Ok, I love Thai food. But I just don’t understand the language. There is one particular Thai curry I love. Lots of Ginger, nice and hot, not too much fish sauce(I hate chicken that tastes like rotten fish). I have no idea what else is in it, what is part of my problem.
Every time I go to a new Thai place I look at the menu like a metalaly challenged cave man. Every thing has a Thai name which I don’t understand, and a short description thaty only cares about the big peices, not the curry, like “Green peppers and chicken in curry” or “Brocoli and beef and peas in curry” or slightly more helpful, “Beans and cabbage in yellow curry”.
I have tried looking up the menu on wikipeadia, but it usually just translates to the same thing, “Peas”, “green peppers” “food”. And there is no consistancy. Sometimes places have “broccoil and peas” in nasty fishy curry, sometimes it’s in the good Gingery curry, and sometimes, in strange opaque sweet curry.
Again from wikipedia it says Khing is Ginger, but every time I try something with Khing in the name it is nothing like the stuff I want. Anybody know how I can figure out how to ask for the curry I want? I dont care what crap the substance of vegetables is, I just want the flavor.
Did you ask the people at the old Thai place what to call it? Could it be that that ONE particular Thai place does it just the way you like it?
I’ve found that every Thai place I’ve been to is very different. Even though I can order the same dish, it’s very different versions of WOW. ( I have found a place that has the best Thai food I’ve ever had. My SO agrees, and he’s older and has been around the world a few times. And it’s practically walking distance. (Two miles in a car–NorthSuburban side of Houston? That’s walking distance!) )
It reminds me of my fried rice conundrum–my favorite fried rice is my favorite b/c it’s the first I had. That place no longer exists. My 2nd favorite fried rice is really—not that great. But it’s the flavor I want when I want fried rice. I’ve had WAY better…but <whining> it’s not the one in my head!
That is the beauty of Thai food, and the heart of my problem
It doesn’t have the same standardization of recipies like Chinese for example. So each time I have to guess at what the stuff I am looking for is. I just don’t know how to know what I am getting.
What color was the curry you liked? Some Thai curries can be identified by color.
Gaeng keaw wan is a slightly sweet green curry.
Masaman is a yellow / brown curry with potatoes.
Panang curry usually has peanuts included in it.
Gaeng ped is a red curry.
There are also variations on these themes. One problem is that of course recipes are not standard, and the spellings are also not standard. If you find a dish you like, have them tell you what it’s called in Thai (have them say it a couple of times) and make your own pronunciation notes.
What annoys me most about Thai food is when the giant grasshopper legs get stuck in your teeth, and you don’t know it, and there you go walking around with grasshopper legs sticking out.
