From the subtlty of green curry to the fiery soup that is som tham Thailand's cuisine is a subtle blend of flavours and ingredients to please the palate.
Thailand is famous for its cuisine and Thai food has now conquered the world with its range of flavours from subtle and delicate to the eye-wateringly pungent.
Like all national cuisines Thai food tells us a lot about the land and its people. Thailand sits between the two foremost cultures of India and China and Thai cooking has been influenced by both. Yet by adapting the dishes of these giants to its own tastes Thailand has adopted its own distinct culinary identity.
Traditional Thai cooking methods were stewing and grilling. Chinese influences introduced stir and deep-frying. Culinary influences from the 17th century onwards included Portuguese, Dutch, French and Japanese. Chillies came into Thai cooking during the late 1600s by Portuguese missionaries who had acquired a taste for them from Amerindians.
Like most of the rest of Asia Thai meals do not have courses all the dishes appearing on the table at the same time. The predominant ingredient is rice with noodles also having a large place in the cuisine.
Rice makes up the main meal and is not a side dish as in so many Western countries. A favourite rice of many Thai chefs is Jasmine rice this is an indigenous variety that is sweetly aromatic and has a subtly exotic taste. Another favoured rice variety, especially in the northern parts of Thailand is glutenous (or sticky) rice.
Meat in Thai food is traditionally pork, beef or chicken. The country’s shortage of grazing land meant that in the past meat was very expensive this is why Thai cuisine contains less meat than would be common in many Western ones.
Thailand however, has an extensive coastline and a widespread network of canals and rivers it is not surprising then that seafood and fish plays an important part in Thai meals; fish sauce (nam pla) or shrimp paste (kapee) are the bases for much of Thai cooking.
Mixed with these two elements are other exotic flavours from herbs and spices like lemon grass, tamarind, ginger, basil, turmeric, shallots, and of course the ubiquitous chilli. Coconut milk is also extensively used in Thai cooking.
Chilli’s and other ingredients are usually ground into a paste and incorporated into the meal, so providing a sometimes subtle and sometimes fiery dish.
Methods of cooking have not changed much over the years either stir fried usually in a wok, steamed, or grilled on a barbeque are the usual methods.
Thai cuisine harmonises five basic flavours either in one dish or as a theme throughout a meal. The flavours are hot or spicy, sour, sweet, salty and the optional choice of bitter but never forgettable.
Each region of Thailand has its own distinctive cooking with Issan food traditionally hot and spicy but the tastes of predominantly Muslim southern Thailand demanding leaves and green vegetables not found in other regions. Another typically Thai dish is sticky rice that originates from the hill tribes of the north and northeast and when cooked is rolled into balls and dipped in the sauces or side dishes.
The West’s enthusiastic adoption and appreciation of Thai food is due to the increasing understanding that much of what Westerners eat is highly refined with a high fat and carbohydrate content and may be less than healthy.
