Traditional Thai cuisine is known as an incredible mix of incompatible things and hard to remember exotic names. It gained a world-wide reputation for the unusual spicy and sweet-and-sour taste of the dishes and their significant aroma. And though Thai cooking has been changing over the years due to the outside influences, especially from China and the West, major typical methods and essential basic ingredients still remain the same as they were centuries ago.

Almost all Thai dishes are cooked with fresh ingredients, including vegetables, poultry, meat and seafood. Fish sauce and shrimp paste are traditionally used instead of salt. Main ingredients include plenty of lime juice and lemongrass, garlic, Thai chilies, coconut milk, galanga, black pepper, tamarind juice, palm sugar and basil.

Lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves are present in almost all Thai dishes, giving them minty and citrus fragrance and that specific “Thai” sourish taste. Sauces and curries usually contain lots of garlic and chilies of different types. Galanga (or galanga root), which is a kind of ginger, interacts well with other ingredients. It gives lightly acid taste and helps reduce the smell of meat. Coconut milk is a base to almost all Thai food – be it a meat course or a dessert.

Although sweet and sour are two main tastes Thai cuisine is associated with, the idea is actually to balance five basic tastes – sweet, sour, salty, bitter and fiery. Every self-respecting Thai cook will make sure that they all are present in the dish in various proportions.

A staple dish not only in Thailand but all across Asia is rice. It is an essential part of any meal and is highly respected by Thais, who have numerous rice varieties to choose from and can be very picky about the “right” kind of rice and its “proper” cooking. Jasmine fragrant rice is the finest quality Thai rice, known for its sweet inviting aroma when cooked. Oftentimes rice is served to soften the fiery taste of dishes. Even if it is not mentioned in the menu, it almost invariably comes along with a dish.

Traditional Thai cooking methods include grilling, boiling or stewing, and baking. “Yam” can be counted as one more method of cooking; it is basically a kind of salad, though very different from the western type. Usually it is a mixture of green papaya, fish sauce, lemon juice, chili and garlic along with small shrimps or minced pork/beef. Chinese quick-frying method has become very popular, and an extensive use of noodles in Thai recipes appeared thank to the same influence.

Various Tom Yams – a kind of a spicy sweet-and-sour soup – have become a visiting card of Thai cuisine. Different Thai curries – water- or coconut milk-based – are cooked rather quickly in comparison with Indian curries and are also very popular.

If the food is plain, that is cooked without any spices and even salt, it is served with sauces and condiments, which usually give different flavors to the same dish. Some can be sweet and sour, others are very pungent and spicy. One more peculiarity of traditional Thai cuisine is a small size of the food pieces. Big chunks are inappropriate and should be cut into small pieces, shredded or minced.

Most Thai sweet dishes are based on fruit, some vegetables (like sweet potato), coconut milk and sticky rice. A lot of them come with extremely sweet and flavored syrup. Traditional drinks include fruit juices with a pinch of salt, filtered coffee and a Chinese-style weak tea. Among spirits rice whisky is a big favorite.

The guiding principle of any Thai food is harmony in tastes and textures within individual dishes and the entire meal.

And after your Thai meal take a break from tradition and have a sweet decorated with a cupcake topper.