Thai Cuisine
.Thai cuisine is popular all over the world. Thai curries, stir fries, fruit shakes and fresh fish are local delicacies which can be eaten at cheap open air roadside stalls or relished at expensive restaurants of various 5 star hotels. Thai cuisine gets its distinctive taste by emphasis on strong flavours which include fresh coriander, lemon grass and lime juice. Thai food is spicy and contains hot little torpedo shaped chillies which are locally called phrik khii nuu.
Cuisine of Thailand
The four categories of dishes in Thailand are central Thai food (available around Bangkok), north-eastern Thai food (available in Issan region which is bordered with Laos), northern Thai food (available around Chiang Mai and influenced by Chinese and Burmese cuisine) and southern Thai food (which is heavily influenced by Malaysian cuisines). The Thai staple food is plain white steamed rice and serves as the base of almost all meal. The various other rice dishes are Khao phat (fried rice served with pork or chicken), Khao tom (salty and watery rice porridge served during breakfast) and Khao nio (or sticky rice eaten dry and served with grilled/fried pork, chicken or beef).
Thai Noodle's
Thais are big noodle eaters as well. The most consumed noodles is rice noodles, egg noodles, Chinese-style stuffed wonton ravioli and glass noodles made from mung beans. Noodles in Thai cuisine are generally served with about four condiments which include dried red chillies, fish sauce, vinegar and sugar. Noodle delicacies include Phat thai (thin chilly free rice noodles fried in a tamarind based sauce), Bam ii muu daeng (egg noodles served with slices of Chinese style pork) and Kuai tie ruea (rice noodle soup made with a pork blood stock).
Rice Dishes
A plate of rice with a helping of a curry on top is known as Khao kaeng and is a popular quick meal if eating alone. Other dishes include Tom yam kung (which is a sour soup made with prawns, galangal and lemongrass), Tom kha kai (Thai version of chicken soup cooked with rich galangal and coconut stock with mushrooms and chilly), Kaeng daeng (spicy coconut based red curry served with roast duck), Kaeng khio waan (sweet green coconut based curry) and Kaeng som (which is an orange curry and tastes more like tamarind soup served with herb omelettes). Vegetarians won't have many problems surviving in Thailand. The most used fish sauce can be easily replaced with soy sauce. Tofu is a traditional Thai ingredient which is used in various traditional dishes to replace meats. Most Thai dishes are made to order and so it is easy to ask for meat to be replaced with veggies.