Joanna James
Delectable Thai cuisine would be a delight for the discerning food lover, offering an array of tantalizing and delectable dishes to savour. There would be a vast selection of delicious culinary creations to try during your visit to Thailand, including stir-fries, noodles, soups, curries and salads. You could enjoy these at exclusive restaurants, modest street food stalls and everything in between. Some of the must-try Thai dishes to order on your foodie adventures are described below.
The cuisine of Thailand includes a number of zesty curries and one of the highlights is the distinctive yellow curry or kaeng lueang in the native language. You will find that yellow curry displays the culinary influence of southern Thailand, featuring a creamy texture and a noticeable yellow colour gained through a plentiful serving of turmeric. To make this tasty dish, ingredients such as turmeric, cumin, coriander, lemongrass, shallots and galangal would be pounded together; these elements would be added to vegetables, potatoes, coconut milk, and chicken or another protein to complete the dish.
Undoubtedly, pad Thai would feature on the list of all-time favourite Thai dishes. It would also be a great choice for the Western visitor as it wouldn’t be excessively spicy. Interestingly, there would be different variants of this dish in the various regions of the country; that said, it would usually include flat rice noodles, fresh seafood (or pork, chicken or tofu), tamarind, dried shrimp, shallots, egg, bean sprouts and fish sauce. All of these ingredients would be stir-fried within a wok and served with fresh herbs, chillies and roasted peanuts.
Another iconic Thai speciality would be tom yum goong, or hot and sour shrimp soup. This tangy soup would be sour, spicy and fragrant, tantalizing the diner with its unique taste. The special flavours of this dish would be derived from its ingredients which would include aromatic lemongrass, galangal, fish sauce, shallots, red chilli peppers, lime juice, mushrooms and so on. Whilst the key ingredient in this dish would be shrimp, there would also be versions featuring other seafood or chicken. A Phuket town hotel to consider where you could also enjoy tom yum goong would be NH Boat Lagoon Phuket Resort.
A distinctive salad dish that you would have the opportunity to savour during your visit to Thailand would be the popular som tam or spicy green papaya salad. This salad which may seem rather unusual to foreign visitors, would feature sliced green papaya, lime juice, fish sauce, red chillies, palm sugar and tamarind pulp; these ingredients would be mixed with vegetables like carrots, runner beans and cherry tomatoes. The final ingredients would be dried shrimp and roasted peanuts; the elements would be combined using a mortar and pestle to complete the preparation.
Your sampling of typical Thai dishes wouldn’t be complete without experiencing the much-loved khao pad, or Thai-style fried rice. Whilst this dish could be enjoyed at any time of the day, it would be particularly popular at lunchtime. Khao pad would feature either pork, chicken, seafood, beef or tofu, along with garlic, onions, eggs, fresh herbs, fish sauce and vegetables. These elements are then mixed with aromatic jasmine rice and stir-fried to create a divine main meal.
Naturally, you would need a tasty dessert to complete your Thai meal and a great choice in this regard would be the very popular khao niao mamuang or mango sticky rice. In fact, you could enjoy this uncomplicated but delicious dessert at classy restaurants and modest stalls selling street food alike. This sweet treat would basically consist of sliced fresh mango with sticky rice made with plenty of coconut milk; servings of sweet condensed milk would be optional and are the perfect addition for those with a sweet tooth.
A true believer that the pen is a mighty weapon, ventures into reaching the minds of every reader with the earnest hope of leaving an indelible stream of thought.
A travel writer who has a passion for fashion and a deep interest in admiring new and exotic attractions around the world.
