Generally, in Thailand, most of us eat rice all the all. Breakfast rice, lunch rice, and dinner again rice.
Very often, we do eat curry(spicy food in the morning as breakfast as well especially the very locals.
Rice is the base ingredient in almost every meal. Surprisingly rice can be eaten with almost every side dish like curry, fried meat, or even vegetables.
We know that rice contains much sugar which makes us fat but as main meals we cannot eat just meat
or vegetable without it and another carbohydrate source cannot replace it.
Interestingly, for us, rice is a substance that can be eaten with various side dishes. We also believe that it is a symbol of bringing luck for wealth.
We were taught by our parents and from school since baby not to waste a single seed of rice while eating.
Also, eat it all! The angel will bring us luck. This is the importance of rice for us besides it is delicious.
Just sometimes other foods are acceptation. Especially when we eat at Restaurants then we try other foods. When we eat at home then should be rice again.
Ras mentioned rice is set as a base for any meal and various side dishes from meat, vegetation, and oil will be added on.
Now let’s see what is the common side dishes we cook or order.
Pad Kra Pao (Thai Basil)
If you read on the internet about ‘’foods to eat when visiting Thailand’’. Just 30 % of the sources/websites mentioned this menu.
Actually, it is the most often menu we do eat daily.
It is simple to make and very delicious. The taste of it is a preference almost everyone has.
In other words, it is a very standard delicious taste that matches almost everyone‘s palate.
When we come to the restaurant for a lunch break, look at the menu card with no idea what to eat.
The very first idea will come up with Pad Kra Pao because it will not disappoint us for sure.
Pad kra Pao contains Thai significant ingredients providing perfect tastes as spicy from chili, pungent flavor from garlic, salty from fish and soja sauce,
meat like pork or chicken, and the high light ingredient that makes this menu outstanding is Thai basil, in Thai called Kra Pao.
I don’t know how to express the flavor of it, for us, it is a magic flavor. You have to try it yourself. It matches very well with fried eggs.
Pad Thai
The opponent from Pad Kra Pao, the menu Pad Thai exists all articles on the internet “What should you eat in Thailand?”.
Yes, it is a Thai signature menu, but it is a menu that we normally eat at a restaurant. Very rarely that we cook it at home.
Just realize now that I myself never cook as well 😄. We do not eat it every day or even not once a week, maybe just once a month.
But it is a very popular menu for tourists. That is why all restaurant in the tourist area has this menu.
In my own opinion, the tourists love Pad Thai because of its friendly taste. It is one of fellow Thai popular menus that is not spicy.
Also made from noodles a food people all around the world know. But the difference that made our Pad Thai well known is the Sauce.
Salty, quite sweet, and etc. (complicate).
Khanom Jean
Khanom Jean is a very local food. We will seldom see a tourist eating it but very often the locals.
The reason is, it is too spicy. And we need to try it several times to be familiar with it. Me too, since I was a kid,
I did not fall in love with it from the first 20 dishes I tried. Now I cannot stop thinking of it within 2 days.
You might wonder why I as a kid ate it 20 times when I didn’t like it.
The reason is it is a basic food we cannot eliminate especially when we live in a country site area in the south of Thailand.
We normally eat it in the morning or for lunch. In the evening is not a flavor.
Because the rice noodle which is made in the early morning cannot be held for all day. It is easily rod.
Som Tam
I will call this a menu for discharging the tension of needing everything.
It contains every taste in the way of intensive intent level. Quite sour, very spicy, a bit sweet, bitter, and quite salty.
It doesn’t make us sweat and satisfied at the same time.
To explain why it is so famous for us. Let’s tell this way.
Som tam is originally an Esan food (North East Thailand) but it is sold in restaurants in every single region, city, and village in Thailand.
I am sure that 95% of houses in the whole country do have tools for cooking this meal.
If you want to try it too. As a beginner, you can ask the restaurant to put just 2 chilis.
Once you are quite expert at it most of us then ask to put 5 more chilis and not forget to put the fermented fish in it.
The main ingredient of Som Tam is raw papaya. It is a fruit that exists everywhere in Thailand.
We use raw/ or unripe papaya to make it.
We don’t eat Som tam with normal rice but with sticky rice as an original from Esan.
It is more tasty to eat it with fried chicken.
So when you come to a restaurant I recommend you to order Som Tam to learn the taste that is famous in all cities in Thailand.
Continue… in the next post
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