page_title: Thai cuisine
section_title: Central Thai shared dishes
hierarchical_section_title: Thai cuisine / Representative dishes / Central Thai shared dishes
caption_attribution_description: English: Thot man khaophot (Thai script: ทอดมันข้าวโพด): deep-fried fritters made with corn and herbs, served with a sweet chilli sauce, at a vegetarian restaurant in Chiang Mai.
context_page_description: Thai cuisine is the national cuisine of Thailand.
  Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components and a spicy edge. Thai chef McDang characterises Thai food as demonstrating "intricacy; attention to detail; texture; color; taste; and the use of ingredients with medicinal benefits, as well as good flavor", as well as care being given to the food's appearance, smell and context. Australian chef David Thompson, an expert on Thai food, observes that unlike many other cuisines, Thai cooking is "about the juggling of disparate elements to create a harmonious finish. Like a complex musical chord it's got to have a smooth surface but it doesn't matter what's happening underneath. Simplicity isn't the dictum here, at all."
  Traditional Thai cuisine loosely falls into four categories: tom, yam, tam, and gaeng. Deep-fries, stir-fries, and steamed dishes derive from Chinese cooking.
  In 2017, seven Thai dishes appeared on a list of the "World's 50 Best Foods"—an online poll of 35,000 people worldwide by CNN Travel. Thailand had more dishes on the list than any other country.
context_section_description: Ahan Phak Klang (Thai: อาหารภาคกลาง; lit. "central region food") is most often eaten with the non-glutinous jasmine rice. The cuisine has also incorporated many Thai Chinese dishes.
  Chuchi pla kaphong – snapper in chuchi curry sauce (thick red curry sauce)
  Kai phat khing – chicken stir fried with sliced ginger.
  Kaeng khiao wan – called "green curry" in English, it is a coconut curry made with fresh green chillies and flavoured with Thai basil, and chicken or fish meatballs. This dish can be one of the spiciest of Thai curries.
  Ho mok pla – a pâté or soufflé of fish, spices, coconut milk and egg, steamed in a banana leaf cup and topped with thick coconut cream before serving.
  Kaeng phanaeng – a mild creamy coconut curry with beef (phanaeng nuea), chicken, or pork. It includes some roasted dried spices similar to kaeng matsaman.
  Kaeng phet (lit. 'spicy curry') – also known as red curry in English, it is a coconut curry made with copious amounts of dried red chillies in the curry paste.
  Kaeng som – a hot and sour soup/curry usually eaten together with rice
  Kai phat met mamuang himmaphan – The Thai Chinese version of the Sichuan style chicken with cashews known as Kung Pao chicken, fried with whole dried chilies.
  Miang kham – dried shrimp and other ingredients wrapped in cha plu leaves; often eaten as a snack or a starter.
  Phak bung fai daeng – stir fried morning glory with yellow bean paste.
  Phat khana mu krop – khana (gailan) stir fried with crispy pork.
  Phat kaphrao – beef, pork, prawns, or chicken stir fried with Thai holy basil, chillies, garlic, and soy sauce; for instance mu phat kaphrao /kaphrao mu with minced pork.
  Phat phak ruam – stir fried combination of vegetables depending on availability and preference.
  Phat phrik – often eaten as nuea phat phrik: beef stir fried with chilli.
  Pla nueng manao – steamed fish with a spicy lime juice dressing.
  Pla sam rot – literally, 'three flavours fish': deep fried fish with a sweet, tangy and spicy tamarind sauce.
  Pu cha – a mixture of cooked crab meat, pork, garlic and pepper, deep fried inside the crab shells and served with a simple spicy sauce, such as Sriracha sauce, sweet-hot garlic sauce, nam phrik phao (roasted chilli paste), nam chim buai (plum sauce), or in a red curry paste, with chopped green onions. It is sometimes also served as deep fried patties instead of being fried in the crab shell.
  Suki – a Thai variant of the Chinese hot pot.
  Thot man – deep fried fishcake made from knifefish (thot man pla krai) or shrimp (thot man kung).
  Tom chuet or kaeng chuet – a clear soup with vegetables and, for instance, wunsen (cellophane noodles), taohu (silken tofu), mu sap (minced pork), or het (mushrooms). It is of Thai Chinese origin.
  Tom kha kai – hot spicy soup with coconut milk, galangal, and chicken.
  Tom yam – hot & sour soup with meat. With shrimp it is called tom yam goong or tom yam kung, with seafood (typically shrimp, squid, fish) tom yam thale, with chicken tom yam kai.
  Yam – general name for many different kinds of sour Thai salads, such as those made with glass noodles (yam wunsen), with seafood (yam thale), or grilled beef (yam nuea). The dressing of a "yam" will normally consist of shallots, fish sauce, tomato, lime juice, sugar, chilies and Thai celery (khuenchai), or coriander.
  Yam pla duk fu – crispy fried catfish with a spicy, sweet-and-sour, green mango salad.
caption: Thot man khaophot deep-fried fritters made with corn and herbs, served with a sweet chilli sauce.
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