Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Thai Food

Before leaving for my trip, one of the things I was most excited about was three weeks of delicious Thai food. I have always liked the type of Thai food we get in the US, and I was curious to see how it compared the authentic stuff.

For the most part, food in Thailand is fairly similar to what we can get at Thai restaurants in the US - Pad Thai, red and green curries, spicy coconut milk soups, noodle dishes, etc. The flavors were generally quite similar to what you find here, but with more spiciness and a little more complexity, probably due to the different herbs and spices that aren't as readily available here in the US.



Some of the best food we ate throughout the trip came from street vendors or small local shops where you can get a delicious and filling meal for $1 or $2. Roti, which is like a type of pancake or crepe, was another favorite. They make both sweet and savory versions with all different types of fillings that you can get from a street vendor for less than $1.


In much of Thailand, especially the south, there is tons of seafood. I tried tons of seafood dishes - prawn curries, crab omelettes, squid fried rice, whole fish, you name it. My favorite was probably a dish I had at a market in Patong, Phuket - green curry mussels. It was just a giant plate of mussels soaking in a green curry broth with lots of herbs and a side of steamed rice. My love for French-style mussels led me to order it, and I must say the Thai style is just as good!

Another interesting thing about food in Thailand is the different condiments that come along with your meal. There is usually sweet chili sauce, spicy dried powdered chili, spicy chili oil (thinly sliced red and green chilis floating in oil), sugar, and msg salt. I impressed most of the other Westerners with my abundant use of chili oil, but it was nothing compared to the Thai people's love for spiciness.


In Chiang Mai I took a cooking class where I learned how to prepare soups, curries, pad thai and other noodle dishes, spring rolls, and some desserts. Cooking these dishes was actually easier than I anticipated, but they require a lot of prep time (chopping, etc.). I can't wait to start testing the recipes and seeing if I can re-create all that spicy goodness.


I think it speaks volumes that after three weeks I wasn't sick of eating spicy noodles and rice for three meals a day.

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