第三站 呵叻——泰東北菜

自成一派的清新

泰國東北部為高低起伏的高原，一直延伸到湄公河，與老撾為鄰。這一地區對一般人而言或許比較陌生，最為熟悉的就算是呵叻，這里有許多歷史遺跡及獨特的文化和飲食。

泰東北菜是食客接觸比較少的菜品，因為地理位置的原因，本身泰東北菜也算是自成體系，與其他三菜系差距頗大，是濃郁菜系中的一股小清新。泰國東北部大部分地區屬于山區，獨特的地理結構影響了這里的飲食習慣。泰東北人最喜歡吃生的東西，比如青木瓜沙拉、生肉沙拉、LAP（即辣豬肉沙拉或雞肉沙拉）等都是泰東北人的日常美食。

走在街頭，總能見到許多路邊攤販售賣青木瓜沙拉。作為泰國代表菜之一，青木瓜沙拉體現出泰國菜的一大特色——水果入菜。青木瓜其實是木瓜成熟變黃之前的狀態，此時味道有點苦澀，果漿味也比較濃，沙拉汁由酸角、魚露、香茅、南姜、辣椒、椰糖混合而成，攪拌木瓜絲也不能用筷子或叉子，而是用一種大個鐵舂，邊舂邊入味。街頭攤販售賣的青木瓜沙拉，有股子市井氣，將冰凍的海蟹切成碎塊，拌以青木瓜絲，淋上魚露，異常生猛。而高檔食肆中則改良了不少，會添加國人喜愛的蝦仁、花生等，味道也平近了許多。

另外，與泰北人一樣，泰東北人也喜歡糯米飯，經常會做甜口味的糯米飯再配上主菜一起吃。在泰東北地區，很多街邊小店都會販賣現場制作的糯米飯配水果等，自帶甜味的糯米飯和甜甜的水果一起吃很爽口。同時，泰東北也經常會采用比較怪的食材，例如各種昆蟲，而mang dah（類似炸蟑螂）更是東北部的地道名菜。在國內這些極為本土的菜色雖然沒有機會吃到，但泰國餐館中常見的烤雞卻也是泰東北菜另一主打，粗獷的口感與清香的滋味，用香蘭葉包裹烤制的雞肉，入口帶有淡淡清香，可以讓食客淺淺地體會到泰東北菜的精華。

Of Its Own Kind

The Northeast plateau spans from the Mekong River on the Thailand/Laos border to the mountain range along the Thailand/Cambodia boarder. The region might not be so familiar to many with the exception for Khorat， but it is a prime tourism destination with historical sites and a unique culture， including culinary culture.

Due to its geographical locaton， Northeast Thai cuisine is less known to the outside world and is very different from the cuisines of the other three regions. Influenced by its mountainous terrian， local Thai people prefer raw dishes， such as papaya salad， raw meat salad， and LAP salad （spicy pork or chicken salad） in their everyday diet.

Green papaya salad is the most popular street food in the northeast. As a typical Thai food， green papay salad is another representative of the main ingredient of Thai cuisine—fuit. Green papaya is a little more astrigent and pulpy than mature papaya. Its dressing is a mixture of tamarind， fish sauce， lemon grass， galangal， pepper and coconut sugar. The shreded papaya will then be mixed with a pestle to pound the flavor into the fruit. On street stands， the salad is served with iced crab chunks and a fish sauce dressing， whereas in upscale restaurants， it is served with shrimps and peanuts.

Like in the north， northeast Thai people love to accompany main dish with sweet sticky rice. Many street side shops sell ready made sticky rice served with fruit. You may also find some unsual food materials in this region， such as various insects， represented by the signature fried mang dah （cockroach）， which are not often seen in other regions. The other signature dish， roasted chicken wrapped in pandan leaf， however， could be found across Thailand where gourmets could taste the wild yet refreshing northeast cuisine.