A culinary trip to Thailand

The so-called cookshops are the insider tip among Thailand visitors. In the small stalls, which can be found on almost every street corner, food is cooked, fried and deep-fried in woks in the open air. How about tom yam, a spicy, hot Thai soup? The flavours are an incomparable explosion of taste: tart lime meets coriander, lemongrass, garlic, cumin, pepper and fiery chilli peppers. Traditionally, the soups are cooked with fish stock. Tom yam soup gets its very special, typical flavour from the galangal root, which is similar to the ginger we are more familiar with. Galangal is generally a very popular and frequently used spice in Asian cuisine. It is said to have revitalising and healing properties. Even in our part of the world, people in the Middle Ages swore by the effects of galangal.

A creamy curry from the wok is a must for all fans of Thai cuisine, and for anyone who wants to become one! Firstly, it is important to know that there are red, green and yellow curries and that the main difference lies in the degree of spiciness. However, don’t be fooled by the traffic light colours: green curry is not the mildest, but the hottest! Red curry is slightly milder than green, yellow curry is the mildest. In addition to coconut milk, vegetables and meat, red, yellow or green curry paste is the basic ingredient for a wonderfully flavoursome Thai curry. The curry pastes are based on fiery chillies – the green curry paste is made from fresh green chillies, which are extremely hot. Sun-dried red chillies, which are correspondingly milder, are used for red curry paste.

The chilli peppers are ground into a paste in a mortar and pestle. Thailand would not be famous for its diverse flavours without a few other ingredients and spices coming into play: garlic, galangal, coriander, cumin, pepper and lemongrass. By the way, Thai cuisine is known for its ability to balance all five flavours.

Both in Thailand and at home, you can buy ready-made curry paste – which means that delicious Thai curries even count as “quick and easy cooking”! You only need one cooking pot to prepare it, and you can also cook it in advance and take it with you!

Fancy a portion of Thai food? Go for it and get that holiday feeling in your kitchen!