A Day in a Thai Restaurant with Abby_91 Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. To begin the work day, we have to start with one of Thailand's trademark dishes, green curry, or Kaeng Khiao Wan. It's bright green from the use of green chilies, and its name tells of the curry's colour. What does the word 'Wan' mean?

Answer: Sweet

The name kaeng khiao wan literally stands for 'sweet green curry'. The term sweet however, is used to describe the colour, giving the meaning of "bright". The flavour of green curry is usually stronger in spice with a balance of saltiness and sweetness with a herbal whiff from the hot basil.

Red curries are milder compared to their green counterparts as it used dried red chilies, whilst the green curry uses fresh chilies.

2. I head to the kitchen and get some seafood, and here's a good one to start off. Wake up with some spice, called Pad Kee Mao Goong. Which of these is this dish's translated name?

Answer: Drunkard's Prawns

Drunkard's prawns is an extremely spicy concoction, with an interesting backstory. The story goes that a drunkard had a case of the munchies, and by chance had this dish that was so flavourful and hot from the chilies that it woke him up from his drunken stupor.

Normally it is stir fried with a relatively thick sauce. There are other variations to the dish, including fried noodles or with chicken.

3. Let's make things a little lighter and go for a soup. This one is white with coconut milk and chicken chunks inside. It is light, spicy, yet creamy in mouth feel.

Answer: Tom Kha Gai

Tom Kha Gai is a spicy coconut and chicken soup flavoured with galangal or blue ginger, kaffir lime leaf, Thai prick or chili, fish sauce, coconut milk, coriander and lime juice. Normally for garnish, we finish with a few drops of chili oil for contrast. A tip for all who want to try making this dish is to add the lime juice last, or else it will go bitter from the high heat.

4. Refresh yourself with this great salad, a nice bowl of Som Tum. It contains a tamarind salad dressing, dried prawns, garlic and lime juice, but this salad has a main ingredient. What is the star of the dish?

Answer: Green Papaya

Green, unripe papayas have a slight tang, but almost neutral in flavour. To get the flavour into the papaya strands, they need to be pounded in a pestle and mortar with the other ingredients to the salad. Green papaya is able to withstand the beating and retains that crunchy texture.

This is a very popular dish at the restaurant, and I pride myself for working at the salad and dessert station.

5. The wait staff has brought out a hybrid item. This pan is a centerpiece in the table, with a sloping dome in the center for grilling meats, whilst below that dome is a well or a moat, filled with soup stock. What kind of monster is this?

Answer: Mookata

Mookata, or Mu Kratha, is best described as a combination of a Korean barbecue in the center, and a Chinese steamboat surrounding the grill pan. All you do is grill meats on the center, and as the fat renders off, it drips into the soup to further enhance the flavour.

Mookata is big business in Malaysia and Singapore as well.

6. And now for something completely different, a deep fried noodle dish with a hot and spicy sauce lathered all over. This dish is enjoyed in Northern Thailand; which of the following fits this description?

Answer: Khao Soi

Khao Soi is a Northern Thai dish that is hot and savoury, with a coconut milk based chili sauce that covers the deep fried egg noodles. There are many variants to the dish depending on the region. In the East side of Northern Thailand, they use fresh rice noodles, making it similar to Laksa.

7. A hot, hot favourite of our customers is Phat Khaphrao, a wok fried minced pork dish served with a side of rice and fried egg. It's all about the herb for this dish though, and the secret is the Khaprao, and so I look at you and ask what it is.

Answer: Holy Basil

Holy Basil is a versatile herb, used in medicine to keep 'longevity', or as an insect repellent. But in this case, we are using it for Phat Khaphrao.

Typically, Phat Khaphrao involves meat or seafood stir fried with a thick, sweet sauce covering and finished with chili and the herb in question for the final touch of astringency to the dish. The most common meat used is minced pork, served together with rice and a fried egg on the side.

8. There's more meat to go for this meal, and this dish is a Thai adoption of Kung Pao Chicken, stir fried chicken with cashew nuts, or Kai Phat Met Mamuang Himmaphan. That's quite a mouthful isn't it? But that's not the question, the question here is which Chinese cuisine is the origin of this dish?

Answer: Szechuan

Szechuan cuisine is characterized by its use of hot or numbing spices, chili oil and occasionally fruit. Their most famous dishes include Mapo Tofu and Kung Pao Chicken. Kung Pao Chicken's main backbone is the Szechuan peppercorn, which gives it that distinctive tingling and numbing feel to the tongue. It typically includes dried chilies, peanuts or cashew nuts, onions and scallions.

Thai Style Chicken with Cashew Nuts is not as spicy as its Szechuan cousin, leaning more towards the sweet side, and the dried chili acts more of a garnish than a main flavour component.

9. There's plenty of rice here, we cook loads of rice everyday for plain rice eaters and of course, khao phat or fried rice. One style of fried rice is Khao Phat American, which contains hot dogs, eggs and bacon. But there is one more element to it, a condiment that goes with hot dogs. Which one is fried with the rice?

Answer: Ketchup

The ingredients of Khao Phat American are seen by the Thai people as the stereotypical items of America, thus the name of the dish. It is usually bright red from the ketchup and somewhat sweet and salty.

There are many other variations to khao phat, most famous being Pineapple Rice. Pineapple Rice includes turmeric powder to give it that trademark yellow colour and is served with raisins, cashew nuts and pork or chicken floss.

10. Let's finish with dessert, something rich with a sweet fruit on the side. We call it Khao Niao Mamuang, though in English, its best known as what?

Answer: Mango Sticky Rice

An ever popular dessert, Mango Sticky Rice is a simple combo of glutenous rice cooked with coconut milk, salt and palm sugar, and sliced ripe mangoes. Traditionally the dish is best served warm or at room temperature, but I find the best when the rice is piping hot with cold mango on the side for an amazing contrast.

Source: Author Abby_91

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor WesleyCrusher before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

I work in a Thai restaurant as a young intern, and it has only made me want to learn more about this amazing cuisine. Come with me and see the dishes we bring to life everyday, a truly authentic taste.

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