Baby tamarinds
Sorry for the poor photo, but here we have a bag of ‘baby tamarinds’ known as makaam awn [มะขามà¸à¹ˆà¸à¸™]. They are basically very young, unripe tamarinds. As a result, they are very, very sour. That’s why there is a bag of sugar and chili mix to dip them in. Since there is little to no fruit at this stage of development, you just eat the entire thing, shell and all. The shell that is normally hard and brittle from a ripe tamarind is soft, bitter, and sour in these young ones. Not a snack you’ll find me searching for out on the streets. Hidden behind is a bag of Thai gooseberries [มะยม].
A quick photo of some jackfruit chunks already extracted from the fruit. Jackfruits are huge! Possibly the largest edible fruit? I’m not sure, but they are quite tasty. Sweet and candy-like, they somewhat remind me of pineapple without any of the sourness at all.
It's a good thing we didn't have to remove these pieces ourselves
Gaeng som (à¹à¸à¸‡à¸ªà¹‰à¸¡) is a popular curry in Thailand. It is often described in English as sour fish curry, which describes it pretty well. It is usually served with shrimp or fish as the designated meat and a large collection of vegetables. Often an omelet with a Thai vegetable called cha-om is added for extra taste. The version pictured here is a bit more of a northeastern street style. A bit more basic, but also a bit more exotic. In place of the shrimp we have lots of fish eggs. You can see them floating all along the broth while large clumps sit in the spoon. Tasty, but I still prefer the usual version with the cha-om omelet.
Check out them fish eggs!
Dragonfruit, also called pitaya, and known as à¹à¸à¹‰à¸§à¸¡à¸±à¸‡à¸à¸£ [gaewmanggon] has become one of my favorite fruits in Thailand. In my opinion, the flesh strongly resembles a kiwi fruit in texture, although the flavor is a bit sweeter and less sour. Just looking at the flesh below with all the tiny black seeds distributed throughout the flesh might remind you of a kiwi. The fruit itself is rather large, which is nice, because then you get a lot of chunks of fruit out of each one. To top it off, this wonderful fruit doesn’t even give you a hard time trying to get the skin off! Another common variety of dragonfruit has bright purple flesh. The taste is the same, you just need to be more careful to avoid dropping any pieces on your clothes. Definitely in my top 3 fruits from this region.
The strange skin of a dragonfruit
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Notice the similarity to kiwi?
I previously mentioned durian, the so-called king of fruits, so obviously I had to show a few photos of its partner in crime, mangosteen (มันคุด [mankut]). This tropical fruit has a tough, thick skin (that can easily stain your clothes, as well) with juicy, sweet-tart tasting flesh inside. It’s called the queen of fruits because it can help to cool your body down after durian heats you up. Both fruits are commonly eaten in conjunction because of this supposed property as well as their complimentary tastes. Yet another delicious tropical fruit.
A bug full of mangosteens
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More mangosteens
Here’s a short post just to show a photo of some lychees. In Thailand called ลี้นจี่ [linjee], they are big, juicy, and sweet here. Way better than any I’ve had elsewhere.
Freshly picked lychees
This here is an image of ยำà¹à¸¢à¸«à¸™à¸¡ [yam naem] which literally translates to sausage salad. That sounds pretty innocent, but it actually doesn’t contain sausage – at least not in the western sense. The main ingredient is pig skin (boiled, I believe). Chewy, thick, julienned, tasteless pig skin. The saving grace is the other main ingredient, ข้าวทà¸à¸” [khao tawt], is just a seasoned, deep fried ball of rice which is broken up and mixed in.
All in all, it tastes pretty good if you can avoid the strips of skin. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of it. Most of those things that look like onions in the image are actually not onions. I have ordered this before without the pig skin. Of course the vendor looks at me like I’m some sort of madman, doing something akin to ordering a hamburger without the burger. Oh well, at least that way I’ll eat it all.
Pig skin salad. Yum!
The name sounds like some sort of dinosaur, but in actuality it’s just a tasty fruit. They’re very sweet with a pear-like, but soft texture. Sapodillas are really natives of Mexico, but they have grown in popularity in Asia to the point of being a cheap, common find when they’re in season.
A bag full of sapodillas
The interior of a sapodilla
A bag of salak fruit
Here we have สละ [sala], another common fruit in this area. In English it’s called salak or snakefruit. It comes from a palm tree and the fruit tastes similar to pineapple, although the texture is much more firm and dry. They come in clusters like shown and are a pain in the but to get open, especially if you have no fingernails. The skin is covered with a ton of sharp, spiny, needle-like hairs. They’re actually not that hard, but they can still hurt your fingers if you’re opening a whole batch of them. They make a mess too, with the hairs falling all over the place. Despite the tedious work to open them, I have grown quite fond of the taste. When it’s in season I’m happy to buy this fruit anytime I know I’ll be around someone willing to open them for me.
Opening up the salak
The inside fruit
The fruits of all our tedious work!
By admin | April 28, 2006
Pictured below are rambutans, a very common fruit in this part of the world. They look pretty odd with all the tendril-like hairs coming off of them, but inside is what I would consider a pretty basic, normal, and tasty fruit. A suppose the flesh is somewhat similar to a grape. If you’re looking for more information, head on over to wikipedia.
A bag full of rambutans
A lone, hairy rambutan
The inside flesh of a rambutan
