Frogs on a stick
Someday soon I’ll have a giant list of the weird foods I’ve eaten over the past few years. It’ll be an enjoyable way to kill a few minutes of your time. This post is really just filler material for now.
Here’s one more post just to give some content. Two major photo albums are up so here they are:
By admin | March 16, 2008
The fruit
This one was a hard one to find any information on. I knew it was a palm fruit, but apparently there isn’t much information on the internet about these. In Thai its called luk dtan [ลูà¸à¸•à¸²à¸¥] and I finally tracked down a possible English name: sugar palm, toddy palm, or borassus flabellifer. I would consider it a rare fruit since I haven’t seen it often around here although it is very cheap.
Anyway, the fruit itself is quite jelly-like after you get the soft shell off. You have to cut the shell off with a knife; it doesn’t peel. As for taste, its not bad but pretty bland. Slightly sweet, but nothing else. I guess it’s cheap and not readily available for a reason. Another interesting fruit to try.
Sugar palm fruits
Sugar palm fruit
Bag full o' oysters
Here we have a freshly purchased bag of oysters (hoi nang rom [หà¸à¸¢à¸™à¸²à¸‡à¸£à¸¡]). Oysters are plentiful and cheap in Thailand, although not as good as those from abroad. I find the Thai ones to be quite large and somewhat sweet. They are very cheap, though. That bag there cost about $1.
No matter where your order the oysters around here, they are always served the same way: on a bed of ice with the following accompinaments.
- Crispy fried shallots
- A green, bitter vegetable known as gratin [à¸à¸£à¸°à¸–ิน]. I don’t know of any common English name, but leuceana leucocephala might be its scientific name
- A thick sweet chili sauce called prik pao [น้ำพริà¸à¹€à¸œà¸²]
- Freshly sliced chilis and garlic
- Sometimes another type of sauce which is the typical spicy-sour seafood sauce that comes with anything from the ocean
- Some lime wedges
All in all, a nice tasty dish.
By admin | February 15, 2008
Looks delicious
This is an exquisite Thai dessert. Jackfruit stuffed with sweet sticky rice and covered in sweetened coconut cream (khao niaw kanun [ข้าวเหนียวขนุน]). The different jackfruit pieces also have different flavors of sticky rice in them (notice the colors?) but I’m not sure what they are. There’s not much else to say about this one except that the flavors work excellent and I wish I had more. Yum!
By admin | February 15, 2008
Pumpkin pie
This here is one of my favorite Thai desserts. I call it pumpkin pie, although technically the filling is a custard. Thai’s call it fak tawng sangkayaa [à¸à¸±à¸à¸—à¸à¸‡ สังขยา]. The cool part, as you can see, is that it is actually cooked in the pumpkin itself! This works out great for me because I always loved the traditional Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, but only the filling. I would always leave the crust behind. now I don’t have to worry about any crust since the crust is essentially a filling as well.
Yeah, I know Thai pumpkins aren’t as pretty as Western ones. Despite that ugliness (I know I’ve talked about that somewhere around here before), they are much more tasty. Especially when made into a sweet dessert like this.
After a little bite
By admin | February 9, 2008
Happy Pigs
On the rural road between Korat and Buriram there are a few strange attractions. This is a shot of some giant pig statues. They sure look happy holding their bottle of beer. They are part of a larger group of statues used to advertise for a place that sells whole pork legs commonly used to make the dish khao kaa muu (stewed pork leg). Despite the marketing effort, the place always seems to be empty.
By admin | February 8, 2008
Oops...forgot the photo
Sorry about the photo. I guess I was hungry. This is my leftover yam bplaa salid [ยำปลา่สลิด], which basically translates as a sun-dried fish salad. There’s nothing too interesting about the salad, just your typical yam (Thai style sour and spicy). The fish is what’s interesting. Basically, this is deep-fried pieces of fish, bones and all, that is now as crispy as a potato chip. As a result, you eat the whole thing, bones and all. Occasionally I get poked in the mouth by some of the larger bones and it hurts! I guess Thais are just accustomed to eating these types of things. A nice tasty dish, but man do I miss my nice sized pieces of boneless fish from back home. It’s rare to get a large piece of fish with no bones around here unless you’re willing to pay the hefty markup.
By admin | February 8, 2008
To go along with the post on durians, here’s a bin of jackfruit for sale. While not as dangerous as durians, they are generally larger. A single jackfruit weighs quite a few kilos, so it is not common to purchase one for yourself. Usually, you purchase smaller bags of the fruit that has been scooped out of the membranes and shell. It is yet another very tasty fruit.
Jackfruit
By admin | February 8, 2008
Frogs on ice
Frog meat (gop [à¸à¸š]) is served in quite a few restaurants although I wouldn’t consider it a common item. I know of one or two places where you can get the whole frog grilled, but more often it is served in basic Thai dishes as a substitute for chicken or pork. Apparently it is a somewhat seasonal item available when it’s raining. I’m not really sure why people order it though since it’s slightly more expensive and not nearly as tasty as a standard meat. I guess that’s just my opinion, but keep in mind the preparation as well. When served in a standard Thai dish such a graprao, they simply chop the whole frog up and mix it in, bones and all. When you’re eating it you get a lot of crunchy bits that I don’t find very pleasant. I’ll stick with the basics instead.
Bonus: Notice the intestines in the top right corner of the photo?
