EATING OUT IN A THAI RESTAURANT
Thai restaurants are
Mary’s favorite place to eat out of the house. She loves the curry
flavors, the flavorful vegetables, and the “light feeling” about the whole
meal. Curry is not John’s favorite, but he always knows a suggestion to
eat Thai will make Mary happy. When we left Hawaii in 1987, one of Mary’s
biggest regrets was no longer being able to eat at her favorite Thai
restaurant, Mekong, in Honolulu. We are fortunate now to live in Northern
California with an abundance of interesting ethnic restaurants. In our
town in Sonoma County we have several Thai restaurants offering delicious
“McDougall style” choices right on their menu.
Our favorite restaurant in
Santa Rosa is called California Thai. They serve 26 “McDougall style”
dishes on their menu (all of them very delicious) – and these dishes are
very popular with vegetarians, as well as non-vegetarians. During our
10-day live-in program, one of the favorite “eating out experiences” is at
this Thai restaurant. Before we go people tell us that they have been
afraid to try Thai foods because of the spice. They are always pleasantly
surprised to find that Thai food doesn’t have to be spicy to be
delicious.
Thai menus always have a
section of vegetarian selections; some are more extensive than others.
Thai restaurants also cook food to order, and most dishes are not prepared
ahead of time, so you can order your food the way you like. Don’t be
afraid to insist on no animal products – and no added oil.
Start by looking for vegetarian items, at least there is no meat, chicken,
fish, or seafood here. Thai places do not use much dairy, except in Chai
(a drink), which usually contains cow-milk. The other ingredient you have
to pay attention to is the coconut milk. Coconut milk is high in
saturated fat, and because this is fattening and raises cholesterol, you
may want to avoid it. The second thing to focus your attention on is the
vegetable oil used in almost all the cooking. Request your food be cooked
with no oil (or “as little oil as possible,” – a phrase which often gets
lost in the translation to the cook). Your server can check with the
kitchen to find out which dishes are best to make oil-free.
Since your Thai dish is
cooked to order, you have an opportunity to choose mild, medium or very
spicy. The hot spice comes from chili added during cooking. I would
suggest if you are new to Thai restaurants in general, or this is a new
restaurant for you, order mild, or at most medium. You can always add
spice from the chili jar found on your table.
Start with the appetizers
section on the menu – look for fresh items, not deep-fried – like some
type of Spring Rolls or Fresh Veggie Rolls. These are
served cold and made with fresh vegetables, sprouts, herbs, sometimes
tofu, and wrapped in a thin rice paper wrap. They are usually served with
either a sweet and sour sauce or a peanut sauce. (Remember peanuts are
high in fat so you might want to choose the lighter sauce.) On the
appetizer menu you may find Lettuce Leaf Wraps. This dish
is served as lettuce leaves upon which you pile an assortment of
condiments, such as mint, peanuts, onions, chopped lime, coconut, and/or
tofu, which all come in separate bowls. You roll the leaf up and top with
a sweet and sour sauce. Grilled (not fried) Tofu Satay as a
higher fat appetizer is often served with a peanut dipping sauce.
Move on to the soup and
salad sections of the menu. You should find one or two vegetable soups,
like Hot and Sour Vegetable Soup or Clear Vegetable
Soup consisting of a clear vegetable broth (usually no-oil) and an
assortment of vegetables. Most salads are healthy until they add the
dressing. Ask for the dressing on the side or use a squeeze of lime juice
and/or soy sauce on it instead – unless, of course, you remembered to
bring your own bottled non-fat salad dressing from home. Som Tam is a
Green Papaya Salad and one of our favorites – made from a raw
green papaya, green beans and tomatoes with a lime dressing (no oil used)
– spicing can be ordered mild to very hot.
When checking out the
entrees, look for vegetarian options first, then go to the other sections
of the menu and find some dishes made mostly of vegetables or rice noodles
(these noodles are made from rice flour and water). If you find something
that looks good and healthy, but contains beef, chicken, fish, or seafood,
ask if they can make the dish without. Every restaurant has tofu
available as a substitute for the animal products. Vegetarian Pad
Thai, made from rice noodles, tofu, scallions, and bean sprouts,
is one dish that most newcomers like and is served at all Thai restaurants
around the world. To make it healthy, tell then to leave out the oils and
animal products. Other noodle dishes can be ordered with
any combination of basil leaves, onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots,
broccoli, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, scallions, watercress,
celery, garlic, and/or cabbage, and mixed with a Thai spicy sauce. Try
Sautéed Eggplant with scallions, basil leaves and a bean sauce.
Sweet
and sour vegetable dishes,
made with carrots, cauliflower; straw mushrooms and other assorted
vegetables, and served over rice, are easy to find. Steamed white rice is
a staple in Thai dining and always cooked without oil. It will be a rare
treasure to find a Thai restaurant the serves whole grain “brown” rice –
but it is always worth asking for.
Once you’ve found a great
Thai restaurant that serves healthy dishes you will become a regular
patron and probably try, like we do, to convince friends that the food is
not too spicy and well worth a try.
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