Thai Cookery

Thai cookery is known for the unique way it balances five distinctive flavors in the food. These flavors are spicy, sweet, salty, sour and bitter, although bitter is an optional flavor that can be added to the food. There are actually four different cuisines depending on the region of the country the food comes from, rather than there being just one Thai cuisine native to the whole country of Thailand. For example, dishes from the northeastern part of the country use lime juice in the cookery, whereas the other parts of the country do not.

All Thai food is known for its liberal use of fresh herbs and spices, rather than the dried varieties. Fish sauce is also very popular. A typical Thai meal consists of one main dish with several side dishes served at the same time. Rice is the staple component of all dishes and is usually steamed with curries. The rice dishes also contain large quantities of tomatoes and lemon grass. Curried rice and stir frys may be combined in a single dish, which is called khao rad gang for a quick meal. Sticky rice is another dish that is popular in Thai cookery, especially in Laos. Noodles, too, have an important place in Thai cookery.

One dish that is truly unique to Thailand is nam pik, which is chili sauce. However, each region of the country has its own way of preparing this sauce. The main method of preparation is to crush the chilies with other ingredients, such as garlic or shrimp paste, using a mortar and pestle. The sauce is then served with vegetables, such as cucumber and cabbage, which could be raw or blanched, and rice. When eating this meal, you would dip the vegetables into the sauce.

Thai dishes also contain many different leaves, especially kaffir lime leaves. It is this that adds characteristic flavor to Thai soups. Other ingredients used in Thai cookery include eggplant, tamarind, palm, coconut, lemon grass, garlic, coriander and soya sauce. Broccoli is not an ingredient found in traditional Thai food although it is used in restaurants in the Western world.