THAI LANGUAGE LESSONS
L17h - Food: Restaurant Dishes
Many of the dishes on the previous foodstall food page are also available at restaurants. On this page we will cover some of the more complex Thai dishes that are more commonly served at restaurants.
| tom yam goong | spicy sour prawn soup |
| tom kah gai | coconut chicken soup |
| gairng kee-ow wahn | sweet green curry |
| gairng pet | spicy red curry |
| gairng som | sour orange fish curry |
| masaman | coconut & potato curry |
| yam | spicy & sour meat salad |
| plah raht prik | deep fried fish in sweet chili sauce |
| plah nurng manao | steamed fish in lemon sauce |
| plah samlee dairt dee-ow | fried sun-dried fish with mango salad |
| boo pat pong garee | crab in curry sauce |
| goong chai nam plah | raw prawns in fish sauce with chillies |
tom yam goong: This is one of the classic Thai dishes. An intensely flavoured spicy and sour soup. The classic version is 'goong' which is prawns. You could also try 'tom yam talay' (seafood) or for those that don't like seafood 'tom yam het' (mushroom).
You can order it with 'nam sai' (tom yam goong nam sai) which means hold the chili paste or the standard version is 'nam kon' which means include the chili paste.
gairng: This is the Thai word for curry. Thai curries are thinner in consistancy than Indian curries. They are based on curry pastes. The two most well-known are Thai green curry and Thai red curry. The green curry ('gairng kee-ow wahn') is made from coconut milk. The red curry ('gairng pet') is spicier and has a consistancy like soup.
plah samlee dairt dee-ow: Let's break this one down. 'plah' of course is fish. 'samlee' is the thai word for cotton and in this case is a type of fish - Thai cottonfish. 'dairt' relates to sunshine and in this case means sundried. 'dee-ow' is single or just a little bit and in this case means sundried just a little. So we have 'Thai cottonfish sundried just a little'. The fish is sliced open, sundried for a few hours and then fried. It is usually served with a spicy green mango salad. It is very tasty.
goong chai nam plah: Thais love this dish. It will test most westerners constitutions. It is raw prawns served in a very spicy fish sauce. 'goong' is prawns, 'chai' is use, and 'nam plah' is fish sauce.
