khai jeaw with rice

Khai Jiaw may be translated as fried eggs (khai = eggs and jiaw = fried) or Thai-style scrambled eggs. It probably is the simplest Thai dish in terms of ingredients and ease of preparing.  Even kids can prepare it for themselves. But it surely is the most popular Thai dish among Thais, especially kids to the extent when Thais have gone abroad for a few days, they would probably ask for Khai Jiaw in their first meal after returning to Thailand.

Durian is an excellent fruit, but offensive to some people’s noses, for it smells very like human excrement, but when once tasted, the smell vanishes.”

Taste
The fruit’s taste is delicate, sweet-acid, and the pulp seems to melt in the mouth. But it leaves the same sort of aftertaste as chewing on a whole clove-of garlic. English novelist Anthony Burgess, in fact, has said that dining on durian is a lot like eating vanilla custard in a latrine.

Smell
The smell of the inside of the durian is so strong that some hotels bar guests from bringing it into their hotel room. It can be smelled from yards away. Apparently this fruit is notorious for it’s bad smell, to the point where it is actually banned in some public places. But durian lovers � and there are many, at least in Asia � are convinced that like fine French cheeses, the worse the smell, the better the taste.

Nutritional Value
The durian is high in fiber, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and vitamins. The durian is also said to have heating qualities, which keep its eaters warm at night. Durian is not recommended for consuming with alcoholic beverages, as the combination of natural substances is a powerful producer of internal gas. Durian is probably one of the most nutritious fresh fruit. It’s also rumored that durian is a tonic to the lungs and digestive system.

Varieties
Although durian is grown all over Southeast Asia, many durian fans will agree that Thai durians are the best in the world. The Thai variety of cultivated durian is very large, as big as an American football. The most popular variety is called “Mon Thong”, literally “Golden Pillow”. A slightly stronger tasting and less fleshy Thai variety of durian is Chanee. The most delicate in taste, less smell, rare and more expensive variety is Garn Yao.

In Thailand, durian is one of the fruits with the highest export value. Besides consumption as a fresh fruit, durian is also processed into various products such as chips, French fries, sugary cakes, candies and a flavoring powder in ice cream, biscuits, and others including a main ingredient of Thai cuisine recipes. The thrill of the Thai durian is a different pleasure than wild Indiana blackberries, an annual rite of summer.

Nampla wan is then served with sour, green, crispy mango sliced into small thin pieces. This makes up this dish of “mamuang nampla wan”. Dip mango slices into the sauce, eat and enjoy the three main tastes of sweet, sour and salty make a delicate fight in your mouth. Many Thais, especially female, will be salivating only to hear someone mentions “mamuang nampla wan”. It is usually enjoyed as a kind of snack among friends.

You are not likely to find this dish in any Thai restaurant outside Thailand. So, on your next trip to Thailand, don’t forget to try it out. It will be a pretty strong and memorable experience.

After rice is served and a few dishes of kab kao arrive, you then take a small portion of one of the dishes close to you and put it on your plate. Usually serving spoons or “chon glang” are provided. After trying a dish, you see what else looks good and try that. And so on through the meal. No one hogs a dish or overeats one item – there is care taken that food is truly shared. The dishes may be passed around the table or you just reach out for them, or someone may serve you. Food is eaten slowly and tastes savored and the sharing of food with others is part of the enjoyment.

What is the correct way to deal with this. Well Thai dishes are always served with rice. So, the trick is don’t enjoy each dish separately. A soothing mouthful of rice once after every a few spoons of dishes will not only enhance the taste of the spicy Thai cuisine but also prevent your tongue from getting bombarded by chillies and other spices. But if you happen to accumulate unbearable heat on your tongue, take some candy or something sweet even a sugar cube. Leave it in your mouth as long as possible. And, remember, no water!

SIDEBAR
A friend of mine told me the other day that chewing banana will help remove the sting of heat from your tongue inferno too. You can find banana everywhere all year round in Thailand, so this may be a more natural cure.