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Thai food
With their Buddhist background, Thais shunned the use of large animals in big
chunks. Big cuts of meat were shredded and laced with herbs and spices.
Traditional Thai cooking methods were stewing and baking, or grilling. Chinese
influences saw the introduction of frying, stir frying and deep-frying. Culinary
influences that came to Thailand from the 17th century onwards included Portuguese, Dutch, French and
Japanese. Chillies were introduced to Thai cooking during the late 1600s by
Portuguese missionaries who had acquired a taste for them while serving in South
America. Thais were very adapt at 'Siamese-ising' foreign cooking methods, and substituting ingredients. The ghee used in Indian cooking was replaced by coconut oil, and coconut milk substituted for other dairy products. Overpowering pure spices were toned down and enhanced by fresh herbs such as lemon grass and galanga. Eventually, fewer and less spices were used in Thai curries, while the use of fresh herbs increased. It is generally acknowledged that Thai curries burn intensely, but briefly, whereas other curries, with strong spices, burn for longer periods. Instead of serving dishes in courses, a Thai meal is served all at once, permitting dinners to enjoy complementary combinations of different tastes. A proper Thai meal should consist of a soup, a curry dish with condiments, a dip with accompanying fish and vegetables. A spiced salad may replace the curry dish. The soup can also be spicy, but the curry should be replaced by non spiced items. There must be a harmony of tastes and textures within individual dishes and the entire meal.
Eating and ordering Thai FoodThai food is eaten with a fork and
spoon. Even single dish meals such as fried rice with pork, or steamed rice
topped with roasted duck, are served in bite-sized slices or chunks obviating
the need for a knife. The spoon is used to convey food to the mouth.
What Comprises a Thai Meal
Preparing Thai FoodTitbits
Salad Dressings Soup Stocks Curries Single Dish Meals
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Thailand © Kaysfeld International Chiang MaiBook Store |
Thai food is internationally
famous. Whether chilly-hot or comparatively bland, harmony is the guiding
principle behind each dish. Thai cuisine is essentially a marriage of
centuries-old Eastern and Western influences harmoniously combined into
something uniquely Thai. The characteristics of Thai food depend on who cooks it,
for whom it is cooked, for what occasion, and where it is cooked to suit all
palates. Originally, Thai cooking reflected the characteristics of a waterborne
lifestyle. Aquatic animals, plants and herbs were major ingredients. Large
chunks of meat were eschewed. Subsequent influences introduced the use of
sizeable chunks to Thai cooking. 
speaking, two diners order three dishes in addition to
their own individual plates of steamed rice, three diners four dishes, and so
on. Diners choose whatever they require from shared dishes and generally add it
to their own rice. Soups are enjoyed concurrently with rice. Soups are enjoyed
concurrently with other dishes, not independently. Spicy dishes, not
independently. Spicy dishes are "balanced" by bland dishes to avoid discomfort.
The ideal Thai meal is a harmonious
blend of the spicy, the subtle, the sweet and sour, and is meant to be equally
satisfying to eye, nose and palate. A typical meal might include a clear soup
(perhaps bitter melons stuffed with minced pork), a steamed dish (mussels in
curry sauce), a fried dish (fish with ginger), a hot salad (beef slices on a bed
of lettuce, onions, chillies, mint and lemon juice) and a variety of sauces into
which food is dipped. This would be followed by sweet desserts and/or fresh
fruits such as mangoes, durian, jackfruit, papaya, grapes or melon.
peanuts and red phrik khi nu chillies.
Peeled shallots and ginger should be cut into small fingertip sizes. Diced lime
and slices of lemon grass should be cut to the same size. Roasted peanut
should be left in halves. Chillies should be thinly sliced. Combinations of
such ingredients should be wrapped in fresh lettuce leaves and laced with a
sweet-salty sauce made from fish sauce, sugar, dried shrimps and lime juice.
Salad dressings
have similar base ingredients. Add fish sauce, lime juice and sugar to enhance
saltiness, sourness and sweetness. Crushed chillies, garlic and shallots add
spiciness and herbal fragrance. Lemon grass and galanga can be added for
additional flavor. Employ this mix with any boiled, grilled or fried meat.
Lettuce leaves, sliced cucumber, cut spring onions and coriander leaves help top
off a salad dressing. 
Soups
generally need good stock. Add to boiling water crushed peppercorns, salt,
garlic, shallots, coriander roots, and the meats or cuts of one's choice. After
prolonged boiling and simmering , you have the basic stock of common Thai soups.
Additional galanga, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, crushed fresh chillies,
fish sauce and lime juice create the basic stock for a Tom Yam. 
To make a quick
curry, fry curry or chilli paste in heated oil or thick coconut milk. Stir and
fry until the paste is well cooked and add meats of one's choice. Season with
fish sauce or sugar to taste. Add water or thin coconut milk to make curry go a
longer way. Add sliced eggplant with a garnish of basil and kaffir lime leaves.
Make your own curry paste by blending fresh (preferably dried) chillies, garlic,
shallots, galanga, lemon grass, coriander roots, ground pepper, kaffir lime
peels and shrimp paste. 
Heat the cooking
oil, fry in a mixture of crushed chillies, minced garlic, ground pepper and
chopped chicken meat. When nearly cooked, add vegetables such as
cut beans or eggplants. Season with fish sauce and garnish with kaffir lime
leaves, basil or balsom leaves. Cooked rice or fresh noodles added to the
frying would make this a substantial meal.