Typical Thai food is one of the most varied, flavoursome, nuanced, and fragrant cuisines in the world. You won’t need convincing if you’re lucky enough to explore the country and have the chance to try its famous dishes at restaurants around the nation.
Combinations of all kinds of plant and animal-based ingredients from the land and sea, spices, rice, and especially coconut milk create delicious and irresistible food that can be enjoyed at both formal restaurants and street stands or markets.
Typical Thai food is comprised of dozens of dishes. Each one has its own regional variations and there are multiple versions depending on who is cooking it and the ingredients they have to hand. Below are some of the most popular and famous Thai dishes.
Pad thai
Pad thai is Thailand’s national dish. It’s a mixture of rice noodles, soy sprouts, scrambled egg, dry prawns, fish sauce, tamarind sauce, vegetables, chicken, peanuts…. Everything is sautéed together in a wok and served freshly cooked and steaming hot.
Massaman curry
Curries (especially red and green curry) are the basis of typical Thai food. This is one of the Westernised versions, mainly because it has less hot chilli than other recipes.
Originally a Muslim dish, massaman curry is made with beef, chicken, tofu, and sometimes also with pork. The base is coconut milk seasoned with spices such as turmeric, cardamom, cumin, clove, nutmeg, and it has a characteristic hint of lemongrass.
Tom yum goog
This is one of the most popular typical Thai soups. It’s an explosive combination of sweet, spicy, citric, and salty flavours and is made with prawns (or other fish and seafood), coconut milk, prawn paste, spices such as lemongrass, coriander, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, and spicy chilli.
Khao niao mamuang
This dish seems simple and is rather like a Thai version of rice pudding served with mango. It’s actually a type of sticky rice and can only been made with a specific rice grain, while the cooking process is totally unlike the technique used to make the European dessert. It also differs because it’s made with coconut milk. The result is truly addictive.
Kuay teow lui suan
This typical Thai dish is the country’s equivalent to China’s spring rolls. They are made with rice paper and each roll is stuffed with soy sprouts, lettuce, vegetables, and some type of protein, which could be spicy pork, shrimp or tofu. They are dipped in a rich sauce made from soy, garlic, sugar, red chilli, and fish sauce.
Som tum
This green papaya-based salad is another typical Thai dish. Slightly unripe fruit is chopped into strips and served with sticky rice, tomatoes and other fresh vegetables, prawns and dried shrimp, peanuts, lime juice… It’s typically seasoned with a distinctive fermented fish sauce, but you’ll also find versions suitable for people who aren’t accustomed to the strong flavour of this dressing.
Tom kha kai
This is one of the big stars of typical Thai food. It’s a soup made with chicken, galangal (a type of ginger), onion and coconut milk, and is seasoned with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves or combava (another type of lime), red chilli, and coriander. It has a surprising combination of flavours and is also unusual for being eaten extremely hot.
Kluay buat chi
This is one of the most delicious typical Thai desserts (although it can seem a little too sweet). It’s made from a mature banana boiled in its skin in coconut milk. Once it’s cooked, it’s removed from the milk and chopped into slices. It’s served with fresh or desiccated coconut, peanuts, and other nuts.
Ice-cream durian
The durian is one of the strangest fruits used in typical Thai cooking. It belongs to the chirimoya family but is larger in size and is famous for its extremely unpleasant smell ‒ fortunately it tastes totally different, and the flesh is delicious. It’s used to make ice cream, which is typically sold at markets and in Thai shops.
