Thai cuisine is diverse and varies by region, with rice playing a central role. Seasonings balance sweet, salty, sour, hot, and bitter flavors, with common ingredients including coconut milk, ginger, and chilies. Noodle dishes, curries, and soups are popular, and desserts include mango sticky rice and sweet potato pudding. Thai iced tea is a must-have.
The food of Thailand is incredibly diverse, although some common threads run through all of Thai cuisine. Depending on the region of Thailand you visit, foods like larb or pad thai can be ubiquitous or impossible to track down. Different regions of Thailand also focus on using unique spices or ingredients not found in other parts of Thailand.
Thai food is very popular with consumers outside of Thailand, and numerous restaurants around the world offer all sorts of Thai delicacies. Knowing a few basics of Thai cooking can help people make informed orders at restaurants or organize Thai-style dinners.
All Thai cuisine tends to use fresh, simple ingredients combined in a wok and steamed or fried, and rice plays a central role in Thai meals. As a general rule, a Thai meal consists of an assortment of dishes all made alongside copious amounts of rice.
Thai cuisine seasoning balances five flavors: sweet, salty, sour, hot, and bitter, and seasonings are often available to adjust these flavors to taste. Fish sauce, or nam pla, sweet chili sauce, and chili powder are commonly available condiments. Ingredients in Thai cuisine vary, but coconut milk, ginger, lemongrass, limes, galangal, kefer lime leaves, tamarind, coriander, and chilies are all common inclusions in Thai food.
In addition to being served plain, rice is also used in Thai cuisine to make a number of things, including noodles of various thicknesses and spring roll wrappers that can be served fresh, steamed, or fried. Thailand has a number of noodle dishes, including the famous pad Thai. In addition to pad Thai, you can also find rad na, a noodle dish with a rich gravy, and pad see ew, a deep-fried dish with wide noodles and soy sauce.
Thailand is also famous for a huge assortment of spicy or mild curries. Green, yellow and red curry is available in many parts of Thailand, along with Massaman curry, an Indian-inspired dish. Curry is perhaps one of the best known features of Thai cuisine, along with soups such as tom yam and tom kha gai. In the Northeast, some cooks also make larb, a tart salad garnished with mint. In central Thailand, satay and other grilled dishes are often available.
Thai cuisine is complemented by a number of desserts, such as mango sticky rice, a very popular sweet finish to a hearty Thai meal. Fried plantains and ice cream are also not uncommon, along with sweet potato pudding. And, of course, no Thai meal would be complete without generous servings of sweet Thai iced tea, blended with coconut milk.
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