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"FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD"look-chop
Would be an appropriate song for the gourmet traveller to sing when visiting Thailand, for Thai cuisine is surely one of mankind's most delicious and exciting culinary art forms.
Once almost unknown outside Thailand, the delights of Thai cuisine are now to be found in countless restaurants around the world, but they are best enjoyed, of course, in their country of origin.
Although it draws heavily on several of the great Asian culinary traditions, particularly Indian and Chinese, Thai food is unique, for its subtle combination of myriad ingredients, spices, herbs and sauces.
The tastes of Thailand range from hot curries to mildly aromatic desserts and can sometimes surprise the visitor, for instance in the combination of both sweet and salty elements in the same dish.
The huge variety of natural ingredients used, and the complexity of recipes will certainly be one of the greatest treats in store for lovers of fine food when visiting Thailand.
One popular misconception about Thai cuisine is that it is invariably
hot -'chilli hot', that is. In fact, many dishes are no hotter or spicier
than any other Asian style. Chilli is often an optional ingredient which
diners add to their taste.
What makes Thai food so appealing. ly different is the inclusion
of all kinds of exotic and aromatic herbs as well as (no1 necessarily
hot) spices. Of these, garlic-Thai garlic is slightly less pungent than
it! European counterpart - pepper, coriander and liberal doses of nam
pla, a fermented fish sauce, are the most commonly used.
Like other Asian nations, Thailand has rice as its staple.
The long grain variety is the most popular and is usually cooked by steaming,
without the use of additives, The result is that it is light and fluffy
and so fragrant that it can be eaten by itself. Another variety of Thai
rice is more glutinous, a sticky texture that is especially popular in
the North.
Noodles of various kinds can also form the basis of a meal or used in dishes such as pad Thai, fried noodles with baby shrimp and bean curd.
To the basic rice and noodles are added various other dishes. In Thai cooking, frying, boiling, steaming, barbecuing and baking are main methods employed.
A combination of herbs and spices, freshly ground, can either be put directly into the pan for frying with the main ingredients or added to soups and stewed dishes. Alternatively, a paste featuring chilli, lemon grass, coriander root, garlic, shrimp curd and pepper is used.
A typical family
dinner may well have fish, pork and chicken on the same menu. All dishes
including soup are served at the same time, the soup being in individual
bowls and the main dishes being communal, with diners taking only spoonfuls
of each at a time and mixing it with the rice on their plates. A spoon
and fork are the usual eating utensils, with chopsticks being used by
ethnic Chinese.
The menu at a
typical Thai restaurant will be amazingly long and will be a testament
to the cook's creative imagination. The various dishes on offer can be
broken down into seven main categories: soups, poultry, meats, seafood, rice and noodles, vegetables and salads, and desserts
Soups
Thai soups can feature virtually any kind of ingredient, from mushrooms
and pumpkin to shrimp and catfish, or any type of meat. Some are flavoured
with coconut milk, while others are based on fish or meat stock. Probably
Thailand's most famous soup is tom yum gung, a hot and soup prawn
mixture with a tongue-tingling taste achieved by mixing the flavours of
chilli, lemon grass and fresh lime juice.
Main Dishes
Thailand produces excellent poultry, including chicken, duck and pigeon.
These may be cooked in many ways, wrapped in pandanus leaves,
made into a curry, barbecued, casseroled, or stuffed with tomatoes, onions,
or even ground pork.
Meats are invariably cut into small pieces which are then
cooked in various ways. Among the favourite methods of preparation are
fried with garlic and Thai pepper, or as part of a curry, particularly
gaeng keowan, green curry.
Thailand's seas and inland waterways provide a huge selection of fresh
and dried seafood. These include lobsters and crayfish, prawn, crab, mussels,
clams and an almost endless variety of fish, The cooking methods for these
vary from steaming to frying, or as part of a soup. Fish is often served
with a thick or spicy sauce, then sprinkled with crispy fried garlic.
Certainly worth
trying are gaeng garee gung, lobster and prawn curry; poo pad
pong garee, curry powder and chilli crab; tort mun pla, fried
fish cakes and plakapong-kow nuang, steamed sea bass.
Vegetables
These are rarely
simply boiled in the western way. Rather, they are stir-fried with garlic
and oyster sauce, or steamed, in which case they are often eaten with
small fried fish and a pungent shrimp sauce, Salads, too, hardly resemble
their western counterparts. A typical salad might include beef and chilli,
plus strips of lettuce and tomato, or green mango, As an alternative,
there is a green papaya salad, known as som tum, which also features
ginger, lime juice, fish sauce, chopped dried shrimps and peanuts.
Desserts
To round off
a great meal, Thailand offers some really delicious desserts. Often made
from rice, tapioca or types of jelly, these are mixed with fruit, fresh
or preserved, and chipped ice, They provide the perfect complement to
a rich and spicy meal. Not to be missed are sankaya gap kanoon.
coconut custard with jackfruit pieces, kow-neeo ma- muang sticky rice
with mango and eye-teem kati, coconut ice-cream.
Finally, a word about Thai fruits. These are abundant in number and variety, but among the best are pineapple, banana, orange, pomelo, mangosteen, rambutan and lychee.
Thai Spices &Herbs
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