Thai people prefer to use spoons and forks to eat, instead of chopsticks and this country’s cuisine is partly influenced by Vietnam.
Discovering and enjoying food in Thailand is something every visitor cannot ignore. But what makes Thai cuisine so interesting and so loved? What are the main ingredients Thai people use to make dishes? Here is the answer to help you somewhat understand the food of this country.
Pad Thai is a famous street food in Thailand, consisting of fried rice noodles with eggs and tofu, red chili, tamarind powder, fish sauce, and jaggery. The plate of noodles is mixed with crushed roasted peanuts, shrimp, garlic or chives. Image: Pixabay
Where is Thai cuisine influenced?
Traditional Thai cuisine is heavily influenced by China. Cooking techniques such as frying, sautéing, deep-frying… are all adopted from Chinese cuisine. Overseas Chinese are said to be noodle carriers (kuay tiew) and round bottom pan (wok) to Thailand hundreds of years ago.
In addition, this place is also influenced by the flavors and spices of the Indians. The number of curries is proof of this influence. However, Thai curries differ from India thanks to their own unique flavors, using local ingredients such as basil, galangal, lemongrass…
Over the centuries, the country has also been influenced by many other regional cuisines. Southern Thai cuisine has touches from Indonesia and Malaysia. Northern and northeastern Thai cooking styles intersect with Laotian, Vietnamese, Cambodian and Myanmar cuisine.
Other cuisines such as Japanese, Dutch, French, and Portuguese also contribute to present day Thai food with a complex but appealing taste.
Main flavor
The dishes are a harmonious blend of sour, sweet, salty, bitter and spicy flavors. In every dish there is always at least two flavors mixed if not all of the above. In it, one flavor will prevail, called “main taste”.
Sour in a lot of Thai dishes mainly from lemon and lemongrass. In addition, the sweet and sour aroma from lemon leaves. With a sharper sour taste, many dishes use tamarind.
Not salt, salty taste in Thai cuisine often belongs to soy sauce or fish sauce. The soy sauce has a slight earthy aroma that pairs perfectly with vegetables or fish. Fish sauce brings umami sweetness to complete the flavor of the dish.
It’s not just desserts that are sweet, sweet The main ingredients of many Thai dishes are palm sugar, oil sugar, brown sugar and black soy sauce.
Spice from chili, galangal, ginger and pepper, often found in soups, curries as well as stir-fried meat or seafood dishes.
Bitterness of some dishes may be due to spice leaves or bitter melon.
Some other dishes also bring ice cream flavor greasy, usually from coconut milk.
Tom yum is one of the “nail” dishes of Thai cuisine. Not only has the spicy chili flavor, tom yum has a mild sour lemon taste, fragrant lemongrass flavor, and greasy coconut milk. There are two types, Tom Yum Goong uses shrimp, and Tom Yum Kai uses chicken. Photo: Freepik
Main dishes
Thai food is very diverse. However, it is divided into a number of main dishes such as: noodles, curries, salads, desserts and snacks.
Noodle is one of the most popular street food in the country. There are many variations of this dish such as Pad Thai (fried rice noodles), Khao soi (water noodles), Pad See Ew (fried noodle soup)…
Thailand has many varieties currybut the five main categories are red curry, green curry, yellow curry, massaman and panang.
Thai red curry is very spicy, using a lot of red chili, garlic, red onion, lemongrass, green ginger and adding coconut milk. Photo: pixabay
Thai Salad commonly known as Yum, meaning “mixed”. There are many types of salads with the main ingredients usually including seafood, meat, fresh fruit and noodles. Then, people will mix the above ingredients with sliced tomatoes, peanuts, lemon juice, chili, sugar, fish sauce, onions and herbs. Its main flavor is sour and spicy.
Salad can be used as main dish or served with other dishes. Yum Mama (instant noodle salad), Yum Woon Sen (spicy vermicelli salad) and Som Tum (papaya salad) are the three most popular dishes.
Before, desserts Traditionally only sugar, coconut and flour. Today, the dishes are richly varied with more ingredients, thanks to the cultural interference between countries. The most commonly known Thai desserts are mango sticky rice, banana sticky rice; roti – a type of Thai pancake; Kinds of tea such as Gluay Buad Chee (coconut banana tea), Thai jelly, Khanom krok (coconut cake, quite similar to banh khot), Tub Tim Krob (pomegranate tea), Bua loy (Thai driftwood tea)…
Thai people love snacks, so you can easily find them snacks On the street, along the market… Some of the most popular snacks are fried spring rolls, Pa Tong Go (Thai-Chinese donuts), satay grilled chicken, salapao (dumplings)…
Sago cake. Photo: Shelvy Wu/Pixabay
Regional factor
Thai cuisine, basically divided into four regions: North, Central, South and Isaan (northeast), has different characteristics.
Central cuisine is considered the most unique. Most of the traditional dishes in this region are full of vegetarian, spicy, salty, and sweet flavors. This is also the place where people use the most curry and coconut milk when cooking. Some of the famous dishes that come from here are Hor Mok Pla (Thai curry caviar), Pad Kra Pao (Thai stir-fried with basil), Tom Kha Gai (Thai style coconut chicken soup)…
Sataw Pad Kapi Goong is a stir-fried Parkia Speciosa with shrimp, a typical dish of southern Thai cuisine. Photo: Michelin
Southern Food offers an interesting fusion of authentic Thai and Indian cuisine. Much of the food from this region is rich in spice. One of the most popular dishes is the thick and very spicy curry. Must-try dishes from southern Thailand include Gaeng Som Pla or Gaeng Leung (sour and spicy fish curry), Kua Kling (Thai dried curry), and Tom Som Pla Krabok (sweet and sour fish soup)…
Northern cuisine has a milder flavor, with a bit of sweetness or sourness. The northern part of the country has the perfect climate for growing vegetables and herbs, creating a distinct culinary character. In addition, northern Thailand borders Myanmar and Laos, so the culinary style is more or less affected. The main dish of Thai meals in the north is Khao Niaow (sticky rice), instead of white rice like most other regions; Khao soi, Khanom Jeen Nam Ngiao (spicy noodles)…
Isaan cuisine is largely boiled, rather than fried, with the main character being spicy and dry. The most popular Isaan dishes are Kai Yang (grilled chicken), Larb Moo (minced pork salad), Som Tum and Tom Saep (spicy and sour soup).
Royal cuisine
Aharn Chao Wang or royal cuisine refers to dishes served only to royalty, dating back to the Ayutthaya period. Basically, the food tastes like Thai food in the Central region, but with high rules and standards. For example, a plate of food should be full, without bones or grit, always using the freshest ingredients. The taste must be harmonious, not too spicy, salty or sour, sweet. Besides, the way of presentation must also be luxurious.
In the past, only the elite could eat these dishes. Nowadays, royal cuisine is more popular, you can find it in many restaurants. Some of the popular dishes today are Por Pua Thod (crispy fried spring rolls), Panang Neua (dry beef curry), Yam Tua Pu (dragon bean salad).
Por Pua Thod is more elaborately decorated. Image: Thaiger
Eating habit
It’s hard to distinguish between Thai breakfast, lunch and dinner, because every dish is interchangeable.
Breakfast usually starts from 7am to 8am. People often eat dishes such as khao kai jeow (omelette with rice), khao tom (rice, meat, herbs and eggs).
People eat lunch from 12 am to 13 pm. Some popular dishes are Pad Thai Goong (fried Thai noodles with shrimp); Khao Pad (Thai fried rice)…
18h-20h is dinner time, people often tend to gather at home to have a meal, instead of going out like morning and noon. However, because food is available everywhere, many people choose to take it home instead of cooking it.
Eating style
Most people prefer to use large forks and spoons to eat, instead of chopsticks. People do not need to use knives because most of the food is easy to get. Although Thai people often serve food on white rice, they rarely mix everything and eat each dish one at a time.
Mr. Minh (According to Thaiger)
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here
