Ingredients of Thai Food

Thai cuisine, as a whole, is extremely varied and features many different ingredients and ways of preparing food. Thai food is known for its enthusiastic use of fresh (rather than dried) herbs. Common herbs include cilantro, lemon grass, Thai basils and mint. Some other common flavors in Thai food come from ginger, galangal, turmeric, garlic, soy beans, shallots, white and black peppercorn and, of course, chilies.

Some of Herbs and Spices in Thai Food

Chilies : Chilies are used in all type of Thai cooking such as curries, soup, spicy salads, steamed and fried. It also used in vegetable carving for decoration that you have seen in many traditional Thai dishes, both spur chili and bird chili. This is because they aer colorful, eadible and impart an indispenable flavor to foods.

Bird Chili - It is a staple if Thai Kitchen that is well-known for its very hot taste and strong spicy fragrances. The young chilies are green in color, turning red when mature.

Suan Bird Chili - This variety is smallerthan the bird chili, but it is very hot and has the most pungent of fragrance. When eaten, the chilies cause the ears to become deafen and the eyes to water. This chili is extremely hot.

Noom Chili - This is a fleshy chili and not very hot. It gives off a strong fragrance when roasted. It is usually made into 'noom chili paste' and eaten with crispy pork rind (aka. kabb-moo), a Northern Thai Dish.

Red and Green Spur Chili

Green - This chili is dark green and has a very pungent ordor, hence it is not usually eaten fresh. It is sliced at right angle and pickled in vinegar, and used in fried noodles.

Red - A bright red, fragrant and only slightly hot. It is used in many recipes such as in spicy salad sauce, sour and sweet fried and to blend in chili curry paste to add more color in soup. It is also carved and used for food decoration.