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Like other southeast Asian countries, food stalls
are
everywhere in the streets, markets and festivals of
Thailand, providing an endless smorgasbord of
aromas, color, sounds and flavors - food in Thailand is a feast
for all of the senses.
The next 'hotdog stand'
does have a grill, placed
over a large bin of charcoal, with flattened chicken
quarters sizzling on sticks that you eat like a
popsicle; next door to that is yet another steel
cart heaped with fresh, ripe pineapple, mango and
papaya.Having
a huge mortar and pestle for transforming the greener papayas
into a crunchy,
sweet-sour-spicy salad with morsels of shrimp or squid, chilies,
garlic and sugar, called papaya pok pok. |
ThaiStreet
Food Barbecue Phuket |
But be aware, according
to my own experience
the change that you have a real stomach problem
afterwards is 90%. Don't listen what they tell you, the
problem is all this street vendors use water from the
tub and water from the tub in Thailand is, as everyone
will tell polluted, it wont matter if you boil or not.
A other problem is that
hygienic is almost below zero,
usually any vegetable, salad or whatever is only minimal
washed.
This philosophy even
don't stop at the big chains like -the Pizza Company-
which was Pizza Hut before. E.g. I encountered in
their Phuket -Lotus- branch worms and cockroaches in the
salad. On top of it they clean of the junk from the
table and the floor, after they throw the used dirty
cloth into the same compartment as the knives and forks
to be used for eating and so on, this actually is a
endless story.
What makes Thailand food so delicious and distinctive among
other Southeast Asian food is this unique blending of
fresh herbs, spices and other ingredients
that combine for a perfect balance of sweet, sour, salt
and heat that leaves your mouth feeling clean and your taste
buds popping in the
afterglow.
Fresh fruit,
salads and even soups and noodles are ladled into
plastic bags with a skewer, fork, spoon or straw for eating on
the go or perched on a folding chair at a nearby metal card
table in the market.
Thai buses and trains become moving picnic grounds, with
everyone chatting, eating and sharing the fare hawked
through the vehicles' windows at roadside stops and
terminals: Gai Yang, the flattened barbecue chicken on a
stick, skewered meat and fish balls and sticky rice
wrapped in banana leaves. |
Thai Street Food Skewer and Calamari |
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Carnivals and markets feature huge woks
at knee-height,
bubbling with deep-fried critters of all sorts,
many unidentifiable. Are they grasshoppers?
crickets? spiders? baby birds? small frogs? --
my mouth and eyes were constantly wide open in
wonder and amazement! I spent an inordinate
amount of time in the fresh produce and night
food markets -- exuberantly fascinated and often
visibly discombobulated, to the great amusement
of the vendors and shoppers.
After traveling every aisle of food
carts with fried Thai grasshopper and crickets
plus woks full with cockroaches and other
strange things of the animal kingdom on the
mission
to find the freshest, most interesting
and tasty-looking dishes, I was often met with
earnestly shaking heads or "No, you don't want
that - that's Thai food!" by English speaking
cooks or bystanders when I pointed and gestured
and tried to ask for a
meal I knew I truly wanted.
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Thai Fried Grasshopper
and Cockroaches |
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On my first such adventure, I
did not know that the custom was
for the cook to show the ladle
with the amount of the garlic
and chili for you to indicate
how much you wanted: thinking
she was simply asking if I
wanted those Thai ingredients, I
nodded vigorously at the heaped
display, and in it all went!
Yes, it was Thai food, and I
enjoyed every sizzling touch to
my lips under the
watchful, laughing eyes of the
vendors and bystanders who had
gathered. I spent as much time
learning about, admiring and
experiencing the food as I did
with major tourist
attractions |
Fried Larvae |
Fried Larvae |
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often spending hours strolling
through streets and markets
taking in the sights and smells
and sounds: quiet clucking
rising up from a heap of
vibrantly colored roosters or
chickens tied together at the
feet - a Thai rooster's plumage
is extraordinarily beautiful;
plastic tubs and buckets just
full enough of murky grey
water to keep the fish, frogs or
turtles alive until a sale was
clinched; mounds and mounds of
green and red, and purple and
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Fried Cockroaches |
Thai Food |
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orange; the pleasant stench of
durian and jackfruit - pleasant
because I was just so thrilled
and in awe of it all! |
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We would like to
give you a gourmet experience to
eat some delicious grilled or
BBQ rats in Thailand, no need to
rush to China
click here
I tried deep-fried
grasshoppers
at a carnival in
Kanchanaburi
during a sound and light show of "The
Bridge On The River Kwai"
that ended with a fabulous fireworks
display recreating the Allied bombing
campaign that destroyed the bridges of
the Death Railway in 1945. I tried a few
tiny roasted wood worms offered by a
very thin host in a northern hill-tribe
village near the Myanmar border, and
feared that I was eating his family out
of house and home. I discovered
countless traditional dishes I had never
tasted and savored authentic versions of some I had had
in Toronto's newly arrived Thai restaurants. As often as
I could, I watched their creation so that I could try to
replicate them when I got home
and got a kitchen again.
Many people are alarmed at how
daring |
Deep-Fried Grasshoppers |
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was
Thai food and other with my stomach.
During
two years of round-the-world travel,
including six months in Southeast Asia,
I only had one tiny bout of queasiness
over a couple of days on Sumatra in
Indonesia. In fact, I had never eaten so
well or felt so healthy in my life. I
must have found the perfect balance of
common sense and adventure, or, some
might argue, I was just lucky.
I don't recommend trying every
Thai food,
and I do recommend a few common sense tips for sampling
the full range of the food on offer throughout your
travels: at street and market
stalls, do watch the cooking for awhile to ensure that
the ingredients are fresh and the food is being cooked
thoroughly; if you have any doubts, move on to the next
vendor choose vendors that have a good steady flow of
customers - not only is the food probably very good, but
the turnover means fresher food
ask your guesthouse host and
any other residents you meet for their
favorite
places to eat, and for recommendations
on dishes to order follow the .
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Tom Yam Seafood |
Street Food Karon Beach Hot Dog
and Fish Hawker |
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Street Food Karon Beach
Spicy Stuff on the Move
Phuket
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other
safe eating tips you find in travel guides, like
recommendations about water, ice cubes, and peeling
fruit and vegetables Of course, you will find
an endless selection of sit-down restaurants
where you can savor some of the more familiar Thai dishes now
found in restaurants around the world:
Green curry with
chicken, red curry with beef,
pad Thai and other noodle dishes, and wonderfully
aromatic sweet basil |
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dishes. Whether you plan to
sample the fabulous Thai foods from the street vendors
and markets or stick to
what you know, learn a few tips
on deciphering a menu or asking for a type of dish with
a few Thai Food Terms.
- Many supermarkets
are now carrying a range of prepared
Thai food sauces, curries and other
Asian products, but if you enjoy adventure and
creativity in your own kitchen, many Thai recipes are
fairly easy to create once you've mastered a few
essentials. Gai Yang, after
all, is really just barbequed chicken
with a Thai twist! A good food reference
guide or cookbook with a glossary of
Asian ingredients will help you gain |
Thai Food Koh Samui |
Thai
Beach Food |
that perfect balance of sour,sweet, salt
and heat that is unique to Thai
cuisine.
Carolyn Nantais is a freelance writer, website
copywriter, world traveler and culinary xenophile who
indulges in temporary retirement from time to time to
travel and eat around the world.
The website, The
Recipe for Travel, is a food companion for travel lovers
and travel companion for food lovers, with stories,
recipes and practical travel planning tips gathered
through adventures in round-the-world travel and food.
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If you
travel Thailand in the fall, you might notice crowds of people, bright lights and
colorful banners surrounding a small riverside temple, Wat Josue Kong (wat means
temple in Thai). This is Bangkok's vegetarian festival, the Festival of the Nine
Imperial Gods, which takes place during the first nine days of the ninth Chinese
lunar month. (This year, it began Sept. 23 and ended Oct. 1; next year it will
begin on Oct. 11 and end on Oct. 20. Getting off at the next boat stop to
investigate low the congested streets parallel to the river. You walk past
storefront machine shops where metal-smiths pound hot steel into boat anchors
and crowbars, past crews of young men braiding half-inch thick steel cables and
down narrow streets lined with piles of truck axles and engine parts. Then you
turn a comer and follow a growing stream of people moving toward a small,
crowded street aglow with fluorescent lights. Now you're in the Thalad Noi area of Bangkok's Chinatown (near the end of Charoen Krung
Road's Soi 20). It's about a 20-minute walk up river |
Thai Vegetarian Food |
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from the Sheraton Hotel's River City complex, although
the Harbor Department express boat stop is the closest one to the festival.
Here, the grimy storefront machine shops
are obscured by rows of vendors selling
lotus flowers, fruits, candles, incense and brightly colored religious objects.
Scores of other vendors are selling fried, boiled, steamed and roasted
vegetarian foods. Walk through the gauntlet of vendors and you find yourself in
a large covered square, half of which is filled with folding tables, chairs and
impromptu kitchens. The other half contains a large, raised altar bearing
three-foot tall candles and huge, smoldering logs of incense.
At one end of the square is a Chinese-Thai Buddhist temple hung with banners and
lit with neon lights. At the other end is a Chinese opera stage where characters
in dramatic makeup and sequined costumes act out scenes to the sound of gongs
and stringed instruments. In front of you, a woman and her daughter kneel at the
altar and male attendants carry a log of incense over their shoulders.
The
Thailand vegetarian festival is a centuries-old Taoist celebration that began in
southern China. Legend has it that the festival originated at a time of flood,
fire and famine from which people were saved by Guanyin, the goddess of mercy.
To thank her, the people invited nine gods to join them for a festival of
purification in which their sins and those of their ancestors would be washed
away. As part of the purification, celebrants adhere to a vegetarian practice,
known in Thai as kin jeh, for the 10-day festival. Eating meat and eggs is
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prohibited, as well as
garlic, green and yellow onions and shallots. These aromatic
foods are believed to excite or heat up the body, a condition
not conducive to worship and meditation. (A similar prohibition
against onion and garlic exists in orthodox Hindu cooking.) If
you are somehow skeptical just take Thai Sea Food and observe
the grilling, frying or boiling.
Today, most of the people who participate in the festival are Chinese-Thai. The
entire event has a family atmosphere, with carnival games and even a small ferris
wheel. At noon the first day, there is an inaugural ceremony
during which the gods are invited to the festival. On subsequent
days, there are Chinese opera performances, as well as a
procession honoring the god of birth and death. Toward the end
of the festival, celebrants release turtles and fish to help
carry away their sins, and launch floats with candles and
flowers to pay respect to their ancestors and the gods. On the
last full day, alms are given to the poor, |
Thai Sea Food |
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and in
the evening a large and colorful procession of worshippers
headed by monks, drummers and a 12-person Chinese dragon circles
the temple area three times to bid the gods farewell. Ceremonies at noon the next day close the
festival.
Throughout the vegetarian festival, street vendors dole out seemingly endless quantities of
one-plate vegetarian meals and traditional Chinese-style sweets. Most vendors
specialize in one or two dishes. The most popular one-plate meals are noodle
dishes. There are fried, round, chewy noodles of yellow wheat and thin rice
noodles served with mushrooms, grated radish, tofu, Chinese kale and soy sauce;
noodle dishes with mushrooms and faux meatballs made from wheat gluten; and
noodle soups made with tofu or several varieties of mushrooms. |
Other stands offer vegetarian versions of common Thai dishes such as red curry
with green beans and faux pork, or stir-fried tofu with snow peas and baby corn.
All are available on a bed of rice for 20 baht (about 80 cents). Several
restaurants on nearby Charoen Krung Road (near Wat Mangkong) offer even wider
selections of Thai-style dishes for similar prices. In place of the traditional
fish sauce, they use a sauce made of soy sauce and herbs.
One of the most delicious dishes offered at the festival is also one of the most
dramatic to watch being prepared. Pak boong fai daeng is a simple stir-fry dish
in which a pile of pak boong (a mild leafy green with arrow shaped leaves and
hollow stems) is roughly chopped and heaped in a bowl, then topped with chili
peppers, fermented soybean paste and a dash of sugar. Vegetable oil is heated to
the smoking point in a wok, and the contents of the bowl are dumped in and
stirred quickly while a red flame (fai daeng) leaps up from the wok. As the
flame fades, the contents are turned out onto a plate and rushed to the diner's
table.
A
video of the vegetarian festival is here include a variety of baked or deep-fried
Chinese-style snacks filled with sweetened bean paste, coconut or taro root.
There are also deep-fried egg rolls and vegetable fritters served with a sweet,
spicy dipping sauce, as well as fried taro root pancakes. A vegetarian version
of the popular Northeastern Thai/Lao green papaya salad, som tham, is also
popular. It combines shredded papaya, lime juice, palm sugar, chili peppers,
sliced tomatoes, green beans and julienned mushrooms, pounded together wooden
mortar and pestle and served on a plate with fresh greens and balls of glutinous
rice.
There are also vegetarian festivals in the southern Thai cities of Phuket and
Trang. These festivals are even more exotic than Bangkok's, featuring acetic
feats by young male followers, such as body piercing and climbing ladders of
razors. The festival is also spreading throughout Bangkok. This year, there were
yellow and red pennants with the Chinese symbol for kin jeh on restaurants and
food vendors' carts all over the city. During the festival, many hotels and
restaurants offer vegetarian buffets or add special vegetarian items to their
menus. Some of the larger restaurants advertise these offerings in Thailand's
English-language newspapers.
The Thailand vegetarian festival is certainly the most exciting way to experience. Thailand's
vegetarian cuisine.
Videos on Thai Vegetarian Festival are here. But any time of year, delicious and inexpensive vegetarian
food is fairly easy to find here. All you need is some persistence and a few
Thai phrases.
The Chinese restaurants along Yaorat and Chaoen Krung roads are generally good
places to look for vegetarian food. If it is not festival time, tell the waiter
that you are a vegetarian: "khon kin jeh." Your food will be free of meat, eggs,
dairy and fish sauce, and probably without garlic or onions as well. If a menu
in English is not available (many places have them), you can usually order by
pointing to the fresh ingredients that most restaurants prominently display,
pantomiming which ingredients you do and don't want.
In addition to the Chinese-Thai vegetarian tradition, there is a vegetarian
movement taking root in Thailand. The group behind this movement is called Santi
Asoke, a back-to-basics Buddhist group founded in the 1970s that advocates a
simple lifestyle, herbal medicine, vegetarianism and organic farming. Unlike
most Buddhists in Thailand, Santi Asoke adherents take the Buddhist injunction
against taking life as an exhortation not to eat meat or eggs. In contrast, most
Thai Buddhists (monks included) believe that eating meat is not equivalent to
"taking a life" - as long as they didn't personally kill the animal. Santi Asoke
has upset the mainstream Thai Buddhist hierarchy by criticizing mainstream
Buddhism's tolerance of meat eating, gambling, drinking, prostitution and
consumerism. In response, the Buddhist hierarchy challenged the legitimacy of
the Santi Asoke practices, forbidding the Santi Asoke monks from wearing
Buddhist robes or even calling themselves Buddhists.
Despite their disdain for meat eating, Santi Asoke cooks make every attempt to
replicate the texture of meat through the use of wheat gluten. Their restaurants
and food shops, or sala mahansawalat, are increasingly popular. They are only
open during the day, and are almost always packed. Food is served
cafeteria-style and meals are cheap even by Thai standards: a bowl of noodles or
a serving of food over rice costs about six baht (25 cents). They offer
vegetarian versions of many Thai dishes, such as sweet-and-sour faux chicken
with vegetables, or Northeastern Thai/Lao-style salad with chopped shallots,
mint leaves, onions, chili peppers and faux chopped pork. These restaurants
serve their meals with brown rice (most Thais like their rice as white as snow).
Their curry pastes and spicy dipping sauces use a vegetarian "shrimp" paste made
of fermented soy beans which looks and smells very much like the real thing.
In Bangkok, the largest Santi Asoke restaurant is on Kamphaengphet Road (behind
the small city bus parking lot near the pedestrian bridge) just south and west
of the large weekend market on the north side of town. There are also Santi
Asoke restaurants in many other cities including Nakorn Pathom, Korat, Ubon
Ratchatani and Chiang Mai. Vegetarians can also eat their fill at a good vegetarian restaurant right around
the corner from the main train station in Bangkok. Just walk east about 50 yards
down Rama IV Road and you will find a small enclosed restaurant that offers only
Chinese-style vegetarian food. Bangkok's many Indian restaurants all offer
vegetarian dishes, as do most of the low-budget guesthouse restaurants. The
Seventh-day Adventist Hospital in Bangkok has a vegetarian cafeteria that serves
both Thai- and Western-style vegetarian food. There are also upscale restaurants
in Bangkok and Chiang Mai that mainly cater to foreign vegetarians. You won't go hungry in Thailand any time of the year. But if you have a spirit
of adventure, come during the vegetarian festival. You'll be rewarded with
authentic Thai vegetarian cookery unavailable anywhere else in the world. It's a
countrywide festival of tastes.
Author
Stephen Carroll was a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand for two years. He now
works as a baker in Kalamazoo, Mich.
COPYRIGHT Vegetarian Times, Inc. All rights reserved. & Gale Group
- Chiang Mai
Chicken, Thai
Prawns, Khao Pad etc.
Are among the pleasures of Thailand's
complex cuisine plus grilled foods served with hot seasoning sauces.
These two barbecue picnics are good examples. The grilled chicken originates in
northern
Thailand, near the 3,300-foot-high city of
Chiang Mai. The seafood beach barbecue
is from
Phuket, an island resort in the south.
Each barbecue features a dipping sauce made from chilies to season the
main course. You can serve these grill menus in your own garden or cook them
at home and transport them to a favorite picnic spot. The few special
ingredients, offered primarily in Asian markets, have readily available
supermarket alternatives.
Chiang Mai chicken
barbecue, in the Mae Sa Valley, northwest of Chiang Mai, locals often bring
a lunch to enjoy while relaxing on big boulders at a cascading
waterfall. Before hiking up to the falls, some people purchase carry-out
foods from vendors at the base. A popular choice is grilled split
chicken, skewered spread-eagle fashion, with a salad made from shredded
green papayas. Dessert is fresh seasonal fruit.
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Grilled Chicken Chiang Mai-style with Red Chili Sauce Green
Papaya and Bean Salad Sticky Rice (optional) Fresh Litchis or
Strawberries Juice from Young Coconut or Iced Tea Make the
seasoning paste for the chicken and skewer the chicken up to
1 day ahead. If you don't have glutinous rice to make sticky
rice, season 3 cups cooked short- or medium-grain rice to taste
with about 1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar. Pinch into small bites
to eat out of hand. The salad can be made up to 2 hours ahead. Look for firm
green papayas in stores that specialize in Southeast Asian
foods; crisp green cabbage is a surprisingly good substitute.
Mexican groceries and many supermarkets carry the mild dried
chilies.
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Grilled Chicken Chiang Mai-style with Red Chili Sauce
1 broiler-fryer chicken (3 to 3-1/2 lb.) 6 large cloves garlic,
chopped 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion 1 tablespoon chopped
fresh ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander 1/2 teaspoon coarsely
ground pepper 2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla or nuoc mam) or
soy sauce Red chili sauce (recipe follows) Reserve chicken
giblets and necks for another use.
Rinse chicken and pat dry. With poultry shears or a knife,
split chicken lengthwise through breastbone. Pull bird open and
place, skin side up, on a flat surface; press firmly, cracking
bones slightly, until bird lies flat. Thread chicken on
study 15- to 20-inch metal skewers, forcing 1 skewer through
thigh--perpendicular to bone and just above drumstick--into the
breast, and out through the middle joint of wing in extended
position (see left photo on page 112). Repeat on the other side
of the chicken. |
Thai Red Chili Sauce |
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With a mortar and pestle or in a blender, grind garlic,
onion, ginger, coriander, pepper, and fish sauce into a coarse
paste. Rub all over chicken. If made ahead, cover and chill
up until the next day.
Place chicken on a grill 4 to 6 inches above a solid bed of
medium-hot coals (you can hold your hand at grill level only
3 to 4 seconds). Cook, turning as needed to brown evenly, until
meat at thigh bone is no longer pink (cut to test), 25 to 30
minutes total. Remove chicken from skewers; cut up chicken and
serve with chili sauce. Makes 4 servings.
Per serving: 385 cal.; 43 g protein; 21 g fat; 3.2 g carbo.; 124
mg sodium; 132 mg chol.
Red chili sauce. Remove stems and seeds from 3 large
(about 1 oz. total) dried California or New Mexico chilies and 2
or 3 small dried hot red chilies. Rinse chilies, coarsely chop,
and place in a bowl. Add 3/4 cup hot water. Soak until soft,
about 10 minutes. In a blender, combine chili-water mixture and
3 cloves garlic, chopped; whirl until coarsely pureed.
In a 1- to 1-1/2-quart pan, combine chili mixture, 1/2 cup
distilled white vinegar, and 1/3 cup sugar. Cook over high heat,
stirring, until reduced to about 3/4 cup, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir
in salt to taste. Serve the sauce warm or cool. If made ahead,
cover and chill up to 1 week. Makes 3/4 cup.
Per tablespoon: 27 cal.; 0.2 g protein; 0.2 g fat; 6.9 g carbo.;
0.l mg sodium; 0 mg chol.
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Green Papaya and Bean Salad
1 small (about 1 lb.) green papaya or 4 cups (about 3/4
lb.) finely shredded cabbage 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped 2
tablespoons dry shrimp (optional) 3 or 4 (about 1-1/2 oz. each)
fresh jalapeno chilies, stemmed, seeded, and chopped 1/4 cup
lime juice 1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar 1/4 pound
Chinese long beans or green beans, ends trimmed 1 medium-size
ripe tomato, cored and cut into thin wedges 1 to 2 tablespoons
fish sauce (nam pla or nuoc mam) or soy sauce Leaf lettuce
leaves, rinsed and crisped
Peel papaya, cut in half, and discard seeds; finely shred
enough fruit to make about 4 cups. In a blender, finely grind
garlic, shrimp, and chilies. In a large bowl, combine garlic mixture, lime juice, and
brown sugar; stir until sugar dissolves. Thinly slice half of
the beans crosswise; cut remaining beans into 3-inch lengths and
set aside. Add to the bowl sliced beans, papaya, tomato, and
fish sauce to taste; mix together. Spoon onto a lettuce-lined
plate; garnish with reserved beans. If made ahead, cover and
chill up to 2 hours. Makes 4 servings.
Per serving: 75 cal., 2.1 g protein; 0.7 g fat; 17 g carbo.; 11
mg sodium; 0 mg chol.
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Sticky Rice
Rinse 2 cups sticky rice (also called glutinous or sweet
rice) until water runs clear. Cover rice with water and soak at
least 2 hours or up until the next day. Drain and place rice in
a cloth-lined steamer rack or tie it loosely in a towel and set
on rack. Steam on rack, covered, over at least 1 inch boiling
water until tender to bite, about 20 minutes. Serve warm or
cool. Makes 4 servings.
Per serving: 342 cal.f 6.3 g protein; 0.5 g fat; 76 g carbo.;
6.5 mg sodium; 0 mg chol.
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Naga Noi seafood grill
In southern Thailand, near Phuket, lies Naga Noi, an
island noted for its South Sea pearl farm and quiet white sand
beaches. En route to the island, friends gather just-caught
seafood from the Andaman Sea to grill for lunch. The
seafood selection varies with the day's catch. When we were
there, small live crab were the choice; since their availability
in the West is limited, our menu substitutes large prawns in the
shell. If you like, steam a banana leaf--wrapped fish alongside
on the grill.
Phuket Grilled Shellfish with Green Chili Sauce Leaf-wrapped
Grilled Fish (optional) Marinated Cucumbers Sticky Rice
(optional) Fresh Pineapple, Mangoes, or Papayas Beer or Lemonade. Cook rice (see Chiang Mai picnic, preceding) ahead, or
serve plain hot cooked rice. Make chili sauce up to 4 hours
before serving. For a simple salad, season sliced cucumbers and red
onion with vinegar, sugar, salt, and crushed dried hot red
chilies to taste.
While the coals ignite, 30 to 45 minutes, take the shrimp and
wrap the fish in banana leaf or foil. Look for banana leaves in
the freezer at Asian markets. |
- Phuket
Grilled Shellfish with Green Chili Sauce
1-1/2 pounds extra-colossal (fewer than 10 per lb.) or colossal (10 to
15 per lb.) shrimp Green chili sauce (recipe follows)
Devein unshelled shrimp by inserting a toothpick through joints in back
of shell beneath vein in several places and gently pulling to remove
vein. (Or, if desired, shell and devein shrimp.)
Place shrimp on a grill 4 to 6 inches above a solid bed of
medium-hot coals (you can hold your hand at grill level only 3 to 4
seconds) and cook until flesh is opaque in thickest part (cut to test),
3 to 5 minutes a side. Transfer seafood to a large platter. To eat, peel
off shell and dip shrimp into green chili sauce. Serves 4 to 6.
Per serving (no sauce): 98 cal.; 19 g protein; 1.6 g fat; 0.8 g carbo.;
137 mg sodium; 140 mg chol.
Green chili sauce. In a blender, coarsely puree 4 to 6 (about 1-1/2 oz.
each) fresh green jalapeno chilies, stemmed, seeded, and chopped; 3
large cloves garlic, chopped; 1/2 cup lime juice; and 1 to 2 tablespoons
firmly packed brown sugar.
Per tablespoon: 17 cal.; 0.2 g protein; 0 g fat; 4.4 g carbo.; 3.4 mg
sodium; 0 mg chol.
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Leaf-wrapped Grilled Fish
1 whole (2-1/3 to 3-1/3 lb.) fish such as rockfish, cleaned and
scaled; or 2 pounds white-flesh fish fillets or steaks (1-1/2 in.
thick) such as lingcod or grouper Salt and ground white pepper 1 stalk
lemon grass or 3 strips (1/2 by 3 in. each, yellow part only) lemon peel
6 thin slices (each about the size of a quarter) fresh ginger 1 large
(about 15- by 20-in.) banana leaf or piece of heavy foil Green chili
sauce (recipe precedes)
If desired, remove and discard head from fish. Rinse fish and pat
dry. Sprinkle fish cavity or pieces lightly with salt and white pepper.
Remove coarse outer leaves from lemon grass and trim off top leaves.
Rinse stalk well, then pound with mallet to crush slightly. Lay lemon
grass and ginger inside fish cavity or on top of pieces. Lay fish about
6 inches from 1 end of banana leaf and roll up to enclose fish (or wrap
and seal in foil).
Place fish on a grill 4 to 6 inches above a solid layer of medium-hot
coals (you can hold your hand at grill level only 3 to 4 seconds).
Cook, turning once, until a thermometer inserted in thickest part
reaches 140[degrees], or until flesh in thickest part is opaque but
still moist-looking (cut through leaf to test), 10 to 12 minutes a side
for whole fish, 6 to 8 minutes a side for pieces. Unwrap fish and place
on a platter. Eat chunks of fish with chili sauce added to taste. Makes
4 servings.
Per serving (no sauce): 215 cal.; 43 g protein; 3.6 g fat; 0.3 g carbo.;
136 mg sodium; 80 mg chol.
Thai food has lots of
exotic and tasty fruit,
fruit shops, supermarkets and markets. If you buy fruits go in the big
supermarkets or shopping malls like tesco-lotus. The reason is, the
fruits you get there are usually clean and freah. There are plenty of
other fruits shops where they offload the rotten fruits, you would buy
them since you don't know hoe the fruit looks inside. They have several
food shops along roads in the tourist centers where the tourist bus
companies carry their clients, mainly Chinese and Japanese to buy the
fruits since they get commission on every busload and the tourists get
the junk.
Fruits are very popular in Thailand and all kind of stuff is
added, like sugar, salt chili, even soup seasoning etc. .In Thailand,
fruits are generally made sweet including those which are suppose to be
sour.
A assortment of Thai food fruits called -polamei-
like Pineapples, Rambutan, Bananas, Papaya, Durian, Guava and Mangoes are are very popular in any restaurant and nightclubal. Several
temperate fruits like Apples, Strawberries and Peaches are being grown
successfully in the hill areas of Thailand. The farmers always
concentrate on growing more fruits using new methods of cultivation.
Fusion food is more or less well-known.
A current example how to handle such things is Thai peanut sauce, this
is an interesting example of developing a product to market as authentic
which does not correlate for the most part with food from Thailand.
Peanuts are common in Thailand, but different from the products found in
America.
Thai food is also widely known for health benefits. For example,
many fresh herbs and spices found in Thai food have antioxidants which
help prevent inflammation and protect against various diseases, free
radicals and toxins. Ingredients to consider include basil, fresh
chilies, coriander, lemongrass and turmeric.
There are links between
traditional Chinese medicine and
many of the ingredients found in Thai food. For example, lemongrass has
been used for centuries to treat conditions such as: influenza, fevers,
headaches, arthritis, abdominal pain etc..
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