Thai Food

Thai food: Delicious, satisfying, tasty, spicy, and possibly even orgasmic. I love Thai food. It's definitely up there in my list of favourite foods. Not a minor favourite either; it's at the top. It's a food choice that's possibly number one on the list; and I don't take food eating lightly. Heck, I eat more Thai food here in the Philippines than I do Filipino food. How's that for being a fan? I love Thai food so much that it's a dream to strip down naked and swim in it... Oh wait, that's too much information isn't it? Okay, sorry, moving on...

Needless to say I was excited when we started to plan our trip to Thailand.

Here's the Idiot's Guide To Thai Food. I can't include every recipe obviously, but I can include a few examples of the food we ate while we were in Thailand.

Curries. Specifically Thai green curry. Yum. The name "green" curry derives from the color of the dish. Other Thai curry dishes are identified solely by their colors, such as yellow and red curry.

The main ingredients for the sauce consist of coconut milk, green curry paste, eggplant, sugar, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves, and thai basil leaves. The consistency of its sauce varies with the amount of coconut milk used. Green curry paste is made by pounding in a mortar green chillies, shallots, garlic, galangal, fresh turmeric, shrimp paste and salt. The paste is briefly fried in a wok and coconut milk is added, then meat and vegetables added along with a pinch of brown sugar. Finally, kaffir lime leaves and thai basil are added just at the end of cooking for fragrance.

Thai green curry can be made with meat, duck, chicken, fish or vegetables and is usually eaten as an accompaniment to rice or round rice noodles known as khanom jeen.

Pomelo Salad. Yum-o-licious. Pomelo salad isn't found only on a Thai menu, the Philippines as well has their own version. In Thailand we found ourselves subconsciously ordering pomelo salad for every meal. I say 'subconsciously' because our original plan was to order something different for every meal but somehow, pomelo salad always ended up as part of our order. After a while we became connoisseurs of pomelo salad. Every restaurant we visited became an exploration of pomelo salad and which place served the best of the best. The recipe changes from place to place but the standard ingredients include pomelo (obviously), dry-roasted peanuts, prawns, grated coconut, fish sauce (Thais love their fish sauce), lime juice, and other ingredients to taste. Yummy yum!

Pad Thai. I'm sure you know of it. Even non-fans of Thai food (are there such a thing?) know of the delicious pad thai. Pad Thai is a dish of stir-fried rice noodles with eggs, fish sauce (see, fish sauce), tamarind juice, red chili pepper, plus any combination of bean sprouts, shrimp, chicken, or tofu, garnished with crushed peanuts and coriander. It is normally served with a piece of lime, the juice of which can be added along with the usual Thai condiments.

There have evolved two different styles of Pad Thai: the version most often found in the streets of Thailand, which is relatively dry and light; and the version that seems dominant in many restaurants in the West, which may be covered in a red oil and can be heavy tasting.

Yum-tastic!

Tom Yam Soup. It is perhaps one of the most famous dishes in Thai cuisine. It is widely popular in neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, and it is now also globally popularized.

Tom yum is characterized by its distinct hot and sour flavors, with fragrant herbs generously used. The basic broth is made of stock and fresh ingredients such as lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, shallots, lime juice, fish sauce, tamarind, and crushed chili peppers.

In Thailand, tom yum is usually made with prawns (tom yum goong), chicken (tom yum gai), fish (tom yum pla), or mixed seafood (tom yum talay or tom yum po taek) and mushrooms - usually straw or oyster mushrooms. The soup is often topped with generous sprinkling of fresh chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves.

While in Thailand we were impressed by how delicious the food was everywhere. And I mean everywhere. From street food and the smallest of shack restaurants to the most expensive high class restaurants, everything was deliciously cooked and very very satisfying. I can't stress enough about how yummy all the food was. Why, I'm even salivating as I type this. Hold on, let me get a tissue... ok, I'm cleaned up ... moving on. The food listed above are a few of my personal favourites. But are they examples of true amazing Thai food? Well, let's see...

This street vendor claims to be selling Amazing Thai Food. You know he's serious about his claim, he's even named his stall 'Amazing Thai Food'. But what's so amazing about his food? Is it really more amazing that the food I listed above? Let's take a closer look...

What is it and what's so amazing about it? Okay, I'll cut to the chase here, what you're looking at is deep fried insects. That's right, insects. We have cicadas, locusts, mantises, crickets, water bugs, weaver ants, dung beetles, grasshoppers and even tarantula spiders.

Yum.

Yummy-o-yum.

Okay, I confess, I can't claim to be a member of the Fear Factor generation: I didn't eat any. At the time I wasn't interested, but later on I had second thoughts. I figured it's pretty unfair for me to write a blog about something I didn't try. Well, I apologize, I didn't try it. But from what I understand the taste isn't that bad. Think of the flavour of popcorn, roasted peanuts or even chicken (I add chicken because really, doesn't most things taste like chicken?). Or if you really want chicken how about a healthy serving of fried baby bird (head and all)? Yum. Interested? Why not? Insects are a rich source of protein, calories, vitamins and minerals. I think you should drop what you're doing now, get outside, and collect as many insects as you can. When your wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend comes home simply tell them it's Thai Food Night! After their first bite they'll probably say, 'Wow, that's the best fried chicken I've ever tasted.'

Yum-dee-yum!