MAIN INGREDIENTS
Thai curry is usually a soupy dish consisting of coconut milk or water, meat, and curry paste. Unlike the thicker Indian curries, Thai curries have a more soup-like consistency, and the cooks prefer to use fresh herbs and aromatic leaves instead of spice blends that are prevalent in Indian curries.
In many Thai homes, curry is consumed on a daily basis, and the cooks can choose from two varieties of Thai curry: water-based or coconut milk-based curries. The most popular water-based curry is sour curry, or gaeng sohm plah, which is often prepared with fish or seafood, while the sour flavor comes from tamarind.
VARIATIONS OF Thai Curry
MOST ICONIC Thai Curry
View morePad Thai is Thailand's national dish, a flavorful stir-fry (pad in Thai) dish consisting of rice noodles, tofu, dried shrimp, bean sprouts, and eggs. If it's made with meat, chicken and pork are some of the most popular choices. The flavors are an intricate combination of sweet, sour, and salty, with a well-balanced contrast of textures.
Pad Thai is probably one of the most popular Thai dishes abroad. Its origins can be traced to a period of nationalism in the country, after the 1932 revolution that ended the absolute monarchy. There was a public contest to find a new national noodle dish, and the winner was a Pad Thai consisting of noodles, radish, sprouts, peanuts, and eggs.
MOST ICONIC Pad Thai
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Tom Yum is one of the best known Thai dishes, a spicy, sour, and aromatic soup that is traditionally served with rice. It consists of shallots, lemongrass, fish sauce, minced fresh ginger or galangal, shrimps, mushrooms, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, and minced Thai chili peppers.
Usually served as an appetizer, tom yum is traditionally garnished with coriander leaves on top. Due to its popularity, different versions of the soup started to appear over the years, such as tom yum gai, with added chicken, and tom yum talay, with mixed seafood.
VARIATIONS OF Tom yum
MOST ICONIC Tom yum
View moreKaeng khiao wan is a traditional name for the fiery green curry. Although the name translates to sweet green curry, it merely refers to the color, which is known as sweet green. Thai green curry is a dish based on fragrant and spicy green chilis, brought to Thailand by Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century.
Fresh chilis are ground into a paste and mixed with ingredients such as galangal, shrimp paste, lemongrass, garlic, turmeric, coriander, kaffir leaves, and whole peppercorns. The paste is the heart of every green curry, a foundation which determines the final flavor of the dish.
MOST ICONIC Green Curry
View moreOne of three major curry types in Thailand is the famous yellow curry. Similar to its red and green counterparts, yellow curry is also made with spices such as coriander, cumin, lemongrass, kaffir leaves, garlic, galangal, and numerous other aromatic additions.
The spices are usually combined with potatoes and onions; all doused in a creamy and slightly sweet sauce made with coconut milk. What differentiates yellow curry from the other types is the addition of yellow curry powder, giving the dish its distinctive color.
MOST ICONIC Yellow Curry
View moreSom tam is a green papaya salad mostly associated with the northeastern part of Thailand (Isaan), though it is often suggested that it first appeared in Laos. Apart from thin strips of green papaya, this salad usually includes roasted peanuts, green beans, tomatoes, and a tangy sauce typically made with garlic, chili peppers, fish sauce, dried shrimps, palm sugar, and lime or tamarind juice.
The varieties are plentiful and can include various additions. The sauce can also appear in many other combinations, and can significantly vary in sweetness and spiciness. Numerous restaurants and street stalls allow the customers to choose the variety they prefer and adjust the ingredients to their preference.
VARIATIONS OF Som tam
MOST ICONIC Som tam
View moreTraditionally prepared and eaten mostly by the Muslim-Thai, khao mok gai (chicken burried in rice) is a Halal dish that was introduced to Thailand by Persian merchants centuries ago. In fact, the dish is the Thai version of chicken biryani and was first mentioned in a Thai literature classic from the 18th century.
Just like in the original recipe, both chicken and rice are heavily flavored with the traditional biryani spices like curry powder, coriander, cardamom, turmeric, cumin, and cinnamon. However, in Thailand, the dish is served sided with fresh tomatoes or cucumbers, and the obligatory nam jim dipping sauce consisting of fresh mint and ginger.
MOST ICONIC Khao mok gai
View moreThis traditional Thai rice pudding is a favorite way to finish any Thai meal. The dish is prepared with glutinous rice that is first steamed, then doused in sweetened coconut milk. Lastly, the rice is served sided with slices of fresh mango. This simple dessert is incredibly popular, and it can be found at virtually any eatery in Thailand.
MOST ICONIC Khao niao mamuang
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Out of all Thai curry varieties, massaman curry stands out as the mildest, sweetest, and the most unusual type. It is a combination of creamy coconut milk, meat, potatoes, and a curry paste made with roasted spices. Coconut milk is the authentic Thai element of the dish, providing a rich base for the rest of the ingredients.
Since it is cooked for a long time, massaman curry usually employs thicker cuts of beef or bone-in chicken, and occasionally lamb or mutton. The list of spices commonly used in massaman is versatile and extensive. It usually employs a combination of dry spices such as cumin, coriander, cloves, cinnamon, and peppercorns, mixed with fresh garlic, chili, galangal, lemongrass, tamarind paste, and palm sugar.
MOST ICONIC Massaman Curry
Suki is the Thai version of a communal hot pot dish. It grew out of Chinese and Japanese traditions of preparing and cooking ingredients tableside in a shared bowl. The assembling of the dish starts with a bowl placed in the middle of the table, usually filled with a lemongrass-spiced chicken broth.
The rest of ingredients can include meat, pork, and chicken, a wide range of seafood ingredients, glass noodles, and vegetables such as cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, spring onions, carrots, and celery. The unique characteristic of Thai suki is the dipping sauce, created with a substantial amount of chili peppers, coriander, garlic, and lime.
MOST ICONIC Suki
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