You must have the vegetables of Thailand
With a nod to the advertising slogan that Martine Bijl once used about the vegetables from Hak preserves, I am going to tell you something about the vegetables in Thailand. If you know Thai cuisine a bit, you know that the range of Thai vegetables is very large and are often used in or with Thai dishes.
For example, we are talking about cabbage varieties such as “pak kaad khao” (Chinese cabbage), “pak kwang toeng” (bok choy), beans such as “tua fak jao” (garter beans), “tua lan tao” (pea pods), “tua njoh” (bean sprouts), “teng kwa” (cucumber) and “makheua theet” (tomato).
Most of these are also available in the Netherlands and are not typically Thai. Below are a number of vegetables, which are full of vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients to add color and flavor to a healthy Thai meal.
Acacia Leaf or Bai Cha Om
This long, slender and slightly feathery-looking leaf can be eaten raw or cooked. When raw, the leaf has an unpleasant smell, which is why the Thais nicknamed it "smelly leaf". Bai Cha Om is used in soups, curries and stir fries, but it is especially popular in omelettes. When it is cooked, the odor is eliminated and the taste is warm, nutty and fragrant. The acacia leaf contains proteins, vitamins B1 and C, and beta-carotene. It is also said that eating this leaf cools the body and any flatulence will decrease.
Acacia Leaf or Bai Cha Om
Asian Chives or Gooey Chai
A long, flat, grassy leaf from the garlic and onion family. It has a stronger taste than the chives we know, where the garlic flavor is clearly present. It is used in Thai salads, soups and stir-fries, but also as a garnish for other dishes. Asian chives add vitamins A, C, E and K to your diet, along with the minerals potassium, niacin and riboflavin.
Bamboo shoots or Nor Maai
Bamboo is the tallest member of the grass family. A bamboo shoot is the only edible part of the bamboo plant, it is the sprout that grows from a mature stem. It has a nutty flavor and is usually used in Thai soups and curries. The health benefits of the bamboo shoot is the fact that it is high in dietary fiber and low in calories. The bamboo shoot contains a large number of nutrients such as vitamins A, B6 and E, as well as thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc, copper, manganese, selenium and iron.
Bamboo shoots or Nor Maai
Cherry Eggplant or Makhuea Phuaeng
The pea-shaped, green cherry eggplant is common in Thai yellow, red and green curries. The small round Makhuea Phuang is tender when cooked and has a slightly bitter taste. This particular Thai vegetable is touted to eliminate stomach ache in digestion and promotes stopping constipation. The cherry eggplant would also prevent or cure a cold.
Chinese Celery or Keun Chai
With thinner, more green stems, Chinese celery looks different from celery as we know it and tastes and smells different too. When used raw in spicy Thai salads, the aroma is more intense, the texture drier and the taste pungent, bitter and peppery. However, when cooked with steamed fish dishes, soups, stir-fries and stews, the bitter taste becomes sweet and the pungent smell becomes much more pleasant. Celery contains numerous antioxidants and anti-inflammatory elements, so it is particularly good for digestion. In addition, celery contains a significant amount of potassium and it is said that eating celery is good for people who suffer from gout and rheumatism.
Cherry Eggplant or Makhuea Phuaeng
Chinese broccoli or Pak Kha Na
Similar to, but tastier than cabbage and leafy lettuce, this leafy green vegetable is used as a key ingredient in many Thai noodle and stir-fried dishes. Chinese broccoli is an excellent source of vitamins A and K, and is rich in vitamin C, vital for your body to maintain a strong immune system. It is low in calories and rich in dietary fiber and folic acid. Chinese cabbage has a high level of sulfur compounds, which help remove unwanted substances and detoxify the body.
Chinese eggplant or Makhuea Muang
Also known as purple eggplant, the Chinese eggplant is longer and slimmer than the other varieties of this vegetable. It has a sweet taste after cooking and is mainly used in Thai vegetable stir-fries, soups and stews. The purple skin contains many antioxidants and the eggplant also contains vitamins B1, B3 and B6, potassium, magnesium and manganese. Magnesium is essential for the human body to keep the nervous system and heart functioning normally and it eliminates harmful bacteria from the immune system.
These are just a few examples of healthy and fresh vegetables available in Thailand. It goes too far to list all vegetables here, for a nice and extensive overview I recommend looking at: http://www.supatra.com/pages/thaiveggies2.html
Source: Pattaya Trader
Hi gringo,
I often make “keng khiau waan gai” myself, (chicken green curry),
Pretty easy to make (several ways are on you tube)
and you can get all the ingredients at the toko.,
I always come to ” Wah nam hong” in amsterdam compared to “makro”.
this also includes the cherry eggplant.
But also the Thai eggplant, which is about 3/4 centimeter in diameter, and striped.
this one is also available in the toko, however…. they are a bit on the expensive side here!…:(.
In Thailand they are something like 30 b de kilo! And here, I thought of 4 euros a pack of 6 …. !
Well, you can also use the regular purple eggplant, but yes, you want it original,
possible huh…
So I wonder why these things are so much more expensive here.
Surely they will be a little more expensive here, but such a big difference!?.
Will they be flown in!? (Bussines class ;)?, Can't they be grown here? (In greenhouses?).
Happy Sunday everyone. Ron.
Why is the purple eggplant so much more expensive here Ron? I'll tell you that. Must be imported. Personnel in the Netherlands is more expensive. Rent in the Netherlands is more expensive. Taxes in the Netherlands, Electricity costs to keep the eggplants in refrigerators. If this is not passed on, you will never be able to buy anything in the toko again, because they will go bankrupt!
Didn't like the eggplant or its family at all, until my wife made an omelette out of it. Has become one of my favorite dishes with rice and fresh chillies!
Hi Ron, this year I started an experiment to grow Thai aubergines in a greenhouse, namely small round white ones with purple stripes and white ones. it works but they need a lot of heat so I already have a number of them hanging on the plants, not yet consumed. I also have a plant in it with yellow mutations and I will give it to the entrepreneur where I bought the seed, maybe he can do something with it. So it is possible to grow Thai eggplants here in NL and maybe there is a professional grower who wants to start this.
GS
Avocados are not very popular in Thailand. You don't find them easily in the store, they are expensive (about 80 baht each) and usually rock hard. Last month I saw Thai avocados in the Makro packed in bags of 5, about 20 bath each. At that price I would like to try them. They were quite hard and I let them rest at room temperature for a few days. After 4 days they had become tender and with a vinaigrette sauce I think it's a fresh and delicious dish. Once ripe you have to eat because they quickly turn brown and start to rot. There are plenty of recipes with avocados and prawns in cocktail sauce or a can of tuna mixed with mayonnaise.
It is important that the avocado is one of the most healthy and nutritious fruits that exists
• An avocado is good for your heart: The good fats protect your heart and blood vessels because they fight the cholesterol in your body. They lower the bad cholesterol LDL and increase the good cholesterol HDL in your blood.
• Avocado protects men against prostate problems: Studies show that the substance beta-sitosterol, which is abundant in avocado, has a good effect on your prostate and protects you against prostate diseases.
• Avocado allows vitamins to be absorbed better: A number of vitamins (including vitamins A, E, K) are better absorbed when they are eaten in combination with fats. For example, adding an avocado to a salad helps the body absorb vitamins.
Conclusion
Avocados are rightly one of nature's most nutritious fruits (and vegetables). The good fats that an avocado contains are indispensable and ensure that you live longer and healthier.
I always get my avocados from the market on Boon Katchana Rd. Fine quality and 80 Bt. per kilo.
Have found that parsley is hard to find in Thailand, at least Khon Kaen. Finally found. It is also called parsley, so the English name. Good for high blood pressure, but Thais don't know it or don't like it.
Morning Jacob,
It also took me a century to find the common parsley.
Said to me pak chee farang.
No, I say, that's a kind of coriander.
Parsley – grab chee itali or chin chai. (if I spell it right)
LOUISE
I can find it here in Hua Hin at the Makro, Lotus, sometimes even in the market in town. Maybe in Khon Khaen it's harder to find it. Here there are many western restaurants using it,
I miss morning glory
Isn't that very Thai and not available in NL?!
Dear,
During the summer it is available here in Belgium: see it regularly offered for sale at the Sunday morning market in Heist op den Berg. Go and get it elsewhere (namely a passionate grower who has started experimenting but has not yet put a product on sale). Will let you know as soon as it's available for sale there too.
Tasty
My wife brought a bag full of Thai vegetable seeds when she came back in March.
Here at home in the vegetable garden we have 2 greenhouses, the largest of which (3x6m) has been transformed into a Thai vegetable jungle. Handy when she starts cooking, shopping in the garden and everything fresh. Even the water spinach (phak bung); delicious with an omelette. By the way, you can grow the small eggplant plants perfectly in pots. I don't understand how she gets it done, but even the papaya seeds she had have now sprouted and next year we can enjoy our own som tam. In addition, we are so sure that all the vegetables are free of pesticides. Marrying at her home in Thailand is not used either, not in the vegetable garden and not on the rice fields.
Nice article Gringo.
A question from me. Has anyone in Thailand ever bought or seen leeks as we know them in the Netherlands? I don't mean those oversized spring onions that look something like it, but are really quite different.
@ TH:NL. Personally, yes in Foodland Pattaya.
Macro
Yes, in Tops supermarket – and this even in Sakun Nakhon, in the heart of Isaan.
So must be available in the tourist centers like BKK, Pattaya and other places….
Immediately made old-fashioned leek soup of course 🙂
even here in Chumphon at Makro there is a regular sale of real leeks. Is there along with the parsley. It is close to the imported vegetables and not "terribly" expensive.
The leek can usually always be found in Big c or Macro in udon thani cheap also in villa market but
Much more expensive
all supermarkets in chiang mai have leeks, the same large plants as in the Netherlands.
Yep also for sale at the Makro in Huahin. The English name (Leek) is included but must say that it is not always present. Sprouts are also regular.
Here in Hua Hin they have it at the Makro, Lotus, and Gourmet Market.
Morning Gringo,
Very good.
Thanks for these.
Another tool to bring back the play/mime play to the market in 2 instead of 10 parts.
They do not understand the English name, except for a few.
I must honestly say that I am also sometimes in a dent when someone says that she knows and comes up with something completely different.
Within no time tig ladies around you who all almost pee in their pants.
Also has its charm.
LOUISE
addition to this information
Agricultural and horticultural products
Investigations have been carried out by several agencies that showed that
pesticide residues have been found in 35 percent of the products!
Pesticides are still widely used in Thailand
which are banned worldwide (even in Africa, among others), these means are also through
washing it does not remove it!
So everything is not always what it seems, although it looks nice!
The white with slightly green stripes has been grown en masse in greenhouses or tunnels in recent years. Usually by Thai ladies with a falang farmer for a man. I grow them in large pots outside. Last year was a top year.
You should definitely not have the Vegetable of Thaland. It contains so much pesticide that is not really beneficial for health. Many countries therefore do not import vegetables and certain crops from Thailand.
Singapore is one of them that carries out strict control.
GROW(S)TE FROM THAILAND
read://https_www.nationthailand.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationthailand.com%2Fpr
Read here how the US blackmailed the government of Thailand through its Thai consulate
next: allow dangerous pesticides after all. These were paraquat, glyphosate and chlorpyrifos.
Despite the intensive lobbying of the pesticide industry, the Thai Committee for Hazardous Products had decided to ban these pesticides.
The US then threatened huge compensation demands for losses suffered and threatened an import ban on products vital to Thailand's economy, which ran into the billions of dollars.
Ultimately, only the carcinogenic glyphosate is allowed due to the interests of the producer Monsanto/Bayer.
Incidentally, the EU has also allowed this product in the form of the weed killer Roundup for the next 5 years.
My favorite is the Chinese Broccoli. Also available in the Netherlands. Delicious in the Phat Sieeuw. And I don't think too much about those pesticides. What do you think is used in Dutch strawberry cultivation!.
the link to the vegetables is no longer correct and has now been adjusted to
https://www.supatra.com/ThaiVegetableGuide.html