Favourite Thai Cuisine

[PeteC]

We may have done this before but I can't find it.

For me at present for a fancy Thai meal it's: Gang masamam (probably more of a Malay curry than Thai), Yum ped (cold duck salad), Yum neua (cold beef salad), a good fish simmering in stock at your table, Boo nim (fried soft shell crab), and a plate of various steamed vegetables sauteed in oyster sauce.

For everyday: any kind of noodle wet or dry with shrimp, pork or duck, kowpad gung or kowpad moo gaup. Sometimes any kind of good curry, including gang Penang which again is probably not even Thai but damn good even if it blows your head off.

Unfortunately just like in the west, a person tends to latch on to a small list of favourites and stick with it forever. I am guilty of that and am presently making an effort to expand my culinary adventures here. I used to hate sum tum but recently had a shop concoct some using shrimp and mango and I loved it Pete

[STEVE G]

I used to find Som-Tam a struggle to eat until I discovered that the version that most Thai girls eat is the Lao version with the ground up land-crabs that, to be honest, is a bit of a stomach turner.
Som-Tam Thai which is made with peanuts and small dried shrimps is much more pleasant and is now one of my favourite dishes, and I eat it nearly everyday that I’m in Thailand.

[richard]

Steve G

Ground up crabs? Normally they are almost still alive and crawling round the plate. In Isaan anyway

[Big Boy]

almost still alive and crawling round the plate

A strange expression. Does that mean that they are dead and ground? If not, they're obviously not alive and crawling about - what state are they really in?

[STEVE G]

I know what Richard means; the crabs are kept alive in one of those wicker basket things, and are still crawling around about a minute before they become a Som-Tam ingredient.
I’ve had a go at catching those land-crabs and it’s not easy. You have to walk around a freshly cut rice field looking for small holes and then dig a bigger hole around it about half a meter deep with one of those hoe things just to get one crab.
If you dig too close to the hole you end up cutting the crab in half with the hoe in which case it looks even less appetizing.
Also sometimes you find a scorpion in the hole instead of a crab!

[richard]

BB

Still twitching

Bit like the joke you sent me (or your wife) about speed cooking

[chelsea]

For me tom yum soup (not with coconut milk) and then any larb dish or Thai Beef Salad.
Could live on that for a long time.
In all my times I have been to Thailand, I think the most authentic Thai food I have eaten was on Koh Lanta about 6 years ago. Even the mild blew your head off.
In Hua Hin I find the spicyness toned down in most places you go to, other than at Bam Bam's which is in the same street as O'Neils's Bar.
Have eaten there a few times now and is the best I have had so far. Will definitley be going back there when I visit in a few weeks

[hhfarang]

Larb (Gai, Moo, or Pladook), spicy Thai salads (Beef or Seafood), Snapper in lemon sauce, and two soups (Tom Yung Goong and Tom Ka Kai) for me!

[Randy Cornhole]

The Lao som tam I had was so hot it made my feet bleed!!!

The dish I find the hardest to enjoy is tom yum goong. I find it soooo bitter and it even has bits of wood floating in it...

The tastiest for me has to be either guidio (noodles) it has meat, fish balls and dried pork skin in brown water with lots of tiny chillie bits. Its sold by the side of the road. Or Pad Thai which is very tasty.

There is also..., and..., and..., and... DOH!!!!...

[hhfarang]

Randy, I'm fairly certain you already know this, but those bits of wood are lemon grass and they are there to add flavor, not intended to be eaten.

Tom Yung Goong recipes vary widely and if you keep trying different places you may find one you like that is not so bitter. What I would like to see being a lazy eater is the goong shelled, de-legged and de-headed. I like only the good bits in my soup (the way my sweet wife makes it for me at home) and don't like to have to pick it apart!

[Big Boy]

I too am a lazy Farang eater.

Somebody needs to invent a cafetiere style Tom Yum cooker, where all of the inedible bits can be hidden below the mesh/filter - giving you the full flavour without the risk of splinters.

[STEVE G]

The Lao som tam I had was so hot it made my feet bleed!!!

I was at Terry’s fishing lodge one afternoon when my partner ordered a Som-Tam “extra spicy” which I think was made by his wife, and one fork-full of it literally left me speechless for about five minutes!
That stuff is incredible, I’m sure you could launch something into orbit with it.
I’m surprised they sell it there because I reckon a plate of it thrown in the water would have a similar effect to dynamite fishing.

[kendo]

I am a big fan of Pad Thai, i love the crunchy bean sprouts with the soft noodles bound together with the egg and other bits i love to eat with big tiger prawns i allways have a tea spoon of dried chilli on top and some freshly sqeezed lime.
I also love Tom Yum the more spicy the better, i have just perchased an electric steam boat with a BBQ on top cant wait to road test it with fresh prawns muscles clams and fish.

Kendo.

[hhfarang]

Yeah Kendo, I forgot that one. I love a good Pad Thai too as well as fried rice with crab meat, and chicken with cashew nuts! Prawns in yellow curry are very nice too!

Damn, I'm getting hungry!

[baron_wastelanduk]

for me phad kana moo gorp with a few extra chillies - anyone wanna ass burning gaerng pa try the police karoake bar round the back of sport villa hottest one i ever had even had the missus sweatin