Top 7 Most Popular Foods You Must Try in Thailand
 |
Thailand's food is one of the world’s great cuisines. It combines a variety of complex flavors and textures in several layers. The typical Thai ingredients include things like galangal (similar to ginger), coconut milk, tamarind, lemon grass, lime, basil, turmeric, garlic, Fish Sauce, Oyster Sauce etc.
Top 10 famous Thai food dishes that everyone should try while visiting Thailand, personally recommended by our Thai chef, are as follows:
List of top 7 most popular foods in Thailand:
1. Tom Yum Goong (Spicy Shrimp Soup)
2. Som Tum (Spicy Green Papaya Salad)
3. Tom Kha Kai (Chicken in Coconut Soup)
4. Gaeng Daeng (Red Curry)
5. Pad Thai (Thai style Fried Noodles)
6. Khao Pad (Fried Rice)
7. Pad Krapow Moo Saap (Fried Basil and Pork)
Tom Yum Goong (Spicy Shrimp Soup)
 |
| Photo: I Am Aileen |
If you find tom yum goong too spicy for your liking, why not order the sweet and sour crowd favorite Thai food, the pad thai?
These rice noodles are stir-fried with tofu, bean sprouts, eggs, and either shrimp or chicken followed by some other seasonings like chili, fish sauce, ground peanuts, and sugar. If I may add a tip, add a dash of lime juice before digging in!
Som Tum (Spicy Green Papaya Salad)
 |
| Photo: Chatuchak |
Hailing from the Northeast state of Isaan, this outlandish dish is both great divider – some can’t get enough of its bite, some can’t handle it – and greatly distinctive. Garlic, chilies, green beans, cherry tomatoes and shredded raw papaya get dramatically pulverized in a pestle and mortar, so releasing a rounded sweet-sour-spicy flavor that’s not easily forgotten. Regional variations throw peanuts, dry shrimp or salted crab into the mix, the latter having a gut-cleansing talent that catches many newcomers by surprise!
Tom Kha Kai (Chicken in Coconut Soup)
 |
| Photo: I Am Aileen |
A mild, tamer twist on Tom Yum, this iconic soup infuses fiery chilies, thinly sliced young galangal, crushed shallots, stalks of lemongrass and tender strips of chicken. However unlike its more watery cousin, lashings of coconut milk soften its spicy blow. Topped off with fresh lime leaves, it’s a sweet-smelling concoction, both creamy and compelling.
Gaeng Daeng (Red Curry)
 |
| Photo: I Am Aileen |
Select from the usual chicken, beef, pork, or maybe even duck, shrimp, or tofu. Your choice of meat is then cooked in delicious red curry paste and coconut milk.
Afterwards, it is seasoned with garlic, shallots, chili peppers, galangal, fish sauce, and kaffir lime leaves for that complex Thai food flavor! Yum!
Pad Thai (Thai style Fried Noodles)
 |
| Photo: I Am Aileen |
From Cape Town to Khao San Road, the default international Thai dish! Pad Thai – which means ‘Thai-style stir-fried noodles’ – might be a good dish to start with if you are just introducing yourself to Thai food. It has a good combination of classic ingredients – like egg, tofu, peanuts, and bean sprouts. The traditional taste is a bit funky (fish sauce & dried shrimp), sour (fresh tamarind paste and lime juice), sweet (palm sugar) and not really spicy, unless you will add too much chili which is usually served to you separately.
Khao Pad (Fried Rice)
 |
| Photo: I Am Aileen |
Fried rice, egg, onion, a few herbs – nothing more, nothing less. A popular lunch dish served typically with a wedge of lime and slices of cucumber, the secret of this unpretentious dish lies in its simplicity. The concept is this: you’re the one devouring it, so you dress it. To do so, Thais use everything from prawns, crab or chicken to basil, chili and left-over vegetables, in the process turning an unremarkable pauper into a gastronomic prince!
Pad Kra Pao (Thai Basil Stir-Fry)
 |
| Photo: Aroma Asian |
Pad Kra Pao is a very popular dish for local Thais. When people don’t know what to order, they just order Kra Pao! This dish is quick and delicious. "Pad" means "fried" and "Kra Pao" is Thai name of Holy basil that is one of the main ingredients. Pad Kra Pao can be cooked with chicken, pork, beef, seafood, tofu, or whatever you want. It is served with rice. You can order a fried egg (Khai Dao) on top too.
5 Tips On How To Eat Like A Local In BangkokWatch your food being cookedOne big benefit of street food is that you can often see the food being cooked, so take advantage of it! Are there bugs near the ingredients or the pans? Did the vendor wipe their nose while they were preparing food? Does the cooking area seem generally dirty? If so, look for another option. Some larger stalls in Thailand prepare food in the back and then bring it out to customers, so avoid those in favour of places where you can see what's going on. Watch the vendor serve other customersIn addition to seeing the food being cooked, watch the people in front of you being served. Is the same person handling both cash and food? Did they touch their face and then the food? Is the food being served in dirty containers? Again, if the answer is yes, head elsewhere. There are so many street food options in Thailand; you won't have any problem finding something else. Look for food stalls with long lines – especially of localsA cart or stall that's unhygienic and regularly makes people sick probably won't be teeming with customers, especially locals, who will know if certain places are unsafe to eat. If you notice an empty food stall, there may well be a reason it's empty – and that's a good reason for you to avoid it. Eat at regular local meal timesOf course, there might not be lines anywhere if you're there at the wrong time. Going out for street food in the mid-afternoon may mean getting a dish that's been sitting out since the end of the lunch rush, which is plenty of time for bacteria to form. Instead, eat at local meal times, since that's when food will be the freshest. Skip raw fruit and vegetables unless they can be peeledThe bad news is that fruits and vegetables can easily carry bacteria, making them unsafe to eat raw. Two top foods to avoid in Thailand are fresh leafy greens and berries, which are especially likely to be contaminated. But the good news is that fruit with a peel is safe, because the skin protects the edible inside, even in unclean environments. And with all the Thai fruits that have a peel – dragonfruit, mangosteen, rambutan, not to mention bananas, mangos, and pineapple – you won't be missing too much. |
 Best Traditional USA Dishes: Top 10 Must-try American Foods Regarding American cuisine, classics and junk food like burgers, chips, hot dogs, pancakes are the most popular and well-known, contributing to the “typical American lifestyle”. ... |
 Traditional British Foods: Top 10 Must-try British Foods Cuisine can be an excellent insight into a country’s history and culture and British food is no exception. When it comes to British cuisine, you ... |
 How to make Mexico Traditional Tres Leches Cake - Authentic Recipe! Tres Leches cake, or "three milks" cake in Spanish, is a classic, traditional dessert which is served throughout Mexico, and other Latin countries. Check out ... |
