A tempting Thai dinner

I’m not sure where you live, but here in Sydney, Thai food is so popular that most suburbs have at least one Thai restaurant, if not 20! This may be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point: it’s popular with a capital “P”!

So when you’re planning a dinner party at home, it makes sense to serve your guests a type of food that people seem to like. Thai food is your perfect option. It’s exotic, clean and light and best of all, delicious!

Thai cuisine is known for its balance of five fundamental flavors. Most Thai dishes tend to incorporate all of these flavors, if not most. These flavors are:

– hot (spicy – chilli)

– sour (vinegar, lemon juice, tamarind)

– sweet (soft brown sugar, fruits, sweet peppers)

– salty (soy sauce, fish sauce)

– bitters (which is optional)

The best thing about Thai food is that instead of dry herbs, they use a lot of fresh herbs, spices, and fish sauce. The scents are sensational.

Since 95% of Thais are Buddhist, they leave religious offerings of fruit at the base of a Buddha statue with burning candles, incense and the like in restaurants. There is a peace that this brings as you witness the scene. You will also often find photos of your much loved king and that he has served for a long time.

You could recreate a Thai space in your dining room by adding the scent of subtle incense and making the lighting softer than usual. If you don’t have a light dimmer, try lighting the dining room with some candles or lamps to create a lovely atmosphere.

If you can get some Thai classical music that would be great as a background sound, or else some other oriental inspired music.

Thais generally don’t use chopsticks for eating, rather a dessert fork and spoon, but if you want the Asian touch (Thailand is in Southeast Asia), feel free to provide each guest with a pair of chopsticks. Consider a wooden or bamboo placemat at each guest’s place setting.

As a centerpiece for your table, you can fill a long, shallow bowl with water and place floating candles on top. You could also try buying some exotic looking flowers. On my trips to Thailand, orchids and the like have graced the tables. The entire dining experience is pure pleasure.

For starters you can serve one of their delicious soups like a Spicy and Spicy Tom Yum Goong (spicy and sour prawn soup) or a Tom Yum Kai which is similar but with chicken.

You can also serve Thai fish cakes, spring rolls in rice paper, curry puffs, chicken satay or fried chicken wings, with dipping sauce of course.

As a main course: stir-fries, whole fish, Thai curries (green, red, yellow, Masaman, etc.) or the ever-popular noodle dishes like Pad Thai or Pad See Yu. Don’t forget the steamed rice served in a covered rice bowl in a central position on your table, so people can help themselves.

A plate of fresh exotic fruits or a bowl of sticky rice with mango is wonderful for dessert.

You see, there are so many recipe options for your Thai food. I would suggest searching the internet for free recipes or getting an easy Thai recipe book.

Most of the ingredients you will need are readily available at your local Asian specialty food store.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *