Flowers play an integral part in Thai cuisine by serving as a key ingredient and decoration for the dish itself. Flowers present a visual aesthetic, flavor and smell which are unique. Some flower menus are very healthy. We will introduce four Thai food menus that use flowers as the main ingredient. Every dish is enticingly delicious.
1. Khao Yam: Southern Thai Rice Salad with Heavenly Taste
Thai flower: Torch Ginger
Thailand’s Southern region is known for its unique cooking style featuring vegetables and herbs such as Torch Ginger, an orange-red flower that has a distinctly astringent sour taste. It has medicinal properties that help expel gas, relieve bloating and nourish skin. Torch Ginger is an important ingredient in the famous Khao Yam dish of Southern Thailand. This traditional menu uses a plethora of diced vegetables and shredded herbs such as young kaffir lime leaves, cha-plu leaves, yardlong beans, lemon grass and torch ginger to give different scents and flavors. The juice of the butterfly pea flower is infused into the rice component to achieve beautiful purple color. Also included are young peppercorns, bean sprouts, ground-up roasted dried shrimp and seasonal sour tasting fruits such as Taling Pling, fresh tamarind or the Bao mango. Other ingredients include roasted coconut, stir-fried rice noodles with coconut milk, puffed rice, chili powder and the ubiquitous Budu juice [a southern condiment poured onto the dish in generous amounts] made from fermented fish with salt. Mix everything together and you will have authentic southern Khao Yam dish. It is delicious and known to increase balance and immunity for the body.
