THAI CUISINE

TRADITIONAL INGREDIENTS AND SPICES

• Banana Bell - Banana Bell or Blossom is the flower of the banana plant
• Chilli - A variety of chillies are used in Thai cooking, both fresh and dried
• Thai eggplant - is about the size of a golf ball and is either white or green.
• Fish Sauce - Fish Sauce (nam pla) is a clear pale salty sauce.
• Galangal - A member of the ginger family, also known as laos root

TRADITIONAL INGREDIENTS AND SPICES

• Lemongrass - lemon grass is a root used to impact its flavor
• Lime - The sour juice is frequently used to balance sweetness
• Palm Sugar - Palm sugar is similar to brown sugar and
• Tamarind - Tamarind has a sweet and sour flavour

TRADITIONAL PREPARED FOODS

• Nam Pla Prig-This sauce is used as a dip. It is provided on the table at every Thai meal.
• Thai beef curry- Curries are a major meal in Thailand
• Chicken Satay- Thais consume such large amounts of meats
• Cucumber Salad
• Banana and Coconut Milk- A simple desert

Traditional Utensils and Equipment
Mortar and Pestle - The mortar is a bowl typically made from stone and a pestle is a club-shaped object made of wood. A mortar and pestle are used for grinding, crushing herbs and spices using a twisting method.

Coconut Grater - A coconut grater is a rotary machine which can alone by hand or electrically fine down the meat of a coconut.

Wok - A wok is a versatile bowl-shaped frying pan.

SONGKRAN (THAI NEW YEAR)

Songkran is a celebration that goes for four days from April 13th. On the first of the four days, they will perform a Rod nom dum ritual, basically a cleaning the house. On the second day, national family day; food is prepared and the rest of the day is family time. The third day is celebrated by families going to temple and offering food to monks, bathing the buddha image with fragrant water and taking part in cleansing of sins ritual. The final day is to pay respect to elders and ancestors, here water is poured gently over the hands and shoulders of an elder while they recite blessings.

The reason for this annual tradition is pre-buddhist rituals of spring festivals thought that throwing water meant good luck to bring good rain for crops.

The water is thrown onto each other in order to "wash away" all bad luck in the past year, going into a new year with a fresh start. The water is used because its seen as a purifier to cleanse the body of sins and bad luck.

Songkran doesn't see special dishes set aside for this time. This is probably due to the fact that people are not as focused on eating. Though its common to see Thais consuming Khao Chae, which is fit for the heat and will cool you down. Peaches and fresh fruit are common and Chicken Satay, Egg rolls and Custard too. Cool refreshing foods and drinks are most likely due to the heat.

FOOD ETIQUETTES
🔻Thai food is eaten with a fork and tablespoon, rather than chopsticks
🔻 Rice and noodles are both commonly consumed
🔻 Thais will usually eat three main courses and plenty of snacks
🔻 Dinner is the main dish
🔻 Dinner can include, curries, soup, vegetable dish, salads and rice.
🔻 At dinner rice is always served in your own bowl and the rest of the foods are put on platters

Green curry Chicken: Ingredients
🔹 1/2 can coconut milk
🔹 1/6 chicken or vegetable stock
🔹 1/8 chopped basil leaves
🔹 1.5 tbsp fish sauce
🔹 1-2 tbsp green curry paste
🔹 1tbsp brown sugar
🔹 3/4 cup assorted chopped vegetables
🔹 3/8 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
🔹 Cooked Jasmine Rice

METHOD:
1) MIX Coconut milk, stock basil, fish sauce, green curry paste and brown sugar in medium saucepan. Bring to boil on medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer 15 minutes.
2) STIR in vegetables and chicken; simmer 10 minutes longer or until chicken is cooked through.
3) SERVE over cooked Jasmine Rice.

UTENSILS:
🔸 chopping board x2
🔸 knife x2
🔸 small & medium saucepan
🔸 measuring spoons & cup

Untitled Slide

BIBLIOGRAPHY
🔷 Darlene Schmidt (2014), "The beginner guide to thai food" , About.com thai food
http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaifoodandculture/a/foodculture.htm
🔷 "the origins of songkran festival" (2014) , http://www.chiangmai-chiangrai.com/origins_of_songkran.html

🔷 2014, "food in thailand" , foodbycountry.com, http://www.foodbycountry.com/Spain-to-Zimbabwe-Cumulative-Index/Thailand.ht...,