How to order Thai food Thai food is eaten with a fork and spoon. Even single-dish meals such as fried rice with pork, or steamed rice topped with roasted duck, are served in bite-sized slices or chunks obviating need for a knife. The spoon is used to convey food to the mouth.
Ideally, eating Thai food is a communal affair involving two or more people, principally because the greater the number of diners the greater the number of dishes ordered. Generally speaking, two diners order three dishes in addition to their own individual plates of steamed rice, three diners, four dishes, and so on. Diners choose whatever they require from shared dishes and generally add it to their own rice. Soups are enjoyed concurrently with other dishes, not independently. Spicy dishes are balanced by bland dishes to avoid discomfort.
The ideal Thai meal is a harmonious blend of the spicy, the subtle, the sweet and sour and is meant to be equally satisfying to eye, nose and palate. A typical meal might include a clear soup (perhaps bitter melons stuffed with minced pork), a steamed dish (mussels in curry sauce), a fried dish (fish with ginger), a hot salad (beef slices on a bed of lettuce, onions, chillies, mint and lemon juice) and a variety of sauces into which food is dipped. This would be followed by sweet desserts and/or fresh fruits such as mangoes, durian, jackfruit, papaya, grapes or melon.
Some of Thai Dishes
- Salads
Thai salads, called yam, are sour, sweet and salty. A simple dressing works equally well for meat, seafood, vegetable and fruit salads. This is made from fish sauce, lime juice and a dash of sugar. The heat comes from fiery little bird chilies, but just how hot a salad should be depends on the texture and flavor of the meat, vegetable or fruit used. Fresh herbs such as marsh mint, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and cilantro are usually used as garnish.
- Chili Dips
Usually served with vegetables, meat or fish, chili dips are very versatile. A dip can be a main dish or side dish, added to a pan of fried rice to flavor it, or drizzled on chips to jazz them up. A cook can whip up a bowl of dip from chilies, garlic, onion and shrimp paste or whatever ingredient is available—dried or fermented fish, sour tamarind, dried shrimp, etc.
- Soups
Thai soups generally are very flavorful. Meat or vegetable is cooked in broth or coconut cream with a “soup base,” usually a blend of spices and herbs, which gives the soup its flavor. A soup is served not at first course but together with other dishes. This way you can wash down the fiery heat of the more spicy dishes with it.
- Curries
The heart of all Thai curries is the curry pastes, which, unlike Indian curry, are made from fresh herbs and spices. The paste is cooked in coconut cream before meat or vegetable is added. Main ingredients in most curries are chili, garlic, shallot, galangal, coriander root and krachai (a small brownish orange, indigenous root. Canned curry pastes are available at markets and grocery stores, but freshly-made pastes make more delicious curries.
- Single Dishes
Fried rice or noodle dishes make quick, satisfying meals. You can improvise with different types of meat, vegetables and spices. When cooking the rice, use a little less water so it won’t become soggy when you fry it. Separate the noodles before adding it to the oil. Add the meat and sauce, then the rice or noodles, and stir frequently over high heat.
- Desserts
Ideal for washing down the spices, Thai desserts are sweet but not intensely so. Banana or flour dumplings in sweetened coconut cream and season fruit in sugar syrup topped with crushed ice are some of the easy-to-make favorites. Thais also eat a lot of candied fruit—banana and breadfruit being two of the most popular--alone or topped with coconut cream. |
