Dining Out in Thailand Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tom Yam Goong

Tom yam, or tom yum, is a generic hot and sour soup. The word 'tom' refers to the fact that the ingredients are boiled, and the 'yam' to the mixture of herb and spice flavours found in this soup. The last word, 'goong', tells you that the meat in this soup will be shellfish, usually shrimp. Tom yam soups usually contain a protein, the nature of which is indicated by the last word - tom yam kai (or gai), for example, contains chicken.

Tom yam stock is made starting with a spice paste prepared from roasted chilies, shallots and garlic. The herbs that are added vary from cook to cook, but typically include lenongrass, galangal (a rhizome that looks like ginger, but has a sharp citrus flavour) and kaffir lime leaves to start; fish sauce, lime juice and crushed chilies are also common additions. Chopped coriander leaves are usually sprinkled over the top just before serving.

If you prefer to have coconut milk added to the soup, keep your eyes out for tom kha - tom kha gai (which includes chicken) is another popular and readily available Thai soup.

Answer: Pad Thai

This is a dish you are more likely to find in a street stall, or at a casual dining place, than in a top-end restaurant. Dried rise noodles are soaked to soften them, then rapidly stir-fried with eggs and tofu cubes. The flavour will depend on the chef's preferences, but tamarind pulp commonly dds a sour twist to the mixture.

Other flavouring ingredients may include fish sauce (or soy sauce), chili, dried shrimp and palm sugar. Vegetables such as bean sprouts and pickled root vegetables add texture, and small amounts of finely-chopped protein (shrimp, crab, fish, chicken, etc.) are optional additions for non-vegetarian versions.

Answer: Khao Phat

'Khao' is Thai for rice, and 'phat' describes something that has been stir-fried. This is a traditional style of fried rice from central Thailand, whose main distinguishing characteristic is that it uses jasmine rice, whose fragrance adds to the complexity of the dish, instead of the standard long-grain rice used for other styles of fried rice.

Other than that, there is so much variation from place to place that one cannot be prescriptive about the ingredients. There is often some kind of meat, eggs, onions, garlic, and fish sauce (nam pla). If you are being served in a restaurant, you will likely find it accompanied by slices of tomato and cucumber, wedges of lime, and garnished with coriander and/or spring onion.

Answer: Som Tam Thai

The som tam style of salad can be found all over southeast Asia, with different names. It is based on grated and pounded green papaya. The names in different languages refer to the sour taste and the pounding in a mortar and pestle that is traditionally involved in its preparation.

The ingredients being combined include the five main tastes of Thai cuisine: sour (lime), hot (chili), salt, savory (fish sauce) and sweet (palm sugar). Other ingredients, of course, can also be included. The full name of the dish will indicate what they are. Som tam thai includes peanuts and dried shrimp; som tam pla ra has salted fish, green beans and white eggplant; som tam pu is flavoured by the inclusion of pickled crab.

Answer: Yam Wun Sen

'Wun sen' is the Thai term for glass or cellophane noodles, a transparent noodle made from starch such as mung bean or potato starch, widely used in Asian cuisines. The 'yam' in the name tells you that this is going to be a spicy salad with a distinctly sour taste.

The sourness comes from the dressing, which typically includes lime juice, shallots, fish sauce, pulped tomato, chilies, Thai celery, and a bit of sugar. If you add some shrimp to the salad, you will have yam wun sen goong. The same dressing can be used in preparing a cold meat salad - very popular in Thai cuisine - with the name indicating the type of meat: yam nuea used beef, yam thale would have some kind of fish, etc.

Answer: Nam Tok Mu

'Nam tok' is a northeastern Thai meat salad whose name means waterfall. This is thought to be a reference to the juices from the meat, either those it produces as it is cooked, or those that emerge as it is thinly sliced while medium rare. The 'mu' in its name tells you that this salad is made from pork, but beef is also commonly used.

After the meat has been grilled or roasted and sliced thinly, it is dressed with a sauce that contains the familiar blend of flavours: lime juice, shallots, chili, fish sauce and ground roasted rice. Garnishes are likely to include coriander and mint leaves, and spring onions.

Answer: Larb

This is often considered one of the national dishes of Laos, but it is popular in the north of Thailand, especially among the ethnic Hmong. Tourists often treat it warily due to the fact that the meat may well be raw, but it is also sometimes cooked after the mixture has been prepared.

The minced meat can be almost anything - fish, fowl, beef, pork - and vegetarian versions substitute mushroom. In the Laotian version, the mince is flavoured with fish sauce, lime juice and roasted ground rice before being mixed mixed with chili and mint (and other fresh herbs as available).

The northern Thai version has quite a different flavour, because it does not include the fish sauce and lime juice, replacing them with a mixture of spices that includes cumin, cloves, star anise, cinnamon, and more whose names will not be familiar outside the local area. (You can buy pre-mixed larb spicing, if you want to prepare this at home and do not have access to, for example, prickly ash seeds.) The salad is served at room temperature, usually accompanied by glutinous rice.

Answer: Massaman Curry

The word 'massaman' is derived from 'Musselman', a former term used to describe Muslims. This curry is attributed to Muslim influences (from Persia, India or Malaysia, depending on your source), and it is more like an Indian curry than most Thai curries. Roasted dried spices (including cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander seed, cumin, bay leaves, star anise, mace and nutmeg) are combined with some ingredients used in other curries such as chili, lemongrass, galangal, pepper, shallots, garlic and shrimp paste to form the massaman curry paste. Preparation of the dish starts with frying the paste with coconut cream, then adding the meat (almost anything, but traditionally not pork, which is forbidden to Muslims), potatoes, onions, fish sauce, tamarind paste, palm sugar and coconut milk, which is then simmered to allow the flavours to blend. Peanuts are often thrown in near the end.

Answer: Green Curry

The Thai name for this is 'kaeng khiao wan', which literally means sweet green curry - but it can be very hot! The sweet green refers to the light green colour that is typical. It is made with a paste of fresh green chilies and Thai basil, ground in a mortar and pestle with shallots, garlic, galangal, lemmongrass, kaffir lime peel, coriander root, cumin seeds, peppercorns and shrimp paste. (Of course, you can buy a pre-made paste, but their quality can be quite variable. Most commercial pastes are much milder than the traditional Thai paste.) This mixture is then fried in coconut cream before the rest of the ingredients are added and simmered.

The curry can include any type of meat, in small pieces or minced and formed into balls, and the sauce always includes coconut milk, which helps to cut the heat of the chili.

Answer: Red Curry

The Thai name for this dish, 'kaeng phet', means spicy curry, but the spiciness depends on the chef. Like green curry, it is a coconut curry, whose sauce is made from a paste that features dried red chilies instead of the green ones in a green curry paste.

The rest of the process of preparing the curry is pretty much the same. On a menu, the protein being used will be included, if you know what they mean: kaeng phet nuea (beef), kaeng phet kai (chicken) kaeng phet mu (pork), kaenf phet pet (duck), kaeng phet taohu (tofu), kaeng phet pla (fish), kaeng phet kha (egg), kaeng phet pla (fish) and so on.