Thai cuisines are amongst the most varied and most often misinterpreted foods in the world. It's a common misconception to think Thai food is full of curry and chili to dull the senses. Most recipes use all the four basic tastes, salty, sour, sweet and hot, but there are dishes without any of those if you don't like sour and sweet or hot at all. Thai gastronomy is a balancing act that is most probably originated from their rich and diverse cultural heritage.
Surrounded by many different countries Thailand developed a variety of cooking styles that change with every part of the country. Laying 1000 miles long the country has most different regions ranging from almost sub-tropical seaside to footsteps of the Himalaya. Laos, Cambodia, China and western culture all influenced dishes, but one thing is persistent through all the recipes. Thai food is all about balance and lightly made meals, using different spices to achieve harmony in a set of courses.
There is a fish sauce commonly used called nam pla phrik. It's salty and usually clear fish sauce prepared through fermentation giving a strong fragrance to food it is used in.
A traditional Thai family meal will consist of rice and several different sauces to dip the rice in. There are more servings than guests so that everyone can share food with each other. This is a practice used in some Thai restaurants and thus visiting a place in a small group of friends is advised. There is no such thing as appetizer or main course, everything is served at once and everyone takes what they like.
Sticky rice with dips can be consumed with the right hand, but no one will give strange glances if you ask for cutlery, as fork and spoons have been used in most families for decades.
Thai people like hot food and they prepare their dishes in a way to have at least one hot course or sauce during the meal. They are used to chili so if you were thinking about ordering something hot, think again. If you see hot, or very hot on the menu it probably means devastatingly hot for an average North American or European. A mild to medium or slightly hot is definitely a safer first bet. If you're not sure about the heat level in the food, ask your server to advise you something that is more to your taste.
Vegetarians should ask before ordering, because Thai gastronomy uses small amounts of meat in lots of its recipes in the form of prawns or fish sauce.
If you enjoyed reading my article about Thai restaurants and dishes, chances are that you will like my article about eating out in a Thai restaurant.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Oliver_Wilson
Monday, 22 March 2010
Friday, 19 March 2010
Health Benefits of Thai Soup Under Study
BANGKOK, Thailand -- For years, zesty Tom Yum Gung soup has been a mainstay of Thai cooking. And now researchers are thinking it just might have cancer-fighting ingredients as well as good taste. "Tom Yum Gung is Thailand's most favorite soup," according to Chef Rolf Schmitz of the Regent Hotel's Spice Market restaurant. "It's a shrimp soup with herbal ingredients like coriander, lemon grass, lime leaves and even galangal roots." Also called hot-and-sour soup, the dish often includes straw mushrooms and a variety of chilies.
A recent joint study by Thailand's Kasetsart University and Japan's Kyoto and Kinki Universities has found that the ingredients in Tom Yum Gung soup are 100 times more effective in inhibiting cancerous tumor growth than other foods. Scientists are seeking to extract the chemical compounds that are most effective from soup ingredients, said Suratwadee Jiwajindra of Kasetsart University. Research also is focusing on edible plants in the region. "The ratio of the cancer pattern in Asians, especially southeast Asians, is very low compared with the pattern in the European and Western countries," Jiwajindra said. In fact, Thais have a much lower incidence of digestive tract cancers than people do in other countries.
Traditional Thai cuisine -- famed for its heavy use of herbs and spices -- has long been known to have health benefits, Jiwajindra said. And despite its spicy taste, Tom Yum Gung continues to be popular, said Schmitz, calling the soup "definitely the best seller if you look into the statistics." Every month, the soup is "at the top of the charts," he added. "A day, I'd say we are making 50-60 cups in a restaurant like the Spice Market," said the chef.
Thai Recipes
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_Hall
A recent joint study by Thailand's Kasetsart University and Japan's Kyoto and Kinki Universities has found that the ingredients in Tom Yum Gung soup are 100 times more effective in inhibiting cancerous tumor growth than other foods. Scientists are seeking to extract the chemical compounds that are most effective from soup ingredients, said Suratwadee Jiwajindra of Kasetsart University. Research also is focusing on edible plants in the region. "The ratio of the cancer pattern in Asians, especially southeast Asians, is very low compared with the pattern in the European and Western countries," Jiwajindra said. In fact, Thais have a much lower incidence of digestive tract cancers than people do in other countries.
Traditional Thai cuisine -- famed for its heavy use of herbs and spices -- has long been known to have health benefits, Jiwajindra said. And despite its spicy taste, Tom Yum Gung continues to be popular, said Schmitz, calling the soup "definitely the best seller if you look into the statistics." Every month, the soup is "at the top of the charts," he added. "A day, I'd say we are making 50-60 cups in a restaurant like the Spice Market," said the chef.
Thai Recipes
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_Hall
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Thai Cooking and Good Health
Good health often comes from good food. If you are like I was, you simply eat what is fast and easy, stopping into the drive thru on your way to work or for a fast lunch. After work stopping off for more fast food on your way to drop the kids off at soccer or maybe swim lessons. Our days are so busy we never have the time to prepare foods for ourselves. A poor diet will make you sick. There are healthy alternatives. Some of them are also fast and simple to prepare!
I am from Thailand so my favorite foods are Thai food. There are many delicious kinds of Thai food that you can prepare very fast and have a healthy meal on the table in minutes that your family will really love.
Thai food is so healthy for you because the ingredients are so good for you. Many of the vegetables that I use I grow myself while it is summer, in the winter I buy at the local market. I am now trying to buy mostly organic vegetables since I also make my own baby food as much as possible. Some of the vegetables that are used in Thai food you will be familiar with others will be completely new to you. For instance, bamboo shoots are used in may ways for Thai food. Bamboo is used in salads, stir fried, mixed with curry and many other recipes as well. Another vegetable that I love is Thai eggplant, it is small, round, and green. Not your standard eggplant, but filled with a mellow flavor. In Thai cooking we also use many type of squash, gourds, and different types of pumpkins. Many of the recipes where I call for pumpkin you will be looking for is actually a Kabocha squash in the US and Europe. IT is also known as Japanese squash.
Thai recipes also call for a lot of herbs such as lemon grass, many types of basil, cilantro and coriander and of course Chili. Thai people eat more chili per person than any place else in the world. If you like your food hot add a little more of the Thai chili peppers. With all of the herbs that are in Thai food you will get a lot of flavor and not need to add so much salt and sugar and other flavorings that are bad for your diet. I think that this may be part of the reason that there is so few cases of things like diabetes and other diet related diseases in Thailand.
Now I offer a lot of recipes on my site and I will soon begin to post some video cooking lessons as well. So please come by and check out the recipes that I have to offer for your health and for the great taste also. Your body, your family and all of your friends will thank you when they taste the delicious foods that you can now cook!
I love to cook any kind of food and try new recipes that I see. I often change them to fit my style of cooking or to use what I have available when I can not get all of the ingredients. Of course since I am from Thailand My favorite food is Thai food and that is what most of the recipes you will find on my site are. So please come on by and tell me how you like my recipes at http://www.cookingwithsaichon.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Saichon_Plumlee
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Thai Cooking Classes Bangkok
Yesterday I had a great time doing something that most real men don't do, which is join a Thai cooking class in Bangkok. I couldn't say what came over me to do this, but it was the best 1500 baht I have ever spent in Thailand.
Why you may ask that I felt that it was the best 1500 baht I ever spent in Bangkok Thailand, and I will tell you this. I figure that knowing how to cook Thai style is going to save me hours of time slaving over the microwave, and filing my system full of processed food stuffs like burritos and microwave pizza . In addition, a little math here, it is also going to save me money as well to eat healthy. Most of the ingredients are easily available in any US grocery store and for the other stuff most markets have them. Most people are aware that shopping in markets is almost always cheaper; it is true that the price of rice has gone up, but it is still as cheap as potatoes.
The course is easy, not like you have to study for it in advance, but having done it, I would try to cook some Thai dishes at home first and see what kind of mistakes that I was making, like sticky rice. The secret is soaking the rice over night in salty water, OK that is pretty easy, and everybody love sticky rice. The Thai cooking class in Bangkok that I attended also recommended having little plastic bags to hold the individual hot sticky rice servings in as it stays hot longer, nothing like hot sticky rice!
The location for this particular class was a refurbished Bangkok villa that was built before World War II. I was told that the villa, which is in a very exclusive area of Bangkok, had bomb shelters that unfortunately were filled in before she took over the place, as they would have made great wine cellars. It was kind of strange to be in a very quiet garden, yet only a couple of blocks away from the busy business tourist area of Suhkumvitt-Nana, in the shadow of some of Bangkok's more famous skyscrapers, like the Conrad tower and the Landmark hotel.
I use to prep veggies for a few restaurants when I was in school, and knowing the proper knife for the job, and the proper way to use the knife, really makes the wok work simpler. Some of the other interesting parts of the class, which was all hands on and something that if I was going to do a class I would insist on, was the selection of ingredients. They show you the ones that are the best and give you a rough idea how much more you will spend to go with the high end ingredients, and the places where you can cheat a little have still have great dishes. You will be surprised where you can cheat at. For instance, rice that has some broken pieces is preferred to all perfect pieces!
After the Thai cooking lessons was over, we got down to serious feasting and the conversations focused on more dishes and different styles continued. We spent another two hours eating and drinking our master work and then before we could leave we were given certificates to show out friends and family that the time in Bangkok was not all spent on hedonistic pursuits. They would have figured it out as soon as we invite them over for one of out new regular social events the Thai food night.
Before we left as the regular restaurant was filling up with the Bangkok Thai locals that eat here regularly, we were also given a doggie bag that I would dare the meanest dog to try to get away from me, and an equally treasured Thai cooking recipes book full of other delicious Thai dishes we are now trained to cook.
All in all very good afternoon and evening spent doing a non manly man thing, that I will recommend to all my manly man friends coming to Thailand who like to eat!
For more free information on Thai cooking recipes and Thai Cooking Classes Bangkok http://www.cheapcharlieshotels.com/htm/Thai%20Cooking%20Classes%20Bangkok%20Thailand.html
Bangkok Flights? http://www.cheapcharlieshotels.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fred_Tittle
Why you may ask that I felt that it was the best 1500 baht I ever spent in Bangkok Thailand, and I will tell you this. I figure that knowing how to cook Thai style is going to save me hours of time slaving over the microwave, and filing my system full of processed food stuffs like burritos and microwave pizza . In addition, a little math here, it is also going to save me money as well to eat healthy. Most of the ingredients are easily available in any US grocery store and for the other stuff most markets have them. Most people are aware that shopping in markets is almost always cheaper; it is true that the price of rice has gone up, but it is still as cheap as potatoes.
The course is easy, not like you have to study for it in advance, but having done it, I would try to cook some Thai dishes at home first and see what kind of mistakes that I was making, like sticky rice. The secret is soaking the rice over night in salty water, OK that is pretty easy, and everybody love sticky rice. The Thai cooking class in Bangkok that I attended also recommended having little plastic bags to hold the individual hot sticky rice servings in as it stays hot longer, nothing like hot sticky rice!
The location for this particular class was a refurbished Bangkok villa that was built before World War II. I was told that the villa, which is in a very exclusive area of Bangkok, had bomb shelters that unfortunately were filled in before she took over the place, as they would have made great wine cellars. It was kind of strange to be in a very quiet garden, yet only a couple of blocks away from the busy business tourist area of Suhkumvitt-Nana, in the shadow of some of Bangkok's more famous skyscrapers, like the Conrad tower and the Landmark hotel.
I use to prep veggies for a few restaurants when I was in school, and knowing the proper knife for the job, and the proper way to use the knife, really makes the wok work simpler. Some of the other interesting parts of the class, which was all hands on and something that if I was going to do a class I would insist on, was the selection of ingredients. They show you the ones that are the best and give you a rough idea how much more you will spend to go with the high end ingredients, and the places where you can cheat a little have still have great dishes. You will be surprised where you can cheat at. For instance, rice that has some broken pieces is preferred to all perfect pieces!
After the Thai cooking lessons was over, we got down to serious feasting and the conversations focused on more dishes and different styles continued. We spent another two hours eating and drinking our master work and then before we could leave we were given certificates to show out friends and family that the time in Bangkok was not all spent on hedonistic pursuits. They would have figured it out as soon as we invite them over for one of out new regular social events the Thai food night.
Before we left as the regular restaurant was filling up with the Bangkok Thai locals that eat here regularly, we were also given a doggie bag that I would dare the meanest dog to try to get away from me, and an equally treasured Thai cooking recipes book full of other delicious Thai dishes we are now trained to cook.
All in all very good afternoon and evening spent doing a non manly man thing, that I will recommend to all my manly man friends coming to Thailand who like to eat!
For more free information on Thai cooking recipes and Thai Cooking Classes Bangkok http://www.cheapcharlieshotels.com/htm/Thai%20Cooking%20Classes%20Bangkok%20Thailand.html
Bangkok Flights? http://www.cheapcharlieshotels.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fred_Tittle
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