Thai cuisine is one of the most complete and attractive in the world, so it is difficult to summarise it in ten dishes. However, these are the ones that you can't miss under any circumstances:
1. PAD THAI (Thai-style stir-fried noodles)
This is the most famous Thai food, mostly sold at street markets. It consists in rice noodles with shrimp (also with chicken, pork or beef), tofu, egg, bean sprouts, ground peanuts, oyster and fish sauce, palm sugar and a dash of lime. For this reason, it is said that its flavour is a mix of sweat, sour and salty (it is not a spicy dish because the chilli usually comes aside).
2. TOM YUM GOONG (Hot and sour soup)
From all the soups that can be eaten in Thailand, Tom Yum is definitely the most popular one. The translation "hot and sour" comes from its ingredients, as it is boiled with chilli and finished with a splash of lime juice. The other ingredients it has are prawns, mushrooms, lemongrass, shallot, fish sauce and, in some cases, coconut cream.
3. GAENG KEOW WAN GAI (Thai green curry)
Green curry is the spiciest of all, and it is made of fresh green chillies, ginger, eggplant and coconut milk, which gives it a sweet contrast. To bring down the spicy level, it can be eaten with rice or tofu.
4. KAI MED MA MUAND (Chicken with cashew nuts)
One of the basics of Thai cuisine, at least for tourists who don't want to eat very different dishes to theirs, is this chicken with cashew nuts. The meat is stir-fried with the nuts and a variety of vegetables, mushrooms, soy sauce, honey... basically, whatever the chef has close at hand. It is usually served with rice.
5. SOM TAM (Papaya salad)
The name may sound attractive, but be careful because this salad is really spicy! Its main ingredient is shredded green papaya, plus plenty of chillies, tomatoes, carrots, peanuts, dried shrimp, palm sugar, tamarind pulp, fish sauce, lime juice and garlic. Other ingredients like crab, fermented fish or salted egg can be added to make it more substantive.
6. KHAO PAD (Fried rice)
This basic dish is a must not only for tourists but also for natives, who eat it daily. In essence, it is stir-fried rice with egg, onion, some cucumber and plenty of condiments. There is a version of it that adds mango, which creates a very interesting and nice taste in your mouth.
7. KHAO SOI (Noodles soup)
Khao Soi is a regional dish from the north of Thailand, specifically from Chiang Mai. The particularity of this soup are the noodles because they are wheat ones topped with crispy egg noodles. The broth is made with curry and coconut milk, and this is why its flavour is spicy. The soup, apart from the carbs, has egg and some type of meat (it can also be made vegetarian).
8. TOM KHA GAI (Chicken in coconut soup)
This sweet and tangy dish is ideal for people who don't like spicy. The base is coconut milk with lemongrass, lime, galangal (a type of ginger), chilli (but not much) and shallot. Moreover, chicken is added to this stock, but this ingredient can be changed depending on the type of diet that you follow.
9. KHAO NIEW MAMUANG (Mango sticky rice)
This is one of the most known food from the Thai gastronomy. It can be eaten for breakfast, as a dessert or as a snack. Mango is a fruit that, as well as coconut, is easily grown in the country. It is opened by half, cut into small squares or rectangles and put together with sticky rice drenched in condensed or coconut milk. It is topped with yellow beans or sesame seeds.
10. ROTI (Banana pancake)
Even though it is not a very original dish, as similar ones exist in other cuisines such as the French, this dessert is really popular and can be found in any street market. It consists in a wheat flour pan-fried dough traditionally served with condensed milk, sugar or banana on top. However, nowadays they are also filled with chocolate, caramel syrup, etc. It is cut in small squares so that it can be easily eaten and shared.
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