Thai Cuisine

HRM 11
What is Thai cuisine?
It is the national cuisine of Thailand. Thai
cuisine places emphasis on lightly prepared
dishes with strong aromatic components. Thai
cuisine is known for being spicy. Balance,
detail and variety are important to Thai
cooking. Thai food is known for its balance of
the five fundamental taste senses in each dish
or the overall meal: hot (spicy), sour, sweet,
salty, and (optional) bitter.
 Thai Food
Thai food is a hybrid, influenced by many cuisine
similar to a creature in Thai Mythology: the head of
an elephant (strength), the body of a lion (power),
and winds sprouting from 4 legs (ability to fly).
General eating cultural
• Thai-Thai: freedom in eating anywhere anytime
• Thai eat together with family and friends; eat
alone is considered bad luck.
• Most home-cooked meal are combination of new
and leftover dishes, because a house cook always
make extra food for unexpected guests or for a
second serving and they do not want waste any
food.
• Children are told to eat leftover first or to pets or
pigs, never waste rice
• Appetizers, soups, salads, main courses, and
deserts are served at the same time and can
be eaten in any order, except deserts.
• A meal consists of several dishes with
combination of flavors: sweet, hot, sour, and
salty (2-3 types of meat).
• A typical comb: sharp-flavored salad and
plenty of fresh vegetables. A soup,
including curry dishes; a stir-fry of meat
and vegetables; a meat dish such as
deep-fried fish or fried chicken; a basic
sauce or chili dip with a dies dish of
vegetable; dessert is a sweet base of
coconut or a variety of fruits
• Sometimes, one dish meal for
convenience: noodle soup, fried rice, or
curry and rice with an accompaniment of
vegetable, sauces, or condiments.
 Foods Serve in Thai
1. Khao (read as kaw) - rice
2. nam chim- Sauces
3. nam phrik –chili sauce or paste
4. Khanom (read as kanom) chin -Thai rice noodles
5. chuchi pla-red curry
6. pik kai sot sai thot-fried stuffed chicken wings
7. som tam thai -yardlong beans and peanuts
List of Thai ingredients
HERBS SPICES
1. Cilantro 1.Ginger
2. lemon grass 2. Tamarind
3. Thai basils 3. Garlic
4. Mint 4. Soy Beans
5. Shallots
6. Peppercorns
 Pastes and Sauces
1. The ingredient found in almost all Thai dishes and
every region of the country is nam pla.
What is Nam pla?
It is a very aromatic and strong tasting fish sauce.
It is a staple ingredient in Thai cuisine.
2. Pla ra
It is also a sauce made from fermented fish.
It is more pungent than nam pla, and, in
contrast to nam pla which is a clear liquid, it is
opaque and often contains pieces of fish. To
use it in som tam (spicy papaya salad) is a
matter of choice.
3.Kapi
It is a Thai shrimp paste, a combination of
fermented ground shrimp and salt. It is used,
for instance, in red curry paste, in the famous
chili paste called nam phrik kapi and in rice
dishes such as khao khluk kapi.
4. Nam phrik (Spicy Fish Paste)
It is a Thai chilli pastes, the wording"nam
phrik" is used by Thais to describe any paste
containing chilies used for dipping.
Nam phrik
5. Nam phrik phao
It is a sweet roasted chili paste and it is
often used when frying meat or seafood,
and it is also popular as a spicy "jam" on
bread.
Rice
• Rice is a staple grain of Thai cuisine, as in
most Asian cuisines.
KINDS OF RICE:
1. Jasmine Rice-originally from Thailand.
naturally aromatic long-grained rice
grows in abundance in the verdant
patchwork of paddy fields.
Jasmine Rice
2. Sticky Rice (khao niao)

It is a unique variety of rice that contains

an unusual balance of the starches
present in all rice, causing it to cook up to
a sticky texture. Sticky rice, not jasmine
rice, is the staple food in the local
cuisines of Northern Thailand.
It is sometimes called Glutinous rice.
Noodles
• Noodles are popular as well but usually
come as a single dish.
Kinds of Noodles:
1. Bami -(egg noodles) made from egg
and wheat flour
2. Rice noodles – (kuai tiao)made of rice.
3. Cellophane noodles-(Wun sen) made
from mung bean flour which are sold
dried.
Representative dishes
Meat Terms in Thai

1. Beef- nuea read as na

2. Chicken -kai read as kay
3. Pork-mu read as mo
4. Duck-pet
5. Seafood - thale read as taley
Breakfast dishes
1.Chok - a rice porridge commonly eaten in
Thailand for breakfast. Similar to the rice
congee eaten in other parts of Asia.
2. Khao khai chiao (read as kaw kay chiyu)- an
omelet (khai chiao) with white rice, often
eaten with a chili sauce and slices of
cucumber. It is sometimes called fried egg
omelet.
3. Khao tom - a Thai style rice soup,
usually with pork, chicken or shrimp.
Main Course Dishes
1.Khanom chin nam ngiao ( read as (mya) it is Thai
fermented rice noodles served with pork blood
tofu in a sauce made with pork broth and tomato,
crushed fried dry chilies, pork blood, dry fermented
soy bean, and dried red kapok flowers.
2. Phat si-io
- rice noodles with stir-fried with si-io
dam (thick sweet soy sauce) and nam
pla (fish sauce) and pork or chicken.
3. Phat thai
- rice noodles pan fried with fish
sauce, sugar, lime juice or tamarind pulp,
chopped peanuts, and egg combined with
chicken, seafood, or tofu. It is listed at
number 5 on World's 50 most delicious
foods readers' poll compiled by CNNGo in
2011.
Central Thai shared dishes
1. Ho mok pla (fish curry pâté)
- a pâté or soufflé of fish, spices,
coconut milk and egg, steamed in a
banana leaf cup and topped with thick
coconut cream before serving.
2. Phat khana mu krop
- khana (gailan/ broccoli leaf ) stir
fried with crispy pork.
3. Pla sam rot - literally "Three flavours
fish": deep fried fish with a sweet, tangy
and spicy tamarind sauce.
Desserts And Sweet Snacks
1. Chao kuai - grass jelly is often served
with only shaved ice and brown sugar.
2. Khanom chan – multi-layers of pandan-
flavoured sticky rice flour mixed with
coconut milk.
3. Khao lam - A cake made from steamed
rice mixed with beans or peas, grated
coconut and coconut milk.
4. Sarim – multi-colored mung bean flour
noodles in sweetened coconut milk served
with crushed ice.
5. Tako - jasmine scented coconut pudding
set in cups of fragrant pandanus leaf.
Thai Drinks
1. Cha yen
- Thai iced tea
2. Krating Daeng
- an energy drink and the origin of Red Bull.
3. Oliang
- a sweet Thai black ice coffee
4. Satho
- a traditional rice wine from the Isan region.
Other alcoholic beverages from Thailand
include Mekhong whisky and Sang Som.
Several brands of beer are brewe
d in Thailand, the two biggest brands
being Singha and Chang.

1. Mekhong whisky
2. Sang Som