Get nutritious Southeast Asian recipes-plus tips from the chef at the renowned Chiva-Som spa in Thailand
Too often Thai restaurants in the United States serve food that you'd be hard-pressed to dub wholesome: deep-fried spring rolls, meat-heavy curries swimming in coconut milk, and greasy stir-fried noodles. But authentic Thai cuisine features tons of healthy ingredients, including an abundance of antioxidant-packed spices and fresh herbs, raw or lightly cooked vegetables, and heart-friendly seafood.
While many Thai dishes are inherently healthy and low in calories (Green Papaya Salad with Shrimp, for example), with a few clever substitutions or technique tweaks, the list of good-for-you Thai recipes gets even longer. For advice on how to use Thai cooking techniques to create nutritious meals, Epicurious spoke to Paisarn Cheewinsiriwat, the executive chef of Chiva-Som, an award-winning spa in Hua Hin, Thailand. "Thai lifestyle is laid-back, and so is the cooking style," he says-so if you "open your mind and explore some ingredients such as lemongrass, galangal, and sweet basil," you can easily make healthy Thai food at home.
Thai Chicken Salad with Rice Noodles
Bon Appétit | September 2007
by Anthony Marini
Local in Birmingham, AL
Yield: Makes 4 servings
To give this salad more crunch, add blanched soybeans (edamame) or fried wonton strips.
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 ounces rice stick noodles (maifun)*
- 4 large garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
- 1 1/4 teaspoons hot chili paste (such as sambal oelek)*
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 purchased roasted chicken breast halves, boned, skinned, shredded
- 3 cups shredded Napa cabbage
- 1 cup coarsely grated carrot
- 1 cup red bell pepper strips
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
- 2 medium cucumbers, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise
- 1/3 cup coarsely chopped roasted salted peanuts
Preparation
Cook noodles in small pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain; cut noodles in several places with scissors. Spread out on platter.
Puree next 7 ingredients in blender. With machine running, gradually add oil and blend until dressing is smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Combine chicken, cabbage, carrot, pepper, onion, and cucumbers in large bowl. Toss with enough dressing to coat. Arrange atop noodles, sprinkle with peanuts, and serve, passing remaining dressing alongside.
*Available in the Asian foods section of some supermarkets, at Asian markets, and from amazon.com.
Read on for Cheewinsiriwat's tips, plus recipes from the spa's cookbook, Chiva-Som's Thai Spa Cuisine (available from Chiva-Som's Web site) and from Epicurious.
Use Herbs and Spices to Add Low-Cal Flavor and Antioxidants
Herbs and spices give dishes a nutritional boost and pump up the flavor without adding sodium, fat, or a lot of calories. Spicy-hot foods (chiles, chile sauce) may also boost your metabolism and fight inflammation (see our guide to anti-inflammatory diets to learn about this concept). "Fresh herbs and spices used in Thai cooking-such as turmeric, galangal, coriander, lemongrass, and fresh chiles-have antioxidants and immune-boosting properties," says Cheewinsiriwat. He adds, "At Chiva-Som, we use a lot of lemongrass for many recipes, as it can help to detoxify." Chiva-Som's Thai Spa Cuisine says the reedlike herb has antiseptic properties, is a mild diuretic, and can help treat stomachaches, fevers, flu, coughs, and headaches.
recipes to try:
Thai Chicken and Shrimp Noodle Salad
Thai-Style Chicken Soup with Basil
Squid and Pork Noodle Salad
Balance Flavors Instead of Adding Fattening Ingredients
"Combinations of sweet, sour, salty, tanginess, and an assortment of chiles are used in typical [Thai] dishes," says Cheewinsiriwat. The concept of balancing these key flavors is so important in Southeast Asian cooking that James Beard Award-winning cookbook authors Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid named their cookbook about the cuisines along the Mekong River Hot Sour Salty Sweet. "Know how to blend ingredients to excite and activate the senses," advises Cheewinsiriwat. Remember that there are more ways to add flavor and dimension to your meal than burying it in caloric ingredients like butter, cream, oil, and cheese. Instead, try a dish such as the Thai Salad with Flank Steak below made with Thai chiles (hot), lime juice and grapefruit (sour), low-sodium soy sauce and fish sauce (salty), and honey and orange juice (sweet). If you are worried about consuming too much sodium and sugar, remember that it only takes a little bit of the salty or sweet ingredients to balance the tart and hot ones.
recipes to try:
Thai Chicken Salad with Rice Noodles (see recipe below)
Hollywood Thai Beef Salad
Stir-Fried Pork with Long Beans
Eat More Produce, Less Meat
Meat plays a minor role in most Thai dishes-it's used more as a garnish than as the centerpiece of the meal. "Asian diets generally use meat sparingly, sometimes almost as a flavor enhancer," says Cheewinsiriwat. "This way our cooking involves less animal fats, so [there is] lower risk of cancer and heart disease." He recommends making 50 to 60 percent of your meal green vegetables-"while the remaining portions can be adjusted for protein and carbohydrates depending on your health needs and goals." Think about where you can substitute tofu, vegetables, or fish for meat. "For example, on a kebab stick, replace two of the four chunks of meat with mushrooms," says Cheewinsiriwat. He also advises looking to vegetables, fruits, beans, and whole grains such as brown rice, oats, and whole-grain bread and pasta for your carbs. "Easily digested carbohydrates from white bread, white rice, pastries, sugary sodas, and other highly processed foods may contribute to weight gain, interfere with weight loss, and promote diabetes and heart disease."
recipes to try:
Spicy Thai Tofu with Red Bell Peppers and Peanuts
Thai-Spiced Watermelon Soup with Crabmeat
Spiced and Sour Mushroom Soup
Steam, Grill, and "Stir-Fry" Without Oil-Don't Deep-Fry
Deep-frying is not allowed at Chiva-Som. Instead, grilling and steaming are advocated, and for "stir-frying" Cheewinsiriwat uses vegetable stock instead of oil in recipes such as stir-fried pumpkin. Lightly cooking ingredients this way allows them to maintain their flavor, texture, and nutritional value, he explains. "By using vegetable stock, we can infuse flavor into the food and avoid consumption of oil such as trans fats and saturated fats, which contribute to heart disease and free radical damage and raise bad cholesterol [levels]."
recipes to try:
Stir-Fried Pumpkin with Chiles and Basil
Herb-Grilled Chicken Breasts, Thai Style
Vegetable Summer Rolls
Consider Coconut Milk
While coconut milk-a key ingredient in creamy Thai curries-suffered a bad health image for a long time because of its high caloric content (one cup has 445 calories, according to Nutrition Data) and large amount of saturated fat, it has recently been gaining attention for possible health benefits. Cheewinsiriwat claims it has anti-aging properties and that it may play a role in improving cholesterol levels. And according to an article on Nutrition Data, coconut oil contains "natural phytosterols, which can help to reduce cholesterol levels by blocking the cellular uptake of cholesterol." Nutrition Data's chief nutritionist, Monica Reinagel, notes that the jury is still out on the role of saturated fat (and the sources of those fats) in heart disease, and that the medical literature on the subject of coconut oil and health is "limited, inconclusive, and contradictory." While there's not enough evidence of the healthfulness of coconut oil and milk for us to recommend you use a lot, a small amount makes curries and soups extremely satisfying, so you're less likely to overeat. Also experiment with low-fat coconut milk (usually marketed as "light"), which has less saturated fat and fewer calories.
recipes to try:
Thai Rice Curry with Herbed Chicken
Thai Chicken-Coconut Soup
Panang Tofu Curry
Thai Chicken Salad with Rice Noodles
Bon Appétit | September 2007
by Anthony Marini
Local in Birmingham, AL
Yield: Makes 4 servings
To give this salad more crunch, add blanched soybeans (edamame) or fried wonton strips.
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 ounces rice stick noodles (maifun)*
- 4 large garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
- 1 1/4 teaspoons hot chili paste (such as sambal oelek)*
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 purchased roasted chicken breast halves, boned, skinned, shredded
- 3 cups shredded Napa cabbage
- 1 cup coarsely grated carrot
- 1 cup red bell pepper strips
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
- 2 medium cucumbers, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise
- 1/3 cup coarsely chopped roasted salted peanuts
Preparation
Cook noodles in small pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain; cut noodles in several places with scissors. Spread out on platter.
Puree next 7 ingredients in blender. With machine running, gradually add oil and blend until dressing is smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Combine chicken, cabbage, carrot, pepper, onion, and cucumbers in large bowl. Toss with enough dressing to coat. Arrange atop noodles, sprinkle with peanuts, and serve, passing remaining dressing alongside.
*Available in the Asian foods section of some supermarkets, at Asian markets, and from amazon.com.
See More Epicurious Healthy Recipes and Tips:
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- Healthy Recipes with Fresh Herbs
- Browse Our Top-Rated Healthy Recipes and Menus
By Megan O. Steintrager
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