Thai Food:
Sweet, Sour, Salt and Heat
I had never been a breakfast eater, but I found the food in Thailand so irresistable that I was soon happily eating three meals a day, and taking full advantage of the street food found everywhere! I often indulged in the traditional Thai breakfast of rice soup with seafood or pork, seasoned with ginger, chiles, cilantro and the omnipresent fish sauce, and crested with crispy fried onion flakes and garlic; on many mornings, on the way to the train or bus or a wat, I joined the throngs of city dwellers for a sweet snack of fresh, juicy papaya spiced up with a salt, sugar and chili dip from a street vendor.
Thai food is now popular in restaurants around the world: green curry with chicken, red curry with beef, pad thai, and irresistably aromatic creations with thai sweet basil, chili and cilantro lording over seafood, chicken or pork. If you want to experience the truly authentic versions of these and less familiar dishes and street food while you travel in Thailand, understanding a few Thai food terms will get you started on your culinary adventure.
Alot of Thai recipes are fairly easy to create in your own kitchen, with the fresh ingredients and cooking utensils now widely available in Asian markets and local produce markets even outside of major cities.
More and more supermarkets are carrying brand name curry powders, curry pastes and other prepared mixes and frozen meals replicating popular Thai dishes, and some are quite good.
But, if you enjoy authenticity, adventure and creativity in your kitchen, try some of the food recipes from the Recipe Box. Once you have a few of the essentials mastered, you'll be infusing the flavours and aromas of Thai cooking into your meals on a regular basis.
