Secrets Of Thai Cuisine

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

Thai cuisine is very spicy and extravagant. It is dominated by fire and five flavors - spicy, salty, bitter, sour and sweet.

Spicy is above other flavors. The magic of Thai cuisine lies in the fusion of tastes. The Thais have literally raised food to their cult. Before World War II, they even greeted each other with an expression that means "Haven't you eaten yet?"”.

Thai chefs rely heavily on the aroma of various herbs and spices, such as turmeric, lemongrass, tamarind, galangal, Thai basil and coriander leaves.

Rice is the basis of Thai dishes. It neutralizes the tastes, which is especially important for such a spicy cuisine. The rice is not salted during cooking.

In traditional Thai cuisine, no yardstick is used to measure spices and ingredients.

Fish sauce, known as Nam pla, is a staple in almost every Thai dish. This is a rare brown sauce made from small fish fermented in brine, usually anchovies. It is salted and for unaccustomed people it is recommended to use it only as a flavoring or to replace it with soy sauce.

One of the most typical Thai temptations is Nam prik, it tastes like soy sauce and is even their national dish. It is prepared from crushed hot peppers, add garlic and shrimp paste, which are crushed in a suitable container. It is served with vegetables such as cucumbers, cabbage and raw or lightly cooked beans.

Coconut milk is an integral component of Thai cuisine. You may be interested to know that it takes 6 years to get its characteristic taste. If the coconut falls earlier, the taste of the milk will be bland. It is used both for the typical Thai massage and for ice cream.

Apart from the taste, the appearance of the dish is also very important. Thais pay special attention to decoration. Cutting fruits and vegetables has become an art. Dill or pieces of tomatoes and cucumbers are often used for decoration.

See also our recipe for delicious Thai curry with chicken

The required products are: 2 large chicken breasts, which are cut into thin slices, 2 small carrots, 1 pepper, 1 medium onion, about 450 ml of chicken broth or coconut milk.

For the sauce: a stalk of lemongrass and 3 cloves of garlic cut into thin slices, 1 tbsp. fresh ginger, 2 hot peppers, a handful of coriander leaves, a little lemon peel, 1 tbsp. sugar, a pinch of salt and 2 tbsp. fish sauce.

Prepare curry paste by mixing all the spices without the fish sauce and crush them until you get a homogeneous mixture. Add the fish sauce and stir. You need to achieve a balance between spicy, sweet, sour and salty, so if necessary add extra spices. Set aside for a while.

Heat a frying pan and add a little peanut oil. When the oil is heated to a high temperature, add the finely chopped vegetables and stir. Add the prepared curry paste and fry for about half a minute.

Add the coconut milk or chicken broth, when the mixture boils add the chicken. When the chicken is ready you can remove from the pan.