Introduction to Thai Food

Thai Cuisine is said to be one of the healthiest types of foods you can eat. Several Thai dishes are under scientific study for their incredible health benefits. It's a well known fact that many of the herbs and spices used in Thai cooking - such as galangal, coriander, lemongrass, and turmeric - have immune-boosting and disease-fighting power. Thai foods are usually spicy but there are a variety of dishes suited for all types of taste palates.

Most Thai stir fry dishes are cooked at high heats and only for a few minutes, which is what makes them especially fresh and nutritious. The main advantage of this method is that most of the nutrients remain in the food. Vegetables maintain their vitamin content as well as their savory crunchiness.

Herbs and Spices are an essential part of Thai cooking. Used in combination, they help achieve a balance of the four essential Thai tastes: salty, spicy, sweet, and sour.

Main Thai Food Recipe Ingredients

Basil Leaves, Bean Sprouts, Bell Peppers, Carrots, Celery, Chili Peppers, Chives, Cinnamon, Coconut Milk, Coriander, Dried Prawns, Eggplant, Fish Sauce, Galangal, Garlic, Kaffir Lime Leaves, Lemongrass, Mint, Noodles, Oyster Sauce, Palm Sugar, Pepper Corn, Plum Sauce, Rice, Shallots, Shrimp Paste, Soy Sauce, Spring Onions, Star Anise, Straw Mushrooms, Tamarind, Tofu, Tomatoes, Vinegar, White Onions

Bean Noodles: Bean noodles or Mung bean noodles are referred to by many other names such as glass noodles, transparent noodles, or thread noodles. In certain dishes, the glass noddles are just plunged into boiling water and quickly taken out again.

Brown Rice: Thai brown rice is unpolished rice. Brown rice has a higher nutritional value than white rice and the most important health benefit of brown rice comes from it's high fiber content. Rice is normally polished removing the bran layer off leaving the starchy inner layer and is what makes it white in color. Brown rice is more expensive than white rice because of a lack of supply and demand and is harder to store and ship.

Chili Peppers: Chillies come in different types and sizes and have been used in the Thai kitchen for over 400 years. Chili peppers are very nutritious for you and are loaded with vitamins. If you have eaten more chili than you can handle, water will do little to ease the pain. Try drinking milk, coconut milk, yogart or eating raw cucumber to cool your mouth down.

Coconut Milk: This unsweetened liquid is made from grated coconut flesh and water. It is an essential ingredient of many Thai dishes, available in cans, compressed blocks or in powder form.

Coriander: The leaves and fruit of the coriander plant are one of the most essential in Thai cooking. The seed like fruit of this plant is used whole or ground for flavoring or seasoning, as in curry powder. The root is also used, often pounded with garlic and other ingredients, to make a marinade.

Fish Sauce: Fish sauce provides the salty flavor in Thai cuisine, and it is high in protein as well as minerals and vitamins. It's made from small fish, salt-fermented for a long time, then the juice is extracted and boiled until it is a clear, brownish sauce.

Galangal: This is a very common ingredient in Thai food, also known as Siamese ginger or Thai ginger. However, galangal has a much lighter color as compared to ginger, it's flesh is white, where as ginger's is yellowish. Fresh galangal as with all herbs tastes the best and is the most nutritious for you, but you can use dried or powdered galangal if fresh galangal is not available. Many Thai curry pastes use galangal as one of the main ingredients.

Garlic: Many Thai food recipes, especially stir-fried dishes, start with sliced garlic frying in oil, and go from there. It would be hard to eat a Thai meal without having garlic in one form or another.

Kaffir Lime Leaves: It's scent and taste is incredible, nothing quite like it. Thais use the Kaffir limes and leaves for many things not just in cooking. The aroma is used for air fresheners and the oils can be used for a household cleaner.

Lemongrass: Lemon Grass is a plant that looks like grass, smells minty and has a taste similar to citrus with a bit of ginger. The thick, woody base of each leaf has long been a staple ingredient in Thai cooking. You can easily grow your own by putting a few stems in one inch of water, set in a sunny area, then transfer it to your garden after the roots start to grow.

Palm Sugar: A strong flavored, hard brown sugar made from the sap of the coconut palm tree. Available in Asian food stores. If you have trouble finding it, use soft, dark brown sugar instead.

Shallots: Thai shallots are purplish-red in color and are used extensively in Thai cuisine instead of onions. The smaller brownish-orange shallots sold in Western markets can be used also.

Thai Curry Paste: The main ingredient in many Thai curry pastes is galangar. The curry paste is an important ingredient in many Thai food dishes.

Turmeric: Turmeric is a spice commonly used in many south-eastern Asian countries. Like ginger it is a root that is brownish on the outside and bright orange on the inside. When made into a powder it is bright yellow.

Vinegar: Thais use a mild, plain white vinegar. Cider or Japanese rice wine vinegar can be used instead.

Thai Food Cooking Methods

Thai cooking traditionally has been done in very simple cooking devices and in simple ways.Thai food cooking is still simple, but it has evolved quite a bit. From India Thai cooks learned to make curries with Indian spices at the same time adding their own originality with local ingredients. And from China Thai cooks received their most essential cooking tool: the wok. Thais were also introduced to noodles by the Chinese and since Thailand is one of the great rice producing nations of the world, they began to make rice noodles instead of the more common wheat and egg noodles.

Grilling - Thai people love grilled meats and fresh seafood. These are grilled using Thai seasonings and then dipped in various dips called "Nam Phrik" which has sweet-and-sour flavors to further enhance the taste of grilled food.

Boiling - Another typical way of Thai food preparation. Soupy curries are Thailand's national past time and soups are popular all over Thailand. "Tom Yam Goong' also originated from a boiling technique.

Stir Fry - The art of Thai cooking was also influenced by China which gave it the stir fry method. Stir fry dishes are now popular in Thailand and the most popular dish is 'Pad Tai'.

Salads - Thai-style salad dressings have simple ingredients like fish sauce, salt, lemon juice, chili, and sometimes, garlic and shallot. Popular salads include shrimp salad, pork salad, and beef salad.

Stews - Thai monarchs were educated in Europe and brought back with them western culture and western tastes in food. The stew is one of the imports into Thailand. Thais especially love beef tongue stew.

Thai Food in Thailand

Each region in Thailand has its own cooking style according to available ingredients and local tastes.

Northern Thailand: Northern Thailand is known for its vegetable dishes due to its fertile land and cooler climate. The meals are usually milder than in other parts of Thailand and are rarely sweet. People use a lot of condiments but not many spices. Noodles are very popular here and there are many street shops selling only noodle dishes, which are normally eaten for lunch by local people.

Northeast Thailand (also called E-Saan Food): Northeastern food is usually very hot and spicy. Their favorite foods include sour chopped meat salad (koi), papaya salad (som tam), and sour minced meat salad (larp). A popular dish in this area is Som tam, a papaya salad made with green unripe papaya, mixed with sliced tomatoes, chopped garlic, and finely crushed dried shrimp with lemon juice and chillies. Other specialties include Laab (spicy meat salad) with chicken, pork, beef, grilled fish or chicken, Jaew (dipping sauces), and Plara (Northeastern-style anchovy).

Central Thailand:  Food in central Thailand is usually mild, salty, sweet and sour. The food here is sometimes decorated very artistically with finely cut vegetables that are made to look like flowers. The most popular dish here is chicken green curry served with a salted egg and Thai salad.

Southern Thailand: In Southern Thailand hot and spicy curries are very popular and red meat is rarely eaten in this area. Fish and seafood are also very popular here and is coated with a mixture of turmeric and various herbs and spices, then deep-fried and served with a sweet-smelling sauce. Famous curries of the south are yellow curry, red curry, and fish curry.

All over Thailand: Chicken is the most popular meat in Thailand and rice is the main portion of just about every Thai meal. The meals usually consist of five or more dishes. Vegetables play an important part in Thai cuisine and the Thai markets are abundant with them. Salads are refreshing in the hot climate and balance spicy Thai food out nicely.

Bangkok: It has been said that Bangkok has more food establishments per square mile than anywhere else on Earth. And if you were to visit Bangkok, you would believe this claim to be true. The city seems to revolve around food. Everywhere there are indoor and outdoor eateries, as well as "fast food" stalls on most street corners.

In Bangkok, food from every region of the country is represented, with the addition of "palace food". The Chinese influence is strong in Bangkok, with a thriving Chinatown. Here one can find Thai versions of sweet-and-sour dishes, noodles, chicken fried rice, and various other traditional Chinese meals.

Palace-style cooking is more refined in quality than Thai home cooking, and especially in presentation, with intricately carved vegetables (often made into flowers) decorating each dish or included within the dish itself.

Also in Bangkok you will find hundreds of types of desserts, such as cakes, puddings, jellies, and other desserts, mostly made from the base of coconut, rice, egg, and sugar.

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