Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand Oct / Nov 2017: The Travel Issue | Page 19

Travel
THAI GREEN CURRY
Another renowned Thai dish, before
we dig a bit deeper, is gang keow wan,
or Thai green curry. This creamy, deep-
ly savory dish is conjured from a mix
of coconut milk, bamboo shoots, Thai
basil, Thai eggplant and the ubiqui-
tous lemongrass, galangal, and lime
leaves, plus a few dashes of fish sauce.
Boosted by a choice of tofu, chicken or
pork, it’s a hearty and satisfying meal
that will force you to loosen your belt
as you greedily slurp down one more
rich, spicy mouthful.
Usually served with rice, though
noodles are also common, the curry is
most often a very soupy mixture. There
is also a “drier” option, which is a little
lighter on your figure yet just as tasty.
MOO DAD DIEW
Wherever you go in Bangkok, you’ll see reed bas-
kets, sometimes lined with banana leaves, filled with
thin strips of raw pork drying in the relentless daytime
heat. After a few hours sunbathing, the pork — which has by
now developed a delightful chewiness (think beef jerky or biltong,
but still moist) — is marinated in thick, sweet soy sauce then deep fried and
plated with jim jao chili sauce and green onions. The pleasing bites of pork are
served as an appetizer, but it is easy to eschew an entrée and, ahem, pig out
on moo dad diew alone.
TOM YUM GUNG
For fans of sweet and sour, there can
be nothing better than a bowl of this
spicy, aromatic soup teeming with
prawns (the gung in question), ele-
vated with lemongrass, kaffir lime
leaves and galangal, and rounded
out with mushrooms, tomatoes
and assorted vegetables.
As popular with locals as
it is with foreigners and tour-
ists, the soup is served either
as a clear broth or fortified
with a few glugs of rich co-
conut milk. This conjunction
of Thailand’s favorite flavors
is far more representative of
Thai cuisine than pad thai, and
its presence on restaurant menus
throughout Southeast Asia and
the world at large is testament to
how achingly good a soup can be.
Just be careful of the heat.
A variation not yet popular outside
of Thailand is tom khlong, similar to
tom yung gung but owing its sourness
to tamarind instead of lime juice.
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