The Most Delicious Seafood Dishes You Need to Try in Thailand

This recipe is one of the most memorable dishes in Thailand, and it is also the national dish. Palm sugar makes it sweet; added tamarind adds a bit of sourness, and the country’s famous Thai chili gives it a spicy kick. Pad Thai is seemingly not complete without added prawns, though it can be made vegetarian. Lastly, an egg is added, which gives the staple dish both texture and flavor. Visitors will find people making pad Thai in woks around the country, and many locals can prepare the dish in minutes.

Tom yum goong is one of the most famous dishes in all of Thailand, and many of its neighboring countries even serve it. The soup, more popularly known in its Thai version than in English, is most commonly made with shrimp and is spicy because of the added Thai chilies. Kaffir leaves are one of the most important ingredients, making it a difficult dish to master for those outside of Thailand, as it is a seemingly tough ingredient to find in other countries.

Thai-style red curry is the perfect combination of spicy and sweet. Originating from central Thailand, red curry with pineapple and prawns is milder than other red curries because of the added pieces of sliced pineapple. This dish also features coconut milk, which adds both sweetness and texture to the delectable recipe. It is best made with a type of seafood, though locals seem to prefer prawns.

Though not the healthiest of dishes, deep-fried prawn patties are certainly one of the most delicious of Thai meals. It is versatile in that it can be an appetizer or a main course. The main ingredients needed to make these deep-fried patties are prawns, red curry paste, some type of vegetable, and an assortment of herbs. Usually, a cucumber sauce that is both sour and sweet accompanies the dish, with sweet chili sauce being another option.

Papaya salad is a staple dish of those who live in Issan, the northeast region of Thailand. It is also one of the most unique meals in the entire country and features garlic, fish sauce, sugar, lime, and tamarind juice. There are many different versions of this salad, though it is most popularly made with dried shrimp; however, others may opt for salted crab. Either way, visitors cannot go wrong ordering this particular seafood dish.

Panang curry is a bit milder than its other curry counterparts in Thailand. It is for this reason that it remains a popular dish amongst tourists who fear of ordering a meal that might be too spicy to devour. Panang curry normally comes with shrimp, or goong, though it can be vegetarian or served with other types of meat. It is served over steamed rice.

Many of the most popular dishes originating in Southern Thailand have turmeric in their recipes. It is a plant of the ginger family and makes whatever it is paired with incredibly flavorful, including pla tod kamin, or turmeric fried fish. The recipe calls for turmeric and garlic ground together with a mortar and pestle. It flavors the fish, which is later deep-fried until it is incredibly crisp and golden brown.