Debeli has always been fascinated with Thai cuisine, ever since he started to work professionally. At the beginning of his cooking career he was working with a Thai chef who infected him with soy sauce. Like literally, because Debeli ended in the ER after his body couldn’t digest high levels of MSG or monosodium glutamate (a flavor enhancer with an umami taste), so he dehydrated and had to be fed with a tube).

Luckily, we didn’t experience any of this in Thailand. We took the recommended vaccinations, and we were careful enough to wash our hands, drink bottled water and to use our own cutlery when the local ones were suspicious.

The worst that happened was too spicy food that hastened our bowl movements and a couple of pounds of body fat that I brought back home with me. Actually, when I think of it today, our digestion was way better than usual. But we ate a lot of soups, greens (fibers, right?), we drank a lot of fluid and ate tons of fruit. Oh, yes, and we walked.  🚶

We have tried all that was unknown to us and all that we never even heard of; from exotic fruits, and weird vegetables to insects.

We visited several food markets, including day and night markets, as well as the shopping mall food courts, and a floating market too.

We spent half a day at the Chatuchak Weekend Market, the largest market in Thailand, with more than 15 000 stalls and 11 505 vendors, divided into 27 sections, impossible to see in a single day.

When the day’s temperature drops and the evening breeze (finally) hits in, the chairs are set out on the sidewalks, the night markets open, day taxi drivers start their night cooking shifts and everybody gets a chance to enjoy some of the hundreds of tasty variations of Thai dishes.

The best part of Bangkok is definitely street food and Thai capital can be seen as the street food capital of the world.

The streets are covered with mobile street stalls, so pedestrians have a hard time walking around. But they don’t mind it 🙂 There was a talk about closing the street food vendors, to open the pathways for the pedestrians, but none of that happened. Plus nobody thought of closing a street lane in favor of the foot travelers. 😒

The good side is the abundance of the street food offer in a way that you don’t have to travel far to get your lunch. You just walk around the block and you’ll find something you need / like. If a one food stall hasn’t got it, another one does, for sure.

Food is the only reason I would live in Bangkok. Because money is not worth it.

Thai cuisine is based on a few basic ingredients (rice, noodles, meat or fish) and a million spices and veggies of a strange name 🙂

Cooking is very easy, although preparation is complicated. There are lot of ingredients cut into small pieces to make it easier to eat with chopsticks, fork or spoon (we haven’t seen any knives).

All food is packed in a foam food containers or plastic. A lot of plastic. If you think you’re saving the planet with your recycling habits, Thailand is not, so don’t stress, you’re not helping 🙁

Cooking is done using woks, spatulas and a cleaver that’s used for chopping or pealing. No wonder we came back with some the authentic souvenirs for domestic use.

In 2017, seven Thai dishes appeared on a list of the World’s 50 Best Foods. We’ve tried six of them.

There’s no big difference between breakfast and dinner dishes. What you eat in the morning can (and it’s usually) eaten for lunch / dinner. Doesn’t matter. It was the first time in Bangkok that I had rice for breakfast. With coffee.

Noodles for dinner? Why not?

Skewers just for fun? Definitely!

Neighboring countries like China and India, as well as some European countries had a huge impact on Thai cuisine and the culinary traditions in Thailand.

The Theochew Chinese settlers brought rice and noodles, soy beans and tofu and various cooking and frying techniques while curry came from India. A true blend of flavors, colors and tastes.

Personally, my favorite thing was spring rolls, Poh Pia Tod, although it wasn’t the first time I had them. Stuffed with meat and root vegetables or just with vegetables, deep fried and served with sweet chili sauce, the spring rolls were my choice for a quick snack or even breakfast. And the reason for my extra body weight that I’m still trying to get rid of.

Or it’s because I just love anything deep fried? From savory to sweet dishes? Luckily, those kinds of things are in abundance in Thailand.

The highlight of Thai street food is definitely the skewers. They are cheap and practical to eat while walking so we tried everything that looked interesting, from meat and vegetable skewers, meat dumplings on a stick, grilled pork intestine to just fried chicken and quail eggs with octopus.

Eggs were the main side ingredient of many dishes we have tried. They are often made like fried omelettes or like addition to rice and noodles.

After a bad experience with fried omelette with mussels in MBK shopping mall, I followed Debeli across the city to try the best fried omelette in Bangkok, according to Mark Wiens.

Debeli made a huge research on where and what to eat. Although the food was always fantastic, the majority of those places was just ordinary, out in the street, simple dining places. If it had napkins (not a role of a toilet paper) and a toilet not too close to the kitchen, I considered it a proper restaurant :))

The omelette is fried in so much oil so we took lighter versions, with mussels and oysters

To reduce the possible high levels of cholesterol eating all that fried food, we ate a lot of green papaya salad. Too bad I discovered it too late. It’s so delicious!

Som tam is made from shredded unripe papaya, carrots, green beans, cashew nuts, dried prawns, lime juice, fish sauce and palm sugar. All of the ingredients are mixed and pounded in a mortar and the dish combines five main tastes of the local cuisine: sour, hot, salty, savory and sweet.

Looking at some strange combinations, we have tried something of unknown name wrapped in a bamboo leaf. Mix of ginger, crab meat and egg with a hot chili pepper on top. Alarm if you don’t eat spicy.

Similar to this wrap there was another one, but wrapped in an omelette. If anyone knows what it is, please let me know 🙂 In the upper right corner is sweet sticky rice, after being unwrapped from the bamboo leaf.

Pad thai is probably one of the most famous and delicious dishes in Thailand. It’s actually pretty simple to make it, if you have all of the ingredients (cut in small pieces). Rice noodles, chicken or pork, egg, tofu, fish sauce and vegetables like garlic chives, pickled radishes or turnips are everything you need. Stir fry it in a wok, sprinkle with some bean sprouts and chopped roasted peanuts, add a slice of lime wedge and you’re done. Piece of cake.

Stir frying technique is one of the most common way of meal preparation in Southeast Asia. One of my favorite was flay lay, or fried rice. Rice, vegetables and eggs.

As you can see we are still deeply in the egg section, but we’re slowly turning onto rice, the staple grain of Thai cuisine.

Rice is the first and most important part of any Thai meal, and rice is such an integral part of the diet that a common Thai greeting kin khao reu yang? literally translates as Have you eaten rice yet? If you live in Thailand you’re going to eat it several times – a day!

One of many ideas I had, while preparing for the trip to Thailand, was a visit to the rice fields, only to discover that the rice is harvested in late November and planted in April, so a visit in February would only mean dead, burnt fields. Better luck next time, amigo!

The rice is usually served and eaten with curry. Yellow, red or green. Whichever color you prefer. Spiciness has nothing to do with the color. We found out that much later 🙂

Around Chinatown Debeli tried the best recommended massaman curry in the city. Basically, a food stand with chairs around in the street. Tables? Yeah, right

Very creamy and mild in the taste, probably because of the unusual spices that are used.

Spices that are not frequently used in Thai curries like cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cumin, bay leaves, nutmeg and mace are combined with local produce such as dried chili peppers, cilantro seeds, lemongrass, galangal, white pepper, shrimp paste, shallots and garlic to make the massaman curry paste.

Rice is used not only as a single dish, but as a flour to make rice noodles or cakes. These were so spicy that Debeli had to lick them so I could try it 🙈

When it comes to the domestic animals used for cooking, the Thais rely on pork, poultry and various sea animals (fishes, crabs, lobsters, shellfish) combined with rice, noodles and tons of herbs and spices.

Soups make up a great deal of Thai cuisine. No wonder, the best way to fill your body with fluids lost while sweating is to have another fluid coming in. Some think that spices helps with the heat, but I think that’s just bs. At least for me because I just burned my mouth.  🙂

Soups are cooked in a large amounts and for a long time and. The broths are usually meat broths or they add some coconut milk. The amount of vegetables and herbs used for the preparation gives the healthy meaning to the soups.

One of the ingredients that caught us of guard was the morning glory. Took us some time to realize it’s only a name of a plant whose flowers unravel into full bloom in the early morning. Nothing more. But still 🙂

While the plant is considered federal noxious weed in the US and can be illegal to grow, import, possess, or sell without a permit, it’s a big part of East Asian cuisine. It’s very similar to spinach and some times called water spinach so no wonder it’s favorite green in majority of the dishes.

One of Debeli’s favorite meals was tom yum soup.

Tom yum or tom yam is a type of hot and sour Thai soup, usually cooked with shrimps (prawns) and fresh ingredients such as lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lime juice, fish sauce, and crushed red chili peppers that gives specific taste to the soup. Quite sour in the taste, may not be everyone’s choice, but still very jummy.

The strangest soups we have tried was the one with fish bladders.

Few days prior we stumbled upon strange, what I thought was a sponge, things hanging in a food markets around Chinatown.

It turned out it was fish maws and bladders. Used for cooking in soups.

The soup was OK, but the bladder taste was like eating a washing sponge. Not my thing, not my thing at all 🙂

When I look now, the majority of the thing was extremely tasty and delicious. We did encounter some very strange ingredients, specially the green ones, that we finally found out what it was. On our last day in Bangkok, while on a cooking class tour. But more about that, in a different post 🙂

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NJUPANJE U BANGKOKU

Debeli je oduvijek bio fasciniran tajlandskom kuhinjom, posebice od kad se počeo profesionalno baviti kulinarstvom. Negdje na početku svoje kuharske karijere radio je s Tajlanđaninom koji ga je zarazio soya umakom. Al doslovce, jer je Debeli završio na hitnoj u jednom trenutku. Naime tijelo mu je, nenaviknuto na visoke razine famoznog MSGa ili mononatrijevog glutaminata (prehrambenog aditiva koji se dodaje za pojačavanje okusa) dehidriralo, pa su ga hranili na infuziju.

Srećom, ništa ovakvo nam se nije desilo u Tajlandu, bez obzira što smo išli s dozom rezerve. Nikad ne znaš što se može desiti, jel da? Iako smo se cijepili zbog virusnih i bakterijskih boleština bojala sam se nekakve zaraze uzrokovane prljavim površinama, nedovoljno svježim namirnicama (+35 na uličnom štandu znači smrt) ili tko zna čega.

Najgore što nam se desilo, u ta tri tjedna, bila je preljuta hrana od koje su se crijeva kretala malo brže i tri kilograma više s kojim sam se vratila.

Zapravo, kad danas gledam, probava nam je bila puno puno bolja nego doma. Jeli smo puno jušnatog, zelenog (vlakna, jel da? :)), pili puno tekućine i gušili se u voću.

Probali smo sve što nam je bilo nepoznato i za što nikad nismo čuli; od egzotičnog voća, neobičnog povrća i kombinacija okusa do insekata.

Posjetili smo nekoliko tržnica s hranom, što dnevnih što noćnih, što onih u sklopu velikih šoping centara, uključujući i tržnicu na vodi.

Najveću od tržnica na Tajlandu, Chatuchak vikend tržnicu, bilo je šteta propustiti, ali 15 000 štandova, 11 505 prodavača raspoređenih u 27 sekcija ipak je nemoguće obići u jednom danu.

Kad se dnevna temperatura spusti, uredi zatvore i ekipa krene doma s posla, stolice se postavljaju van na pločnike, otvaraju se noćne tržnice, dnevni vozači taksija večernju šihtu odrađuju na štandu s hranom i svi uživaju u nekim od stotine ukusnih varijacija tajlandskih jela.

Najbolje od svega u Bangkoku je ulična hrana (street food) koja slovi za najbolju u svijetu. Ulice i nogostupi su zakrčeni štandovima do te mjere da je kretanje pješacima onemogućeno, pa je vlada razmišljala da ukine uličnu gastro ponudu. A nije se sjetila uzet jednu traku automobilima da riješi isti problem. Za sad, stvari funkcioniraju po pravilu lova u džep inspekciji i zatvorit ćemo oči.

Dobra strana ulične ponude jest da se ne morate pomaknuti iz svog kvarta, jer na svakom koraku netko nešto kuha i sprema. Štandovi su se specijalizirali za određenu vrstu jela, pa ako jedan štand nema ono što tražite, sigurno ima onaj pored.

Hrana, hrana je nešto zbog čega bi se dalo živjeti u Bangkoku 🙂

Tajlandska kuhinja bazira se na nekoliko osnovnih namirnica (riža, rižini rezanci, meso ili riba) i milijun začina i isto toliko vrsta zelenjave.

Kuhanje je vrlo jednostavno, iako je priprema komplicirana. Sastojaka je puno i svi su nasjeckani na male komadiće da se lakše jedu štapićima, vilicom ili žlicom (noža nismo vidjeli).

Sva se hrana pakira u stiropor ili plastiku. Puno plastike. Ako se grizete zbog toga što redovno ne reciklirate, nema potrebe….Istočna Azija to uopće ne radi. Planet nemremo spasiti.

Za kuhanje su vam potrebni vok, špatula i satarica za sjeckanje. Sve sjeckaju sa sataricom, od mesa do voća. Sjećate se Debelovog Tajlanđanina s početka teksta? Lik je gulio krumpir sa satarom, stoga nije ni čudo što smo se vratili s originalnim suvenirima 🙂

Na CNNovom popisu iz 2017 čak sedam tajlandskih jela našlo se na popisu 50 najboljih jela svijeta. Mi smo probali – šest 🙂

Razlike između doručka, ručka i večere – nema. Ono što jedete za doručak možete jesti i za ručak ili večeru, tak je svejedno. Omlet s rižom uz jutarnju kavu? Zašto ne?

Rezanci za večeru? Definitivno!

Ražnjići za razbibrigu? Svakako!

Velikog utjecaja na tajlandsku kuhinju imali su tajski susjedi i njihovi kulinarski običaji, tako da su na okuse i izgled hrane u Bangkoku utjecala Teochew kineska kuhinja, portugalska, ali i azijska te zapadno europska gastronomska tradicija.

Kineski doseljenici zaslužni su za uporabu voka, tehnike dubokog prženja i stir frying načina priprave jela, nekoliko vrsta rezanaca (noodli), soje i tofua. Za curry su zaslužni dotepenci iz Indije. Pravi blend okusa i boja.

Mene su osobno najviše osvojile proljetne rolice, iako ovo nije bilo prvi put da ih kušam. Punjene mesom u kombinaciji s korjenastim povrćem ili samo povrćem, pržene u dubokom ulju i poslužene sa slatko ljutim sosom, bile su moj česti snack i vjerojatno razlog višku kilograma.

A možda je samo stvar u tome što volim duboko prženo bilo što? 🙂 Srećom, u Tajlandu toga ne manjka.

Vrh ulične hrane su svakako ražnjići, jer su jeftini i praktični tako da smo probali sve iz sekcije jelo-na-štapiću; od mesnih i povrtnih okruglica, mesnih ražnjića i prženih svinjskih iznutrica do obične pohane piletine i prepeličjih jaja.

Jaja su jedan od glavnih sporednih sastojaka velikog broja jela u Tajlandu. Pripremaju se kao prženi omleti ili kao dodatak tjestenini ili riži.

Nakon neuspjelog pokušaja prženog omleta s morskim plodovima u MBK trgovačkom centru, slijedila sam Debelog na drugi kraj grada, na nešto što je trebao biti najbolji omlet s kamenicama u gradu. Brat bratu i mom velikom podbratku, bio je.

Debeli se pobožno pripremao prije puta u Bangkok i obilježio je top mjesta koja smo trebali posjetiti, često najobičnije prčvarnice bogu iza nogu, ali s odličnom hranom.

Hoy tod, vrstu thai omleta s kamenicama, preporučio je Mark Weins, food bloger, čije smo preporuke gotovo pobožno pratili.

Prženi omlet pripravlja se u ogromnoj količini ulja, tako da smo naručili dvije verzije s laganim morskim plodovima 🙂

Da bi smanjili razinu kolesterola urokovanu ogromnim količinama duboko prženih jela, svakodnevno smo jeli zelenu salatu od papaje, koju sam nažalost prekasno otkrila da bih je se zasitila.

Som tam priprema se od sjeckane zelene papaje, rajčice, zelenih mahuna, indijskih oraščića, sušenih račića, soka limete, ribljeg sosa i šećera palmine trske. Na prvi spomen papaja, pomisli biste da je jelo slatko, ali je zapravo kiselkasto i slano. Vrlo osvježavajuća, meni je najbolje odgovarala uz proljetne rolice.

Od neobičnijih kombinacija povrća, morskih plodova i jajeta probali smo nešto u zamotano u bambusovom listu. Još uvijek ne znamo kako se jelo zove, ali znamo da je jako ljuto. Crvena papričica je zvono za uzbunu.

Nešto slično ovom paketiću bio je paketić umotan u omlet. Ako netko zna kako se zove, nek slobodno javi. U gornjem desnom kutu je paketić slatke ljepljive riže, također izvađen iz bambusovog lista.

Pad thai je jedno od najpoznatijih tajlandskih jela i vjerojatno jedno od najukusnijih.

Prilično jednostavno za napraviti ako imate sve sastojke, a uglavnom su to rižini rezanci, piletina ili svinjetina, jaje, tofu, riblji umak, povrće poput repe, vlasca, sojine klice i sjeckani oraščići. I to je to. Popržite u voku i gotovo za čas posla.

Korištenje voka ili tehnike stir fraja najčešći je način pripreme većine jela u Aziji. Jedno od finijih i meni omiljenijih bio je flaj laj, kako bi rekli Tajci ili fried rice. Pržena riža. Liza 🙂

Riža, povrće i jaje. Još uvijek smo na jajetu, al polako prelazimo na rižu, temelj tajske prehrane.

Riža je glavni i osnovni dio svakog jela, a njena uloga je tolika da se najobičniji pozdrav ”kin khao reu yang?” može prevesti kao ”jesi li već jeo rižu?”. Ako živiš ili posjećuješ Tajland, bez sumnje pojest ćeš je jednom dnevno. Jedna od želja bila mi je posjetiti polja riže u Tajlandu, ali onda sam saznala da se riža uzgaja daleko na sjeveru i berba joj završava kasno u studenom dok sjetva počinje u travnju. Znači, posjet u veljači ne bi značio ništa. Više sreće drugi puta!

Riža se najčešće poslužuje i jede uz curry. Žuti, crveni ili zeleni. Ovisno koju boju preferirate, ljutina, saznali smo kasnije, nema veze s tim.

Negdje u Chinatownu, Debeli je probao preporučeni najbolji massaman curry u gradu. Radi se o relativno blagom curriju s brdom začina poput kardamona, cimeta, klinčića, zvjezdanog anisa, muškatnog oraščića. Ovi začini, koji inače nisu uobičajeni u pripravi currija, kombiniraju se s tradicionalnim začinima poput chili papričica, sjemenki korijandra, limunske trave, galangala, bijelog papra, paste od kozica, ljutikom i češnjakom. Rezultat je vrlo aromatičan, ako niste shvatili.

Što se tiče domaćih životinja Tajci najviše jedu svinjetinu, piletinu, patku i razno razne plodove mora koji su duplo veći nego što smo navikli. Kozice su im kozetine.

Juhe ili bolje reći jušnata jela čine velik dio tajlandske kuhinje. Nije ni čudo, tjelesnu tekućinu koju izgubite od silnog znojenja, najbolje je nadoknaditi unosom druge tekućine. Neki tvrde da i ljutina pomaže u tome, ali mislim da je to notorna glupost. Barem meni, jer ja sam si samo spalila usnu šupljinu, a bilo mi je i dalje vruće. I ljuto u ustima.

Juhe se kuhaju dugo i u velikim količinama, a koriste se mesni temeljci ili kokosovo mlijeko te brdo trava i povrća, tako da se tajlandske juhe smatraju među zdravijim jelima.

Jedna od namirnica koja nas je zatekla, bila je ipomeja ili “dobro jutro” biljka iz reda slakovki. 

Dok se biljka u Americi našla na popisu toksičnih namirnica, u Aziji se koristi šakom i kapom. Nije ni čudo, okusom podsjeća na naš špinat. 

Jedna od Debelovih omiljenih juha bila je tom yum.

Tom yum ili tom yam vrsta je juha koja se najčešće radi sa škampima (kozicama) te svježim namirnicama kao limunova trava, lišće kaffir limete, galangal, sok limete, riblji umak i mljeveni crveni chili papar koji daje specifičnu notu juhi. Poprilično kiselo za moj ukus, ali svejedno jako ukusno i osvježavajuće.

Najneobičnija juha koju spo probali, bila je pak, juha s ribljim ždrijelima i mjehurom.

Nekoliko dana ranije, na Chinatown tržnici naletjeli smo na neobične spužve, za koje sam ja bila uvjerena da su spužve za pranje. 

Sve dok ih nisam probala u juhi. I dalje su bili spužvasti, možete čak reći mjehurasti, ali ni malo zanimljivi. 

Bez obzira na sva iznenađenja koja smo doživjeli pri kušanju tajlandskih jela, a bilo ih je puno, jer namirnice, pogotovo povrće, koje se koriste pri kuhanju nisu poznate našoj svakodnevno uporabi, sa sigurnošću mogu reći da su jela ukusna i velikom većinom jestiva 🙂 

Što smo otkrili kad su u pitanju nepoznata zelenjava i skriveni sastojci pri kuhanju, čitat ćete u jednom od narednih tekstova inspiriran posjetu tajskoj školi kuhanja.