Spicy Food: Find the Best Curry in Thailand

You may want to kick off your food exploration journey in Thailand by starting with the curry varieties. These curries are a mixture of sour, salty, hot, and sweet flavors and are one of the most popular foods among the locals. If you are not a fan of spicy curry, ensure you make it clear while placing your order. Furthermore, Thai curries are also one of the easiest dishes to find from North to South, either from the local eateries, shops, or fancy restaurants.

The curry in Thai consists of poultry or some other meat option and is best served with rice. However, you can also decide to settle on Thai curry with tofu, and vegetarians looking to try it should be aware that the curry contains fish sauce and shrimp paste. Trying out the curries in Thailand can prove to be a confusing experience because they are available in a variety of colors such as yellow, red, green and the popular Massaman and Panang varieties.

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Thailand Food Culture

While visiting Thailand, ensure you keep their food culture in mind to avoid getting in trouble with the locals because the Eastern World traditions and those of the American have a few differences. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are mostly one and the same, with all the dishes served throughout the day. Whether the food is a bowl of rice soup or Thai kabob, these foods are enjoyed depending on where the Thai people are and the designated time to eat.

In Thai restaurants, each person orders their preferred meal, but the dishes are often shared among the people at a dinner party. Moreover, it is advised to order only what you can eat as it is extremely rude to throw away food or leave leftovers on the plate. This offends not only the restaurant owners but also other patrons.

Some of the curry varieties found in Thailand include:

1. Panang Curry

Also referred to as phanaeng curry by the locals, this curry dish is one of the most popular curries in Thailand and is widely known because of its saltier and slightly sweeter taste. The roots of the Panang curry are traced back to Laos, and it is a thick curry consisting of a predominant peanut flavor.

Some of the ingredients found in the curry paste include:

● Peanuts
● Lemongrass
● Chilies
● Cumin
● Coriander
● Shrimp paste
● Shallot
● Kaffir lime zest

The Panang curry is considered a milder curry because it is less soup-like and more curry-like, with coconut milk being the only liquid that is added. Occasionally, the curry is served with beef or chicken, but you can also get it with tofu or vegetables of your choice. Trying out this authentic Thai cuisine impacts your taste buds with a significant flavor and gives you an ultimate food experience that cannot be found in any ordinary restaurant.

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2. Massaman Curry

Indiana influenced massaman curry, and it originated in Ayutthaya, Central Thailand, in the 17th century. The exotic flavor of this curry is derived from imported ingredients such as cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, cardamom and star anise. The commonly used ingredients in this curry are galangal, shallots, coconut milk, white pepper, shrimp paste and lemon grass. This curry rarely features on quick restaurant menus because it takes a bit longer to prepare and should be done so on lower heat.

Among the meat varieties, visitors often prefer to go with the Massaman lamb curry or beef curry because of the amount f flavor found in them. Generally, the curry comes stewed with sprinkles of peanuts and chunks of potato and is often made with beef, goat, mutton or chicken. However, it is definitely worth the wait because of its unique Muslim influence combined with a mix of South Asian spices.

Ensure you make it clear how much spice you want to be included in your Massaman curry to avoid stressing your taste buds with uncontrollable amounts of chili.

3. Green ‘Sweet’ Curry

This is one of Thailand’s most unexpected and interesting curries because it is prepared using copious amounts of lime juice and coconut milk and is classified as the hottest of all curries. Usually, this curry consists of eggplant and green chilies in a green curry sauce. The green curry is extremely creamy and aromatic, with the creaminess depending on the amount of coconut milk added. In addition, the base flavor consists of a mixture of basil and fresh cilantro, which makes the curry achieve its unique and distinct taste.

The main protein included in the green curry is usually chicken, beef, pork or fish balls, and the general presentation of this curry varies depending on the region of Thailand. While some regions use eggplant, other regions choose to settle on pea aubergine or other vegetable varieties to introduce the palette flavor of the dish. Although it is the hottest curry in Thailand, the taste can also be neutralized to be sweet by adding lime juice, coconut milk or palm sugar.

4 Thai Red Curry

This curry dish is nothing short of fantastic, and many of its aspects are not so different from the green curry. There are similarities in the cooking method, the thick coconut base and the soup-like curry sauce, including the ingredients that are incorporated to achieve the dish. The difference comes in the paste where the Thai red curry uses red dried chilies while the green curry is made using hotter green chilies.

The red curry does not have any specific recipe, and there can be a variance in the ingredients involved. Generally, the red curry is less fiery than the green curry, but this factor depends on who prepares the chili paste. Usually, the curry is more savory and less sweet and tastes better when served with duck meat or pork.

5 Yellow Curry

This curry contains a large portion of turmeric that contributes to giving it its yellow color. Compared to the red and green curries, the yellow curry is not only milder but also suitable for people with less tolerance for spicy food. The most common form of the yellow curry is potentially rich because it consists of coconut cream and is available in different options. Other varieties include the gold curry, the elephant curry and the orange curry.

Compared to the yellow curry, the gold curry is spicier because it is relatively prepared using more chilies. On the other hand, the elephant curry is also spicy. Still, it contains a generous amount of coconut milk, with the orange curry having a sour taste and is prepared without incorporating coconut milk. Most customers choose to go with chicken while placing their orders, but you can also settle on shrimp, vegetables, beef or fish. Apart from turmeric powder, all varieties of yellow curry can be prepared using w mustard seeds, kaffir lime leaves or cumin.

6. Thai Fish Curry

This is one of the most popular fish curries in Thailand, with the main ingredient being the fish fillets. The fish fillets can be simmered in either green, milky red or yellow curry sauce. To make the sauce even more interesting, fresh vegetables such as red or green bell peppers and potatoes are added for a cheerful color. Provided you have lime juice and fish sauce in the right amounts; this dish thrills your taste buds in ways you do not expect.

Touring Thailand

The perfect way to get the best out of Thailand’s local cuisines is by signing up for food tours Thailand, which not only serve to introduce visitors to the foods but are also helpful in providing background information on how these evolved. Secret Food Tours is equipped with knowledgeable and well-experienced local guides who are committed to showing and presenting to visitors a side of Thailand that they cannot possibly find on their own.

All of Bangkok’s food tours are inclusive of a variety of food tastings and come in handy in sampling some of the best local cuisines before finally settling on the most preferred.

Curries make up a huge part of Thai cuisine, and all curries were traditionally made using the same ingredients apart from the chilies. Apart from the color of the chilies, they also consist of different taste characteristics. Thailand food tours provide proper insight into why some curry types are spicier depending on others and why modern chefs prefer to add fewer chilies compared to the ancient traditional chefs. Secret Food Tours also prioritizes the health of its staff members and visitors by putting u strict health and safety measures such as the total number of people allowed to be on the tour and whether the food is favorable for vegetarians and non-vegetarians.

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While on Thailand food tours, you have the opportunity to take in amazing sights, with each tour being full of fun and highly rated experiences. Each of the Thailand Food Tours includes a special secret dish agreed upon by the local guides, not forgetting the drink upgrade available. These food tours are perfect for all age groups and occasions and leave one with an experience that is not easy to get over. If you’ll need any other service while in Thailand, we can recommend referring to Clever Thai.