Thai specialties: You should try this street food

Insects and other specialties from Thailand

The selection is huge, but some things can be found everywhere Thailand and partly also in the neighboring countries of Cambodia and Laos: for example “Malaeng Thod”. These are fried insects such as crickets, grasshoppers, mealworms, silkworms, cicadas and frogs. Even if insects are not on our regular menu, you have to try them at least once. Mealworms are soft, grasshoppers are crunchy and scorpions need strong teeth. The latter are only for tourists anyway.

Before being sold, the insects are briefly fried and refined with soy sauce and spices. These Thai chips are addictive! My first snack on every trip to Thailand.

Kuno Paulus is a tour guide, photographer and author who lives in Strasbourg and Bangkok. From May to October he travels with groups through Alsace and Baden, France, England and the Canary Islands, and spends the winter in Asia (China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia). Topics: News, travel experiences and everything about food. All information is there on his homepage.

Grilled tongue “Lin Moo” is harder to find, but worth it because the meat is tender and juicy. There is also a spicy and sour sauce. Sometimes there are pig ears on the grill. They are a delicacy for Asians, while the cartilage is rather unusual for us.

Delicious offerings from the water

The fish stomach soup “Kapok Plaa” is also a little more difficult to get. Strong, creamy and piping hot – served in an earthenware dish – you can enjoy this delicious specialty slowly and carefully.

The salt-grilled barbecue fish “Miyang Plaa Phao” is available everywhere. It costs around five euros with pasta, salad and sweet sauce. The fish has few bones and fine, white flesh. The head and belly are particularly tasty. You take a lettuce leaf, put some pasta and fish in it, some sauce and eat it out of your hand.

Sausage, hearty meat dishes and barbecue fish

Even those who aren’t quite as adventurous in terms of cuisine will find what they’re looking for. Thai cuisine has a rich selection of meat dishes from pork, chicken and duck. The warm meat salad “Lab Moo” (pork) or “Lab Phed” (duck), for example, is served on small plates, the spicy sauce contains sweet onions and roasted rice. Rennet is served with peppermint and chili and eaten with sticky rice.

Then there are the chicken skewers: the ones with the juicy skin are called “Nang Khai” and the liver skewers are called “Tab Khai”. Those with the hearts “Huazai” are strong and lean, while the rumps “Thot Khai” are very aromatic and have more fat. You can usually get them for 10 baht (30 cents) and it’s best to add a bag of sticky rice to it.

Thais also love sausages. There is a large selection here, mostly pork or chicken. Some are made with pure meat, others with rice or noodles. And there are some with (lots of) palm sugar. In Thailand’s northeast, Issaan, the grilled sausage “Saigok Issaan” is fermented. The taste is slightly sour. There is also fresh white cabbage, sticky rice, chilies and garlic. My absolute favourite!

Pork in all variations – even as braised pork knuckle

It’s hard to avoid pork in Thailand: the crispy fried pork belly “Klaa Po Moo” also comes from China. The belly is cut into small slices. There is also rice, sweet sauce and steamed green vegetables.

What I also like to eat is braised pork knuckle “Khaa Moo” with lots of garlic, rice and chili. This dish comes from China and is primarily eaten in Bangkok, which used to be a Chinese village. The knuckle is traditionally braised for a long time at a low temperature overnight, which makes it particularly tender.

Noodle and curry dishes, soups and salad

Another popular dish from the south of Thailand is “Kanom Jeen”. These are pasta with strong sauces made from meat, fish, seafood and vegetables. There is also a platter with herbs, peanuts and pickles. In contrast, the similar curries (Massaman Curry, Green, Red and Yellow Curry) are cooked with rice, peppers and cashews.

The morning soup “Gaeng Dschö”, on the other hand, is very light and clear: a clear vegetable broth with some minced pork, egg custard and lots of vegetables, especially white cabbage. For breakfast there are two par-boiled eggs, a baked donut and strong coffee.

Another absolute must is the papaya salad “Som Tam”, which is eaten together with sticky rice (“Khao Niao”). The most common version is with crushed black crabs from the rice field. It is also available with fermented fish or the mild version with orange juice, dried shrimp and peanuts.

The salt-grilled barbecue fish “Miyang Plaa Phao” is available everywhere. It costs around five euros with pasta, salad and sweet sauce. The fish has few bones and fine, white flesh. The head and belly are particularly tasty. You take a lettuce leaf, put some pasta and fish in it, some sauce and eat it out of your hand.

Thirst quenchers and sweet delicacies

Even those who prefer it sweet will get their money’s worth. Wherever there are coconut palms, you can get ice-cold, freshly cracked coconuts. An excellent thirst quencher! The soft flesh can be removed with a tablespoon.

The spoons in Thailand are made of plastic or tin and are no good, so I always have a sturdy tablespoon from home in my bag. On the beach of Samui or in Bangkok’s tourist street “Khaosan Road” you can find delicious coconut ice cream in the coconut with chocolate sauce and peanuts. Definitely try it!

Banana Pancake, “Roti Kluay”, are a type of pancake and egg crepe. They are baked in butter on a hot plate, filled with banana and sweetened condensed milk and cut into pieces. They are also available with Nutella or jam. It goes well with hot, sweet, strong Thai coffee.

Not to forget: All the delicious fruit drinks with ice cubes, fresh from the blender. Either as a juice or as a smoothie (with sugar syrup and sometimes sweetened condensed milk).