Thai Street Food

It does not matter what size city that you are in Thailand, you will find Thai street food on every corner and between. A lot of Thai people earn their livings selling street food. It is also very cheep to buy, and very convenient for any one looking to eat.

Most Thai’s will stop by and get breakfast and supper from the food stands on their way to and from work. Every morning the Buddhist Monks walk the streets so the Thai’s can offer them food in turn to have the monks bless them. Most Thai’s get the food for them at the food stands. It is already packed up so the monks have no trouble carrying it.

The variety of Thai street food is endless. There really is not a Thai food that you cannot get from one of the street venders. You will find anything from local Thai fruits to just about any cooked dish that you would like.

Out in the countryside you can even run into roadside stands. They can have fruits to cook while you wait food. During one of our trips we found a roadside stand in the country that had live prawn. You picked the one’s that you wanted and they grilled them for you right there.

One of the good things about street venders is that you get to see the cooking taking place right in front of you. You know then how clean the kitchen is, right along with the hygiene of the food preparer.

Most cooked food is cooked at a very high temperature so you really do not have to worry about the food it’s self. The thing to watch for is how well the plates and things are washed. You will be able to tell at a glance if you want to eat that a cretin food vender or not.

Lot of the bigger venders will have small area’s so that you can sit and eat right there. The smaller ones are serve and go. These are usually the ones that sell the simple foods.

If you do not like spicy food just say Mai Ped or if you want to ask if it is spicy say Ped Mai. The way to say the two Thai words would be (Mai) = my and (Ped) = pet.
My pet is telling the server you do not want it spicy, and pet my is asking is it spicy.

You will find that some of the best Thai food that you will ever eat will come from a Thai street food vender that is off of the beaten path. I have had some very tasty meals down some old ally in Bangkok.

Thai Cooking In Ning’s Kitchen

Come here to learn how to cook  Authentic Thai Food

One of the biggest things you need to do in order to be able to prepare Authentic Thai Dishes is have the right ingredients to use. You can always go to your local Asian food market or order online. One of the best places we have found on the internet is efooddepot . They have Food from all the different Asian countries. Shipping is very reasonable.

The most important ingredient you will need is Fish Sauce.

You have to use this to get the real Thai taste.  Shown in the photo are two popular brands sold.  Squid Brand is made the slow way with no additives and The Three Crabs Brand has Fructose instead of sugar and Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein added to it to speed up the fermentation of the Fish Sauce.  Both have Anchovy Extract, salt and sugar.  Both taste excellent.

It’s beneficial to grow some of your own herbs.
The leaves and any fruit that may grow on the Kaffir Lime tree are very useful in Thai recipes.  If you live in a area that experiences a cold winter, the use of a grow light may be necessary.  The Kaffir Lime Tree should be kept in temperatures of 60°F or above.  It will grow very good in the summer months.

This is  Thai Basil or Cinnamon Basil.
This plant here is at the end of its life.  It is one we brought in from our garden. We will start new plants in February so that they get a good start before planting outside this spring.

One of the most important tools to use in Thai Cooking is a Mortar and Pestle.  It is used to smash or grind pepper, garlic and any other herb or spice you use.  The Mortar and Pestle pictured here is made of granite.  Do not get the clay version of this tool.  They will break very easy.  The clay version is used primarily to make salad and not meant to do heavy grinding.

Thai Vegetables used in Thai cooking.

Thailand has over 200 different kinds of vegetables grown there. Many are used in a verity of ways in Thai cooking. Thai cooking will use any where from the roots of some to the stems, leaves and shoots of young plants.

Plants that use the roots are Krachai, Ginger, Galanga, Turmeric, Daikon Radish, Taro Root, Boniato, Yucca Root, Lottus Root, Cilantro Root and Bean sprouts.

Stems used for cooking are Lemon Grass, Sugar Cain, Cilantro any of the Chives and Green onions.

Leaves used several types of Basils, Water Spinach, Mint, types of Broccoli, Types of cabbage, Bitter Melon Leaves, Kaffir Lime tree and Pea leaves. There are many kinds and this short list is some of the more common used.

Some of the seeds and seed pods used would be, Bitter Melon, Long Bean, Many kinds of Egg plant as Thai, Cherry and Purple Egg Plant, Squashes and Gourds and Pickling Cucumbers. Spice seeds used Thai Chili, fresh and dried. These give Thai food most of the heat. Also used are green black pepper seeds. This is un-dried peppercorn seeds.

Some flowers used are Thai Edible Flower, you can find these frozen imported from Thailand and Banana Flowers. Bamboo shoots are used in Thai curries, this can be found to in Asian stores. Banana leaves are used to for wrapping up food for steaming.

The lists above as mentioned are some common ones used that Ning uses. There are many more than mentioned here. Some can be found in Asian stores. There are always different combinations to use in many of the Thai dishes, so if you can not find a certain kind, you can substitute with an other of the same type.

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