I fell in love with Thai food on my first try. Lucky for me there are several very near me in Houston.
There is a broad range of Thai food. I like really spicy Chinese food, but there have been Thai dishes I could not eat because of their heat. I had dinner with a group of friends at a Thai restaurant in Bethesda MD, and one of the dishes was a whole flounder smothered in green chiles. That one was painful. Then there are some THai restaurants where the strongest spice is basil. When it's that mild, I prefer Thai over Chinese because Thai food is much lighter...there's no "Special Brown Sauce."
During a holiday, I was introduced to an Italian manager of a chain of Asian restaurants. Then I tried a Thai dish in one of these restaurants. It was a vegetarian one with rice, which was good but very spicy. What meat dish would you recommend to a beginner like me?
I LOVE Thai food! As for spiciness, I'm very sensitive to spicy food, so I always ask how "hot" the dish is and ask if they can make it milder. Usually, they can. If they can't, I just choose something else. When I'm down with a cold or the flu, I MUST have a big bowl of Tom Kha Gai soup. Just like chicken noodle soup is called Jewish penicillin, Tom Kha Gai soup is Thai decongestant.
We have a small Japanese restaurant that serves a couple of Thai entrees that I like. I make a stir fry of veggies and some chicken with a sauce of coconut milk and peanut butter with some heat when I need some Thai as we don't eat out much any more.
@Mary Stetler: I must admit that I don't eat peanut butter very often. That's because it doesn't have the same tradition here as it does for you. But a stir-fry with chicken, vegetables, coconut milk and peanut butter might be something for me. I'll see if I can find it nearby. If not, I can try to cook it. @Mary Robi: I don't like to leave home when I'm sick. But I’ll look for a recipe for this Tom Kha Gai soup.
That stir fry imitating thai is the only time I eat peanut butter. I don't really like it in or on anything else.
Well, we seem to be on the same wavelength about peanut butter. But did I understand correctly over the years that it is very popular in the USA? Or is that just a stereotype? Anyway, I imagine it combines very well with this dish.
I don't know of anyone who hasn't had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich especially in a school lunch (1950's-60's). I am in the USA. some people here eat it by the spoonful. But lately they are finding some kids deathly allergic. Not sure what has changed. Kids or pesticides or molds from storage....