2022
We are two Google Moderators who love Thai food. @Aruni is a Thai local who loves to cook and @TsekoV is a Bulgarian who loves to travel and try different cuisines. We are different in many ways, but recently discovered that we enjoy the same kinds of food.
So, we wanted to share some of our favorite Thai dishes with you. Below, we compare our tastes and discover mutual likes.
1. Spring rolls
@Aruni: Fried spring rolls are the kind of food that is easy to make and Thai families can eat it daily. You need the following ingredients: roti filo, vermicelli, medium-sized cabbage, black ear mushrooms, some carrots, oyster oil, seasoning sauce, and sugar.
There are many different types of spring rolls with various fillings, but the most delicious for me are the traditional Thai rolls with pork chops. This dish is considered an appetizer or a snack, and definitely not a main dish. My family loves to eat spring rolls almost every day so I cook them every week. I think you can easily make them, too, if you try!
@TsekoV: I don’t think many people in Bulgaria have tried fried spring rolls. Until recently, Korean, Thai, and other asian cuisines have not been popular in Bulgaria. However, now that more and more restaurants are popping up, younger generations seem curious to give them a try.
The first time I tried fried spring rolls was in China, where I used to order them several times a week. Then I had the chance to taste this dish in Thailand as well, while on a trip. Even though I didn’t know much about this delicacy, since we don’t have it in Bulgaria, I could feel that there were differences in the taste of the Thai and Chinese spring rolls. The Thai version had more ingredients, spices, and vegetables. It was quite appetizing!
To my surprise, I made a connection between this exotic snack and a traditional Bulgarian pastry dish called banitsa. The main difference is in the filling—banitsa is mostly made with white cheese, eggs, and sometimes yoghurt, spread between layers of filo.
I’d really like to try cooking fried spring rolls one day to see what my family thinks about the similarities and differences between the rolls and the banitsa!
2. Chicken satay
@Aruni: Satay is a kind of Thai barbecue. It’s made of sliced or cubed meat, such as pork, chicken or beef. It’s one of the most popular snacks in Thailand and people prepare it in their homes or purchase it in the pedestrian areas. You can find satay on almost every street in the country!
My favorite is the chicken satay, which originated in Indonesia. I love eating the chicken skewers with peanut sauce and sweet and sour sauce—they really add to the taste, making it even more delicious.
@TsekoV: I had my first bite of chicken satay in the streets of Bangkok, where I saw many stands selling this snack and people enjoying it with a drink. I found it quite savory, with its specific combination of sweet and sour flavor.
One similarity I see between the Thai satay and the barbecue we have in Bulgaria is our mutual like for cooking meat with local herbs and seasoning on a stick. Outdoor barbecues in Thailand seem to be popular throughout the whole year, but in Bulgaria, we mostly have them during the summer, when the weather is hot and we can combine a meat skewer with a cold beer.
3. Papaya salad
@Aruni: Every Thai person can eat papaya salad—or som tum in Thai—for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It also seems to be very popular abroad and among people who visit Thailand.
The salad is a mixture of spicy, sour, sweet, and salty flavors, but the predominant taste depends on how you like to prepare it. Some of the most used ingredients, apart from papaya, include spicy chili, garlic, tomatoes, lemon, sugar, and fish sauce. My most favorite combination is with extra spicy and sour flavors.
@TsekoV: Papaya salad is one of the emblems of the Thai cuisine. When I visited Thailand, I had a list of the most famous must-try Thai dishes and papaya salad was one of them. And I loved it! The mixture of aromas and sweet and sour tastes was such a pleasant surprise.
We don’t have this kind of dish in Bulgaria and, honestly, it’s a little different from our perception of what a salad is. Here we like to mix tomatoes, cucumbers, white and yellow cheese, onions, boiled eggs, olive oil, and more.
4. Chicken green curry
@Aruni: Green curry is a traditional Thai dish that needs time to be prepared. I like to cook it on the weekends so I can take my time making it.
Every local loves to eat green curry. It’s made with chicken, fish or pork, mixed with vegetables and seasoned with coconut milk, sugar, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves, and basil leaves. We commonly eat it with steamed rice or noodles. Some people in Thailand also call this dish “yellow curry”, but it’s basically the same thing. It’s a tradition here to serve green curry as the main dish every time there is a guest in the house.
@TsekoV: The chicken green curry is the dish I find most unfamiliar and different from the food I’m used to in Bulgaria. The taste is specific for Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, and the aroma is something I haven’t experienced before.
The green curry is usually very spicy. I was curious to give it a try in Thailand and enjoyed a lighter, less spicy version of it.
5. Pad thai noodles
Pad thai is made with noodles and different combinations of pork, chicken, shrimp, seafood, and vegetables. It’s very easy to prepare and I don’t need to spend a lot of time making it. If I have the ingredients, I only need around 10-15 minutes to cook it. That’s why pad thai the perfect food choice for my family during a busy working week. What’s interesting about it is that we can have it for lunch, dinner, and even breakfast!
This dish is not considered spicy, so you can add chili separately if you enjoy eating spices.
@TsekoV: I can proudly declare that I’m a noodles lover. I love trying different kinds of noodles whenever I get the chance.
Before going to Thailand, I had never heard of pad thai noodles. It was there when a Thai friend ordered them for me and I tried them for the first time. By then, I had already lived in China for three years and was very accustomed to eating noodles, so I enjoyed my pad thai to the fullest.
Have you ever tried Thai cuisine? What was your favorite dish? Share with us in the comments below!
Everything looks absolutely delicious! I haven't been to Thailand, but I had the chance to visit a Thai restaurant a few weeks back in Sofia and it was a mind blowing experience. I haven't tried all of the dishes that you - @Aruni had mentioned in your post, but I had the pleasure to taste Chicken satay:
Spring rolls, but mine were vegetarian ones, which were also really tasty:
Tung Tong, which is something similar to spring rolls. I definitely can't say, which is my personal favorite. All I can say that everything was delicious!
Last, but not least, I want to include egg fried rice with shrimps, which was divine:
