Thursday, May 22, 2008

Papaya/mango Salad Thai Style

By: Suthep
Papaya salad is almost as much a staple part of my diet as rice is. For sure if I eat out and am not given any som tam, I will soon after be found at a roadside food vendor, correcting the deficiency.

If you lived on a diet of som tam and not much else, it is highly unlikely you would ever become fat.

Some restaurants use mango instead of papaya. Generally though I find mango to be too acidic for this purpose.

Ingredients to serve 4 people

1 medium sized green papaya, 4 small plum tomatos, 1 carrot, 10ml tamarind juice, 25ml lime juice, 2 cloves garlic, 50gm prik kee noo, 10gm brown sugar, 25ml nam pla, 25gm dried shrimp, 50gm unsalted roasted peanuts.

Peel the papaya and shred the green flesh (if you don't have a suitable implement for the purpose a coarse cheese grater may work).

Also peel and shred the carrot.

Put the shredded papaya and carrot in the fridge.

Soften the dried shrimp in a few mls of boiling water.

Pound the garlic and the prik kee noo together in a pestle and mortar.

Separately pound the peanuts together with the shrimp, but only until coarsely broken up, not reduced to dust or paste.

Mix the tamarind, juice, lime juice, fish sauce and the sugar.

Chop the tomatoes into quarters.

Mix all the ingredients together and serve in a bowl. Most restaurants would drain off some of the excess juice before serving, but I usually keep it.

http://www.articlesbase.com/nutrition-articles/papayamango-salad-thai-style-128007.html
About the Author:

You can download 200 more free Thai recipes for free at :

http://hot-giveaways.blogspot.com/2007/02/200-delicious-thai-food-recipes.html

Discovering Thai Cuisine

By: Jason Collmorgen
If you've never tried it before, you might think that Thai cuisine tastes a lot like other Asian cuisines. While it does have both Chinese and East Indian influences, it also has its own identity that separates it greatly from the foods served in neighboring countries. Thai food consists of four regional cuisines and is known for its balanced flavors, fresh ingredients, and fantastic aromas.

Thailand happens to be the number one exporter of rice in the world, and as such its rice (particularly its aromatic Jasmine rice) is the staple food of its people. While Western cuisines generally focus on a main entree of meat accompanied by several side dishes such as bread and vegetables, Thai cuisine usually consists of one dish with a base of rice or noodles accompanied by fresh herbs, vegetables, and a meat or mixture of meats. Thai food also contains five flavors: sweet, sour, salty, spicy, and bitter. What makes Thai food unique is that it balances all of these flavors harmoniously into a single dish.

Some of the most common vegetables found in Thai cuisine include shallots, cucumbers, carrots, bean sprouts, eggplant, zucchini, green beans, celery, and mushrooms. Popular meats in Thai recipes include seafood such as shrimp, prawns, clams, fish, and mussels. Pork, chicken, beef, and duck are also heavily used. Tofu, a meat substitute made from soybeans is another frequent addition.

Unlike many other cuisines that use dried spices and herbs, Thai cooking uses the freshest ingredients available. One of the primary flavoring agents used is a strong fish sauce called "nam pla". Many dishes also call for oyster sauce or shrimp paste. Shrimp paste is basically a combination of ground shrimp and salt. Other ingredients you'll find in Thai cuisine include lime juice, pineapples, Thai chilies, curry paste, garlic, sweet basil, lemon grass, coconut milk, soy sauce, peanuts and peanut sauce, cashews, mint leaves, cilantro, and galangal root (similar to ginger but more delicate in flavor).

One of the most important dishes to the people of Southern and Central Thailand is curry, which they serve over steamed jasmine rice. While Indian cuisine is also known for curries, Thai curries are considerably different. They are cooked for a shorter amount of time than are the Indian versions, and Thais use more garlic and fresh herbs whereas Indians use dry spices. In addition, Indian curries tend to be drier whereas Thai curries hold more liquid making them more soup-like. In Thai cuisine you'll find water-based and coconut milk-based curries. Red, yellow, and green curries are the best known of the coconut milk variety. Thai curry pastes generally consist of fresh chilies, garlic, lemon grass, shallots, kaffir lime, fresh turmeric, shrimp paste, and cilantro roots. While curry is known for its spiciness, the amount of heat does vary depending on the type of curry you choose.
http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/discovering-thai-cuisine-317448.html
About the Author:

Jason Collmorgen operates a guide to Branson, MO providing information on dining in Branson, Missouri. For more information visit: DineBranson.com

Thai Food Online