Thai Cuisine

Thai cuisine refers to typical foods, beverages, and cooking styles common to the country of Thailand.Although popularly considered as a single cuisine, Thai food would be more accurately described as four regional cuisines corresponding to the four main regions of the country: Northern, Northeastern (or Isan), Central and Southern. Southern curries, for example, tend to contain coconut milk and fresh turmeric, while northeastern dishes often include lime juice. Thai cuisine has been greatly influenced by the cuisine of its neighboring and nearby countries, especially India, China, Malaysia, and Laos.
Thai food is known for its enthusiastic use of fresh (rather than dried) herbs and spices as well as fish sauce. Thai food is popular in many Western countries especially in Australia, New Zealand, some countries in Europe such as the United Kingdom, as well as the United States, and Canada.

Many Thai dishes are familiar in the West. In some dishes below, different kinds of protein can be chosen as the ingredient, such as beef, chicken, pork, duck, tofu or seafood.

Stir-Fried Thai Noodles

Ingredients:
8 oz (250 g) rice noodles (sen lek)3 tablespoons oil3 garlic cloves (kratiem), minced1/4 cup dried shrimp/prawns1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) fish sauce (nam pla)1/4 cup (2 oz/60 g) sugar2 tablespoons tamarind juice (ma-kaam piag)1 tablespoon paprika1/2 cup fried tofu2 tablespoons dried unsalted turnip, cut into small pieces1 egg, beaten1/4 cup 1-in (2.5-cm) lengths chopped chives1/4 cup (2 oz/60 g) ground roasted peanuts1 cup bean sprouts
Garnish:
1/2 cup bean sprouts1/2 cup chopped chives1/4 small banana blossom, cut into strips1/2 lime, cut into wedges
How to cook:
1. Soak the rice noodles in cold water for 30 minutes, or until soft. Drain, and set aside.
2. Heat a large skillet until hot, then add the oil. Add the garlic and dried shrimp, and stir-fry. Add the noodles and stir-fry until translucent. It may be necessary to reduce the heat if the mixture is cooking too quickly and the noodles stick.
3. Add the fish sauce, sugar tamarind juice and paprika. Stir-fry the mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the tofu, turnip and egg.
4. Turn the heat to high and cook until the egg sets, stirring gently. Thoroughly combine the mixture, and continue cooking over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes until most of the liquid is reduced.
5. Mix in the chives, peanuts and bean sprouts. Place on a serving dish, arrange the bean sprouts, chives, banana blossom and lime attractively and serve.

Thanks to " Thailand the beautiful cook book"