Six Favorite Thai Dishes

[Spee]

I'm thinking about opening a food stand in the USA, starting small with a relatively limited menu to control inventory and overhead costs. The idea is to specialize on Southeast Asian food with a few dishes each from Chinese, Singapore, Malysian and Thai cuisines (also possibly Indian, Pinoy and Viet).

I'd probably want to have no more than about a dozen items on the menu, probably with some daily dishes or rotating. The main thing would be to make the food as authentic as possible with ingredients, and prepped/cooked as fast as possible, so that a small staff could handle a lot of volume.

If you were living in or visiting America and wanted some Thai food, what six dishes would you most like to see on the menu? These could include salads, soups, curries, starters, entrees, anything.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

PS.

Also, any ideas or suggestions for other cuisines (e.g., satay) would be welcome, too.

[Jingthing]

Limiting to six is very hard, but here goes and considering US tastes:

tom yum kung

pad krapow gai/moo

laab gai/moo

pad Thai kung

Thai BBQ chicken

green curry gai

if you expand to more I would add

penang curry

beef salad

squid/bamboo shoot with chili sauce

tom kha gai

yellow curry

tod mun

Edited March 8, 2009 by Jingthing

[ronz28]

Satay with peanut sauce and cucumber salad

Pad Thai

Khow Pad

Gang-Dang (made with Mae Ploy brand red curry because it is not too spicy)

Nuer Yum

Pad Kee Mao

All Served with white rice

Appetizer: Spring roll

[scottyd]

Kentucky Thai'd Chicken

Thai Big Mac Meal

Thai Pub Burger

Thai Pizza

Thai Steak

Thai Chips

[Jingthing]

Kentucky Thai'd Chicken

Thai Big Mac Meal

Thai Pub Burger

Thai Pizza

Thai Steak

Thai Chips

A sure fire recipe for fast lane bankruptcy!

I don't think Thai fried rice is as popular with Americans in the US as opposed to farangs in Thailand where it is a top choice. Americans in the US will typically order pad Thai much more often than fried rice. Pad kee mao is a good one but also not known very well in the US. Som tum also is not that well known by most Americans unless they have been to Thailand. Interestingly, chicken with cashew nuts, so popular with spice shy farangs in Thailand, is usually not on US Thai menus.

Edited March 8, 2009 by Jingthing

[krading]

I'm a man of simple tastes

somtum

pad gapao

sai lek moo

Thai BBQ

kai jiou

mekhong baen nyng ga sodaa lae naam kheng duay kap

[Beacher]

Perhaps a better approach would be to see what ingredients are available on a regular basis at a reasonable price in your area. I think Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad) would be a must-have (and also a hit in California) for a food stand that offers 6 or so authentic Thai dishes, but if you don't have steady access to green papayas, there's not much sense in going in that direction.

Anyway, the other ones that I would hope to find at a stand like yours are: Tom Yung Goong, Tom Ka Gai, Pad Thai, Gapao Muu (or Gai), and finally Sweet Mango with Sticky Rice and Coconut Milk. You will also need to cook a big pot of jasmine rice.

[aircut]

In 1999 the Office of the National Culture Commission announced the top ten Thai dishes best liked by foreigners. In cooperation with the Ministry of Foreigner Affairs, the Office had conducted a survey of Thai restaurants all over the world to find out ten favorite Thai dishes of foreigners. Only restaurants which have Thai chefs and offer the authentic Thai food were qualified for being taken into consideration

The results were the top ten Thai dishes which are listed below in order of their percentages of popularity:

1. Tom Yam Goong - 99%

2. Kaeng Khiao Wan Kai - 85%

3. Phat Thai -70%

4. Phat Kaphrao - 52%

5. Kaeng Phet Pet Yang - 50%

6. Tom Kha Kai - 47%

7. Yam Nua - 45%

8. Mu or Kai SaTe - 43%

9. Kai Phat Met Mamuang Himmaphan - 42%

10. Phanaeng - 39%

Disclaimer: The English script of the Thai dishes was copied - i take no responsibility for that....

If you need the above list in Thai for your Thai chef :-P here is it...:

1. ต้มยำกุ้ง

2. แกงเขียวหวานไก่

3. ผัดไทย

4. ผัดกระเพราะ

5. แกงเผ็ดเป็ดย่าง

6. ต้มข่าไก่

7. ยำเนื้อ

8. หมูสะเตะ

9. ไก่ผัดเม็ดมะม่วงหิมมพานท์

10. พะแนง

[sbk]

Plah Khuoa (salted fish curry--southern dish)

Laab moo

Tom Yum goong (clear)

Pat pet moo or prawns

garlic and pepper pork or prawns

Gaeng phet anything

[robbo1]

Plah Khuoa (salted fish curry--southern dish)

Laab moo

Tom Yum goong (clear)

Pat pet moo or prawns

garlic and pepper pork or prawns

Gaeng phet anything

kaprow moo kai dow

laab nuer/ped

tom yum goong

bbq gai

green curry nuer/gai

pad pet moo

my wife makes the pad pet in australia with kangaroo tastes arroy mak mak

[Hadrian1]

Phad Thai

Chicken Mussaman Curry

Green Curry

Phad Kapraw Pork

Som Tham

and this.....

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Pad-Thai-t129907.html

Incicentally, a Thai friend reckons it's Yam cai daw (sp). I saw them make it and it seemed really easy and by the queues was very popular but hot....but that can be modified.

[PST]

Tom sep gai.

Pad prik geng moo.

Kapow gai.

Som tam.

Nam tok nuea.

PST.

[BambinA]

I am not in USA, but The Netherlands.

My farang friends loved my dishes I cooked as

1 Stir fry chicken with cashew nut

2 (deep fried) Spring roll

3 Fried fish with sweet-sour-spicy sauce

4 Stir fried chicken and vegetable with sweet and sour sauce

5 Pa naeng curry

[Spee]

I am not in USA, but The Netherlands.

My farang friends loved my dishes I cooked as

1 Stir fry chicken with cashew nut

2 (deep fried) Spring roll

3 Fried fish with sweet-sour-spicy sauce

4 Stir fried chicken and vegetable with sweet and sour sauce

5 Pa naeng curry

Hey Bambina!

Nice to hear from you. I hope everything is going well for you in Holland.

I like your choice for #2. There is nothing better than spring rolls made from scratch and dipping sauces that are also made from scratch.

Continued good luck in following your dreams!

[Roadman]

Our thai group here are always putting on large scale catering at our thai and ethnic events. We have it to a tee now for being able to move large volume meals (1000 in 2 hours), and having to work from limited space to strict hygiene standards. Some of the dishes mentioned above are delicate and take time and attention to be enjoyable so may be better prepared more to a resturant scenario.

After moving this way and that we have found that what we tend to move pretty easy is

Finger food - Fresh made spring rolls, Curry Puffs, Todman patties and as pointed out there is sweet chilli sauces.

BBQ chicken is excellent with some somtam (don't need Papaya if you haver either fresh cucumber or carrot) and sticky rice (hidden for the thai's and falangs who are a bit thai)

Mains - A choice of two curries, accomplished with steamed jasmine rice, and there is no accounting for some peoples taste but Pad Thai is easy to move.

If you are going to do a soup then a well seasoned and lightly brothed noodle soup (Guadio) with fresh veges and prawns, crab meat and fish balls is a winner. Try and find a food court in the western world that knows what brothed base in a soup is

And most of this can all be pre prepared.

[adjan jb]

Laab Isaan

Nam Tok Nuea

Phat Phet Moo Pa

Op Gai

Paneng Moo

Gai Neung

[Groongthep]

With maybe only one or two exceptions I like just about every choice that everyone has made so far but I think some of them might not meet your stipulation that the food need be "....prepped/cooked as fast as possible, so that a small staff could handle a lot of volume."

Keeping that in mind I believe all the curries like gaeng khiow waan, gaeng phet, gaeng kari, mussaman and penang, as well as soups like tom kha gai and tom yam can be prepared in advance and served quickly and should work well. Guitiow and ba mee noodles as well as laab mu/gai/neua can also be served up fast.

Some other items however, like pad kee mao and anything stir fried with vegetables and cashew nuts might overwhelm a small staff trying to serve a lot of people quickly though. Pad thai has fewer ingredients so it might work better.

In order to be good, som tam needs to be served right after it is prepared and therefore is probably not a good choice due to the length of time needed to make individual orders.

Whatever you finally decide on I hope your new business is successful. I really like (and appreciate) the fact that you want to keep the food authentic as possible.

Edited March 22, 2009 by Groongthep