Thai food

Thai food is very diverse and almost always different tastes are displayed in the same dish.

Sweet – sour, spicy-sweet, salty-sweet.

Sugar, chilli, fish sauce and lime juice are on every table in Thai street kitchens.

With every meal there is a taste explosion in the mouth, so to speak.

This already begins with the small starters. Coconut strips, chilli, garlic, onions, peanuts and small dried shrimps are wrapped in a pepper bush leaf and eaten together.

 

 

 

Then it continues with sweet and sour soups, spicy main courses and desserts that are not particularly sweet but often have a salty note.

 

By the way, breakfast in Thailand is usually not sweet but salty. For example, rice soup with chicken morsels or glass noodles with boiled eggs are very popular.

 

Very important in the Thai kitchen are the many herbs.

 

 

Especially lemongrass, basil, coriander and kaffir lime leaves are used generously.

A speciality of northern Thailand is a herb sausage, which only has about a third of meat in it, everything else are herbs and spices.

Of course in the south of Thailand, a lot of fish and seafood are eaten.

In Thailand, many things grow in a great variety. For example, there are about nine different types of eggplant, six types of basil and countless different types of mango and banana.

 

The desserts are somewhat unusual for us. Often they consist of fried fruit or vegetables or small dough bowls with coconut cream decorated with corn grains, herbs or egg yolk strips. Egg yolk is used very often in desserts. Together with bean pastes and coconut. And then there are jellies in all colours and shapes. They are given as toppings over coconut ice cream or simply over syrup flavoured ice flakes. These jellies don’t have much taste but are loved for their consistency and colour.

Another unusual combination for us is coconut cream cooked in a pumpkin.

Not to forget the sweet sticky rice, called sticky rice with mango and coconut sauce – a classic! Not only as a dessert but also as a small snack.

 

 

In general, many fruits are also consumed – as whole or as smoothies. On every street corner, there are stalls with fruit cups. The locals don’t usually eat them plain but sprinkle them with a salty, sweet and spicy granulate.

I especially liked the small banana leaf packets from the grill. They are filled with sticky rice which is flavoured with different purees like red bean purée, sweet potato purée, taro purée or banana purée.

 

 

There are only a few grocery stores as we know them, life takes place on the market.

 

Many families grow their own herbs and vegetables in the garden. What doesn’t grow in their own garden is usually bought at the market, as well as meat, tofu and vegetables.

 

Fresh coconut cream and coconut milk are also produced at the market. There is a big machine that grates and squeezes the peeled coconuts. And at the bottom, the finished cream or milk comes out – depending on how much water is added. Apparently, coconut milk can also go sour if it stands too long. So coconut milk is only made in the early morning because it can’t stand the heat of the afternoon.

 

 

Speaking of the market, there is always a food court there, that is, an area where you can buy cooked food or eat immediately.

We always had breakfast there. Of course, a lot of things were unknown to us and cooked vegetables with onions for breakfast seemed a little bit unusual for us but it wasn’t bad. (Actually, I wanted an omelette, but because of language difficulties it turned into vegetables ?) On the other hand, we quickly became friends with the cold, sweet milk coffee or milk tea – it tastes wonderfully refreshing!

 

 

To get to know the Thai cuisine better we even attended a cooking class. We learned a lot and of course, we had a wonderful meal. We can only warmly recommend this cooking course.

We also enjoyed the market visit with our cooking teacher Suwannee Kwan Cheablam. She not only showed and explained everything to us but also bought us many little things to try. For example, fried bananas and fried sweet potatoes.

On the market, we also bought the necessary ingredients for our lunch. Except for rice and herbs – she grows them in her own garden behind the house.

Her kitchen was very well equipped, with a cooking place for each student. But there were only two of us that day.

We prepared a wonderful 4-course menu:

Sweet and sour soup with shrimps

Crunchy vegetables

Chicken with green curry and rice

Bananas cooked in coconut milk

Of course, I do not want to withhold these recipes from you, they are from Suwannee Kwan Cheablam and for the next four weeks, you will find them on this blog.

I have always also added a possible vegetarian variation.

 

Have fun with the recipes!

 

Do you like Thai food?