew.

Eating Habits and striking Thai meals in Thailand

Thailand is always rocking when the topic is about food. Thai foods are excellent in taste. People from all over the world relish Thai food because of its taste and food value. Some of the Thai dishes are so tasty that they can easily boast of their origin. No one will forget the taste of these delicious dishes if tasted once in his lifetime. Freshly-steamed Jasmine rice, shrimp soup, chicken green curry, spicy papaya salad with crisp vegetables and ‘pad Thai’. You cannot forget one or the other. Don’t forget to take Thai dessert ‘kanom’. Fresh fruits are common in Thailand and that is why people prefer to eat lot of them. You should not forget to taste the sweet-smelling sticky rice garnished with juicy mango.

An authentic and traditional Thai dish consists of soup, curry dish, salad and a lip smacking dessert. Spicy and mild dishes are mixed to balance the taste and also neutralize in a better way. Thai people enjoy spicy dishes in all the time including morning time. Thai meal is served in a single time. For breakfast they usually like rice topped with curry and a fried egg. ‘Prik nam pla’ or chilies sliced in fish sauce usually accompany the dish. ‘Kao niew moo ping’ i.e. grilled pork with sticky rice is favourite among the office goers who want something ready to cook. In Thailand, lunch is normally heavy while dinner is always shared with friends and relatives. In the evening they like to take some light snacks. Thai people have a common tendency to eat more. Though they take normal three time food still they have elongated snacking of ‘gin len’ in between meals. You will get food everywhere in the city. The varieties are fresh orange juice, lots of fruits, ‘look chin ping’ or grilled meat balls, roti pancake with condensed milk with banana, egg and fried bugs, etc. All these street foods are available in incredible low prices.

Thai people love to share food with friends and family. Even in restaurants also you will have the option of sharing of food. It enhances the growth of friendship and also socializing with lot of people at the same time.

Street Foods in Thailand

Thai enjoys their food and they love to share their food with guests or strangers. Thai’s normally takes three meals. The meals are light and not that heavy. They like variety in their meals and love to eat different preparations in bits, rather having a single preparation in one meal.

Thailand’s street foods complement this style. You can get the street foods at sideways of any crowded street, marketplace and shopping complex. You can also get street foods at bus stations, residential complexes and office areas.Thai local people set ups small stalls at major streets, complexes, corners and make the place happening. You can also get mobile food stations running on a tricycle or motorcycles or wooden carts. Hawkers are also seen in major streets selling foods to passersby. Sellers also drive their mini shops door to door to sell “boat noodles”. You can see a “boat noodle” man in the street bowls the quantity in lightening speed and serving ten to fifteen people at a time. You can also get men and woman yelling loud to sell chicken and pork from the on spot barbecue. Even one can get fruits on the Thailand street. Fish cakes and fried fish is another attraction in Thailand streets. These are served with yellow jack fruits and shaped banana leafs. In office days office goers try to find quality street foods in shop to shop. Women also sell coconut hot cakes in the crowded market place.

If you are roaming in Thailand with a shoe string budget, then you can save a fortune by limiting your meal with the street food. With the help of these delicious street foods, you can plan your lunch or dinner within a dollar. You can enjoy a morning breakfast or afternoon snacks in half dollar. But at the same time you ca be sure of the quality of food, which is at per. Even some of the street cuisines are better than their AC restaurant counterparts if you know them somehow.

Remarkable Thai dishes

Thai dishes are literally world famous. Some of the Thai dishes are very popular in the western countries. As main ingredients you can add some of the protein side dishes such as pork, chicken, beef, tofu, duck or some delicious seafood. In Thailand you can have an array of dishes that you can enjoy with your friends and family. The dishes are really mouth watering where essential proteins, vitamins and carbohydrates are present in adequate quantity. You can have different dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For different parties you can choose to serve different dishes. People will love to enjoy the Thai delicacies as they have some intrinsic taste within itself.

For breakfast Jok and Khao Tom are famous. Jok is a rice porridge which is a renowned name in Thailand. Khao Tom is rice soup in Thai style. It is best combined with chicken, pork or shrimp.

Pad Thai is a rice noodles fried with sugar, lime juice, fish sauce and tamarind pulp. Other ingredients are peanuts, seafood, tofu, and egg that are combined with chicken. Khao pad naem is another Thai dish where fried rice is combined with sausages. Khanom chin namya is a round rice noodles. Often it is topped with curry sauces, the taste of this dish comes best when added with some fresh vegetables and leaves. Khao pad gai is a type of fried rice mixed with chicken. Pad see ew is actually noodles fried with see ew dum i.e. think soy sauce and also nahm plah or fish sauce. Pork and chicken can also be added with this.

Pad nais a type of rice noodles mixed with beef, seafood, shrimp, pork and chicken. Pad kee mao is an interesting Thai dish. This is Thai noodles mixed with basil leaves. Khao soi is a crispy noodle made of wheat. Sweet chicken curry soup is added with this dish. Khao khluk kapi is rice mixed with shrimp paste. This is garnished with pork and vegetables. Gai pad grapao is softened chicken with chilly, garlic and also basil leaves.

These are some of the important dishes in Thailand. You can try anyone of them as all the dishes are excellent to eat and also easily digestible.

Prepare Khao Pad Grapow

This authentic Thai dish is Thai Stir-Fried Rice prepared with chicken and basil leaves. If you want to treat your friends with this dish you just need four cups of cooked cold Thai Jasmine rice. The rice should be cooked four hours before.

The ingredients of the dish are very interesting. It includes 1 pound ground or minced chicken, 6 whole pealed Shallots, 1 cup holy basil leaves, 2 tablespoons fish sauce i.e. nam pla, 1 cup chopped long beans, 4 whole cloves garlic, 1/4 cup mixed red & green Thai chilies, 1tablespoon oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon palm sugar, and 1 teaspoon ground pepper. Variation can be done by adding a medium sized onion that is diced properly and also sliced green onions. In some cases combinations of both can also be done.

Pad Grapow can be prepared where the garlic, chilies and shallots re ground together in a mortar and pounded together. Then the paste should be fried in a hot wok with little cooking oil. The frying should be continued till the aroma comes out. Then add the chicken and continue frying for another two minutes. Remaining ingredients should be added afterwards. Stirring should be continued till the chicken is cooked properly. Them remove the dish from the wok and keep aside. It is not necessary to clean the wok.

After this, start preparing the fried rice. Put one tablespoon oil in the hot wok. Add cooked rice in the wok and constant stir it until the whole rice get heated. Add the pad grapow and stir fry it for next three minutes. The two things should be mixed thoroughly.

This Thai dish should be served properly. A fried egg can be placed at the top. You can serve some hot and sour Tom Yam soups, some curries and also other authentic Thai food.

Some important Thai cuisines

Thai cuisines are really interesting. People from all over the world come and enjoy Thai food. Thai food has become one of the prime interests of Thailand. Some of the important dishes of Thailand can be listed as below.

• Red curry: This dish of Thailand made with ample amount of red chilies that are fully dried.
• Tom kha gai: This is a hot sweet soup. The main ingredients of this soup are coconut milk and chicken.
• Tom Yam: The Tom Yam soup is a hot and sour soup. When meat and shrimp blend together it is named as Tom Yam Goong or Tom Yam Kung. When it is prepared with seafood it is named as Tom Yam Talae and when it is prepare with chicken it is named as Tom Yam Gai.
• Massaman Curry: This Thai dish has resemblances with Indian dish. Mainly Thai Muslims prepared the dish. The main ingredients are coriander seeds, roasted dried spices, etc.
• Gai Pad khing: This dish is prepared with fried chicken and sliced ginger.
• Green curry: Green curry is usually made of green chilies. This dish is flavored with basil leaves, chicken and fish meatballs are also added extra taste to it. This dish can be called as the spiciest among Thai cuisines.
• Sate: This is a Thai dish with grilled chicken or pork. This is usually served with peanut sauce and green cucumber. This dish was originally from Indonesia but presently it is a popular street food here in Thailand.
• Pad kaphrao: In this Thai dish pork, chicken or beef are fried with basil leaves.
• Panaeng: This is a sort of dry curry mixed with pork, chicken or beef. Some roasted dried chilies are usually mixed with it.
• Pad prik: This dish is made of beef and chilly. This is a spicy dish often called as Neua pad prik.
• Pad pak ruam: In this Thai dish you will get prominence of vegetables. But it depends on the availability of the ingredients.
• Boo Jah: These are crab cakes served with pepper, pork and garlic. Spicy sauce adds extra flavor to it. The variety of sauce can be hot and sweet garlic sauce, Sri rachaa sauce, etc. Chopped green onion or red curry paste are the other added ingredient.

Exotic Thai food in Pattaya

 
Thai foods are extra ordinary in taste. There are some famous dishes in Thai food namely Pad Thai, Tom Yum Goong, etc. Thai foods are famous for its uniqueness. They are unique as they are spicy, hot and also appetizing. Herbs take an important part in preparing Thai food. They have tremendous food value as well. Some of the useful herbs are Khing i.e. ginger, Hom Daeng i.e. Shallot, Ma Now i.e. Lime, Prik i.e. chili, Kha i.e. galangal, Kra Tieam i.e. garlic, Saranae i.e. mint, Kraprao i.e. basil and many more. The six fundamental flavors are always maintained in Thai food. These are spicy, salty, oily, sweet, bitter and sour. All of these perfectly blend with each other and make Thai food so tasty and mouth watering. All the six flavors are described in their own style.

• Hot and spicy: The spicy flavor makes Thai food so hot. The taste probably comes from Capsicum frutescents.

• Bitter: This taste usually comes from some leaf or animal entrails. As a matter of fact Thai people have a strong believe that bitter taste food has some sort of medicinal value.
  

• Salty: The food where fish sauce has been used tastes salty. This fish sauce is regarded as one of the important ingredients in Thai food.

• Oily: Coconut crème is usually used to bring the oily flavor in Thai food. Some vegetable oil or fat is also responsible for the oily flavor in Thai food.
  

• Sour: The sour flavor comes from vinegar. Lime juice is also used to get this flavor in Thai food. The sour flavor can also be achieved from garcina, acacia leaf, tamarine leaf, garcina leaf, etc. The sour flavor gives extra taste to Thai food.
  

• Sweet: Sugar is responsible for the taste of sweetness in Thai food. There are a variety of sugars present in Thai food. These are coconut palm sugar, brown sugar, jaggary, palm sugar, etc. These are found in the shape of cakes.
  

The above mentioned six flavors are responsible for the unbelievable taste of Thai food.

Importance of vegetables in Thai food

Vegetables have always taken an important part in Thai food. Vegetables are common in various dishes such as Kaeng Noppakaaw, Kaeng Nor Mai, Kaeng Liang, Kaeng Kae, Kaeng Hua Pli, Kaeng Som, etc. It can be said that there are many Thai dishes that taste good if they are taken with vegetables. Raw and boiled vegetables are taken with many delicacies such as plaa. This is a Thai salad prepared with partially cooked meat. Plaa gets extra flavor if added with fresh vegetables. Same happens with the dishes named Lon i.e. crab sauce and Lap. Lap is a type of chicken, beef and pork salad. Namprig is another one which tastes awesome if added with some vegetables.

The green leaves of khannaa, Tamloeng, Pakbung and lettuce help in gaining Vitamin B2. This should be taken with some meat. The green leaves contain vit. A. This is helpful when combines with cooking oil. Yellow and deep green vegetables give rise to Betacarotine. This is actually an anti cancerous content which turns to be Vit A. Yam is a Thai salad prepared with meat and vegetables. Though meat is present still vegetables is the main ingredient in this Thai recipe. Thai people are fortunate enough to have less fat. Thai foods have more food values as it contain lots of fresh vegetables, herbs and spices. Thai foods usually have its own feature and taste.

Thai foods are internationally famed. Flavor is an important part of Thai cooking. Each of the Thai dishes has more than on flavor. In Kaeng Khieo Wan egg plants are present and these plants help in reducing the greasiness and also hot flavor. The garnishing of Thai food is really interesting. The nutritional and medicinal values of Thai foods are tremendous. Thai food can easily blend with any other food e,g, Panaeng Kai is also used in sandwich. We can conclude as Thai food cooking is really interesting and you just can do wonder with fresh colorful vegetables.

Spicy and hot Thai food in Pattaya

Thai food is usually very tasty and healthy. No one can forget the connection between spices and Thai food. But it is also true that there are many spices and herbs that combine together to give the actual delicacy of Thai food. The blending between herbs and spices make Thai food attractive to the world people. The perfect combination of sour, spicy and salty has made Thai cuisine perfectly unique. Thai people add different ingredients to have different tastes. These can be called as the key ingredients to Thai food.

Chili can be added to have spicy food. Thais use this abundantly in preparing authentic food. Thai people developed a choice of chili after sixteen century. There is confusion whether the Spanish or Portuguese businessmen introduced it first to the Siam. Since then Thai people are using this spice enormously in cooking Thai food. They blend it with other herbs and make it something delicious. The tiniest chili i.e. green or red colored chilly is named as ‘prik kee noo’. These are very spicy and cannot be taken in a single time.

Fish sauces are usually taste salty. This is named as ‘Nam pla’. This ingredient is the second most important one in Thai food. We can get this sauce from shrimp or brewing fish which is mixed with salt and then fermented in a bottle. This sauce is something different that Chinese soya sauce. Sometimes the aroma of this fish sauce is irritating but when it is mixed with some other ingredients it tastes incredible.

You can get the sour taste if you add some lime to the dish. Manao i.e. lime is used widely in Thai dishes. It inhibits the salty taste and also subtle the strong smell of fish sauce. There is a sauce named ‘prik nampla’ where you can get the combination of three. In this sauce chili is added to the fish sauce with some pinch of garlic and lime. This sauce brings extra taste if added to gai yang i.e. grilled chicken and khai jeow i.e. fried egg. You can also have this sauce with plain rice. The taste is awesome. This prik nampla is common in every Thai food recipes.

Cooking Thai food - a real art

The art of cooking authentic Thai food include many aspect such as ingredients, preparation, equipments, etc. Cooking Thai food is simple if you have proper knowledge and companion. There are five elements in Thai dishes. These are sweet, sour, spicy, salty and bitter. Thai food recipes are there to prepare Thai food but you should follow a regular Thai food guideline if you are concerned about taste. Taste varies depending on many aspects. Sometimes freshness of the ingredients matters a lot while sometimes it also depends on the cook. If you are preparing a Thai recipe try to concentrate on ingredient but you can also add some flavors according to your own choice. Some of the brands of curry pastes are saltier than the other and so are some fish sauces. In Thai cooking you can do some alteration such as if the taste to too sweet you can add some fish sauce, again if the dish has become too sour you can add some plain water or sugar in it.

Coconut milk is an important ingredient in cooking Thai food. There are two types Hua Ka Ti i.e. creamy coconut milk and Hang Ka Ti i.e. watery coconut milk. Fresh coconut milk can be prepared by soaking grated coconut in warm water. It is then squeezed and the process continues till it becomes dried. The coconut used three times before it is discarded. Freshly prepared coconut milk has better aroma than the tinned one. If using canned coconut milk try to use it in cold temperature. This will help to separate the creamy part and the watery coconut part. The creamy will float in the watery part. In summer you have to refrigerate the can for a long time.

Authentic Thai food is really tasty if you are taking the pain of preparing it in an authentic style.

Want to prepare some authentic Thai Food?

Thai foods are very tempting and irresistible. Usually Thai foods are less oily and less spicy. It also contains less calorie but if you want to cook some Thai food it can be troublesome for you. But please don’t give up. Usually preparation of Thai food contains a long list of ingredients. You cannot use frozen of canned food as these are not very common in Thailand. In Pattaya also people love fresh food and fresh ingredients. In Pattaya you can have plenty of fresh vegetables, seafood, fresh fruits, spices, etc. Ingredients take an important part in preparing Thai dish. You should try to use fresh things as you will not get the exact aroma if using the canned one. Authentic Thai dishes demands the use of fresh ingredients and then only the flavor comes.

Your kitchen should be well equipped. Thai people usually use a wok and pot in almost all dishes. For dessert they use a bronze wok. Some other equipments are mortar and pestle. In Pattaya gas stoves are more common than electric stoves. Electric stoves are less popular as because heat is not distributed evenly in the system. If you want to make paste blenders or food processors will serve the purpose.

While planning for Thai food you must spend more time or preparation than in actual cooking. If you are planning to cook Tom Kha Gai you need 30 minutes to prepare the ingredients while you just need 15 minutes to cook the food. Thais spend more time on preparation as they always want fresh food. Fresh vegetables need to be washed and cut. Sometimes they make it dry before cutting. The preparation of cooking one dessert named Ta Go takes lot of time. This is served sweet on the lower side with coconut topping in a basket. The preparation starts from cleaning and also cutting leaves. After that they make the baskets. But after the lengthy preparation the dish comes really awesome and out of the world.

So if you have a plan to cook Thai food gather some of your friends and make the whole process enjoyable.