Popular Thai dishes

~Red Curry and Green Curry

These are the most popular dishes. The green curry is made with green chillies and the red curry with red bird chillies (very tiny red chillies).

The main ingredient is chicken, fish or plain vegetables. It can be eaten with plain steamed rice.

The red/ green curry paste is made, then mixed with coconut milk and finished with a basil leaf.

Salt is used in the vegetarian dish, though traditional Nam Pla, a type of fish sauce, is used as a salt substitute in the non-vegetarian dishes. In India, salt is often used in the non-vegetarian dishes as well.

Both curries are spicy, and the green curry is spicier than the red.

~Phad Thai noodles (flat rice noodles)

A favourite dish almost around the world, Phad Thai noodles are made of rice sticks that look almost translucent. The noodles are soaked (not boiled), then tossed into a pan and fried (phad Thai literally means 'fried Thai').

It is served with peanut sprouts. Chopped chillies, a dash a sugar, lime juice and chilli powder are added to the dish to give a sweet-sour-spicy flavour. Phad Thai can be eaten with the curry of your choice.

~Kaikapprao (pronounced as kai-ka-pra-oo)

A non-vegetarian stir-fried dish, usually made in India with chicken. Chilli, garlic and basil are then added to the dish. It goes well with rice.

~Papaya Salad or Som Tam

The main ingredient is a raw, dark green, firm papaya. The papaya is peeled and shredded into raw, long strings ie the way you chop carrot for gajar ka halwa. The salad is normally served sprinkled with crushed peanuts. This dish does not taste sweet at all.

~Tom Yum Soup

This hot and sour clear soup is available in both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian avatars.

It contains lemon grass, kaffir leaves (leaves of the kaffir lime tree), bird chillies, vegetables and/ or fish or other meats.