7-Day Thailand
Itinerary

Pad Thai

Thailand's most internationally recognisable dish: rice noodles stir-fried in a screaming wok with dried shrimp, tofu, egg, bean sprouts and spring onion in a sauce of tamarind pulp, fish sauce and palm sugar; finished tableside with a squeeze of lime, ground peanuts, dried chilli flakes and a sliver of banana blossom; the best versions are cooked in the smallest woks over the most violent flames in Bangkok.

Tom Yum Goong

Thailand's most internationally famous soup: a clear, fierce broth of galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, chilli and lime juice with whole prawns; the balance of the four flavours (hot, sour, salty, fragrant) must be simultaneous and equal; the creamy version (tom yum nam khon) adds evaporated milk; the clear version (tom yum nam sai) is brighter and more intense.

Green Curry (Gaeng Keow Wan)

Thailand's most complex curry: a paste of green bird's eye chillies, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime zest, coriander root, shrimp paste and white pepper ground by hand with a granite mortar; fried in coconut cream until it splits and the oils emerge, then simmered with the remaining coconut milk, Thai basil, aubergine and chicken or fish balls; the colour should be deep moss-green, not bright lime.

Som Tum (Green Papaya Salad)

Thailand's most eaten dish and the defining food of Isaan cuisine: julienned unripe papaya bruised in a clay mortar with palm sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, chilli, dried shrimp and cherry tomatoes; the pounding is not grinding but bruising, to open the papaya's fibres; som tum Thai uses peanuts; som tum pla ra (with fermented fish sauce) is the original and most pungent version.

Massaman Curry

Thailand's most spice-traded curry: a rich, mild, Indian-influenced preparation of beef or chicken in a coconut milk broth with potatoes, onion and roasted peanuts; the paste of dried Kashmiri chillies, star anise, cinnamon, cardamom and cumin reflects centuries of Muslim southern Thai cooking; voted CNN's most delicious food in the world in 2011.

Mango Sticky Rice

Thailand's most universally beloved dessert: warm glutinous rice cooked in sweet salted coconut cream, served beside ripe yellow-gold Nam Dok Mai mango slices with a separate drizzle of thick coconut sauce and a scattering of toasted mung beans; only available during mango season (April to June); the combination of sweet, salty, warm rice and cold, fragrant mango is a perfect contrast.