Good Fixin's and Just Plain Unusual Eats

I figured it was time for another entry dedicated entirely to food. Just because the food here is both outrageous and delicious. Plus, I’ll be honest, eating and cooking does take up a good portion of my time! Thailand truly is the kitchen to the world.

Kanom Geen: It looks like white spaghetti but the consistency is softer and it is complemented with a thick ground meat coconut milk curry (Thai version of marinara without tomatoes?) It’s usually served with a choice of fresh herbs, green vegetables, pickled veggies, and spices on the side.

Kao Dtom: A favorite among, well, everyone. While there are variations of kao dtom, it is basically rice steamed with sesame and black beans or bananas inside a bamboo leaf. (see picture below) It’s customary to make a huge batch of kao dtom before holy days and special events. You can imagine with all the holy days and events here, kao dtom pops up quite frequently. Some time between Wan San Dton Dta and Awk Pensa, I got so sick of eating kao dtom; I had to simply tell people to stop feeding me this stuff.



Gop Pad Pit: Frog meat fried with Thai chilies and kale. I’ve actually grown really fond of dishes with frog in them. It’s almost like the complimenting flavors in frog dishes completely cancel out the fact that you’re eating frog guts. Tastes like chicken.

Bit-Yang and Som Tom: Grilled duck and papaya salad. It’s even more delicious than grilled chicken and papaya salad since duck seems to be more succulent...and expensive. Papaya salad is almost as much a staple in the Thai diet as rice. It is usually made with shredded green papaya (before it turns yellow and sweetens), chilies, garlic, lemon juice, tomatoes, fish sauce, sugar, salt, sometimes fermented shrimp paste, sometimes msg, and sometimes whole crabs. The ingredients are put into a stone crock and mashed together. Roasted peanuts top it off for garnish. People also take the concept of papaya salad and make different variations of it with green beans, cucumbers, green bananas, pineapple, etc. I would venture to say that I eat papaya salad at least once almost every day.

Geao Haan: Start with a clay pot with boiled broth over a coal fire. The broth consists of Thai chilies, shallots, garlic, a dash of sugar/salt, and meat juices. Then add raw meat (chicken, pork, beef) green vegetables such as cabbage and spinach, rice noodles, and crack an egg into the broth. Let it cook, and then eat with chopsticks using sweet chili sauce for dipping. A-Roi. (delicious)

Thai BBQ: Same as Geao Haan except instead of a clay pot, you have a convex frying pan with holes in it. It has a (see picture below) reservoir for broth, noodles, and vegetables. Meat is fried on top of the pan. This is also served with sweet chili sauce. Same as Korean BBQ? All I know is that I'll be eating it for dinner.


Kanom Dtok Bua: Virtually any food in Thailand that is sweet and/or made of starch is called “Kanom”. This can be anything from cookies, cakes, fried dough to coconut milk with kidney beans—for some reason beans and sweet corn are usually only found in Kanom and not regular dishes. There is even a flavor of yogurt featuring moong beans, corn, and kidney beans. Kanom Dtok Bua translates roughly to “lotus flower pastry”. If you’ve ever seen a lotus flower before it blooms, it is cone-shaped with seeds protruding out. The Kanom Dtok Bua gets its name from the attempt to imitate this shape in the form of a Kanom. It’s a greenish globular looking thing and (I’m guessing) made from coconut milk, eggs, and sugar that’s deep-fried. It has a sweet, chewy consistency.


Things I’ve made off the top of my head... I would give more description here but if you know me at all you know I can’t remember what I put in dishes to save my life.

Salt and Honey Popcorn: Self-explanatory.

Tamarind Jam/Butter: Boil dried tamarind until soft, add sugar, cinnamon, and pinch of salt.

Baked Beans: Bring black beans to boil until soft, added salt, oyster sauce, tomatoes, scallions, garlic, and soy sauce to taste.

Sweet Potato Curry: Boil sweet potatoes, onions, kale, and onions mixed with curry paste, oyster sauce, soy sauce, garlic, fish sauce, lime juice, and simmered in coconut milk.

Fried Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches: Self-explanatory.

Seafood Pasta Putinesca: Sautee mushrooms, scallions, garlic, basil, green chili’s, oyster sauce, salt & sugar to taste. Then add in chopped carrots, and zucchini. Sautee. Finally fold in about 6 large pulped tomatoes & 10 cherry tomatoes with a cup of water. Cook to taste. Serve with penne pasta.

Banana Bread Pancakes? Here, I tried to make banana bread in my rice cooker at which I failed miserably and resolved to make pancakes out of the salvageable batter. Surprisingly, they were a huge hit with my neighbors.

Banana Syrup: Mash up 5 Thai bananas and bring to boil with water until thick. Fold in sugar to desired sweetness, cinnamon, and vanilla extract.