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.

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.

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.

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.