tomorrow a few work friends and i are heading out for thai. i have scoped out the menu and picked out a few things that look rather unoffensive, however i thought i'd stop by here to see if anyone has any recommendations. so far i think a broth-based soup to start would be good. also they have this minced chicken salad (laab gai) which looks to be pretty healthy. has anyone ever had it? would this and a soup be ok for a full dinner meal? also, does anyone know if the sauteed dishes usually come are oily or come with a lot of sauce. i thought that the basil chicken looked good, but didn't want to break the calorie bank.
laab gai, should be a very good choice, I have the beef version of this salad often, and it is very low fat and very tasty. The broth soup should be fine too. Although ask how big the portion of soup is, sometimes I've ordered what I thought was an appetizer soup, and I was brought out a meal (or family) sized bowl of soup.
I agree on the soups. They're a great start to a meal and can be the whole meal, depending on the size, as kaplods mentioned. You can usually tell by where they are on the menu and the price but otherwise ask. There is almost always a lemongrass soup with choices of vegetarian, chicken or shrimp. I would beware of the coconut soups.
A lot of restaurants seem to have other Asian foods too like I will often have a Vietnamese Pho soup for the meal. There are normally salads and I love a nice salad roll (rather than a fried spring roll) as an appetizer.
When I'm trying to be good, I avoid most of the sauteed dishes only because I have no idea on the quantity of oil used, although I have had, and loved the basil chicken. I would stay away from the Pad Thai dishes.
Good luck...Thai is one restaurant where there are usually some good choices!
Your choices sound good. Stir fried dishes can come oily or with a lot of sauce, it varies from restaurant to restaurant. I would definitely stay away from the noodle dishes and anything with a peanut sauce (unless it comes on the side.)
If you like curries, a jungle (or country) curry is yummy and lower in calories because they don't contain coconut milk. Ask if they have steamed brown rice available, most Thai places do these days.
I also love tofu or seafood yum salads. The dressing does not contain oil and I love the whole mint, lime, and fish sauce combo!
One word of caution though. If the scale goes up, give yourself a few days and drink lots of water. Thai food can have a lot of sodium in it and you could retain water, but it'll go away.
The thai springrolls are often very good choices on their own (rice noodles, bean sprouts and/or other vegetables like shredded carrot or cucumber, lean meats and herbs like mint, basil and cilantro wrapped in a stretchy chewy rice paper wrapper), but from a tip I found here, I found that my local thai restaurant was willing to substitute bean sprouts for the noodles, making it an even better choice). The dipping sauce is usually not too terrible either (usually a low cal fish sauce dip, but sometimes it's a thicker hoisin with peanuts or peanut butter so be a little careful if the sauce is very thick).
I've also heard of people asking to substitute some or all of the noodles with bean sprouts in soups like Pho (pronounced Fuh, rimes with duh, and prounounced with a rising inflection, as if asking a question).
The Pho is a light broth with pieces of meat. Ask what is included, because it can freak you out, if they make it traditionally with beef tendon and tripe (stomach). Although the tripe is very good in thai cooking (I've had it in Menudo in mexican restaurants and hated it, but in thai restaurants its always been very tender). I personally like the chicken pho (Pho Gai or Pho Ga). They'll serve it with fresh and jarred condiments like hoisin sauce, soup base to make it stronger if you'd like, chili paste, and fresh bean sprouts, jalapeno slices, fresh cilantro, basil and/or mint.
I've often ordered Pho as a meal and just eaten around some of the noodles (usually the regular serving is so large, that this is very easy to do without asking for any special modifications).
Green papaya salad is so good too. The closest american dish I could compare it to would be a garlicky coleslaw (with a sweet and sour vinegar not mayo dressing). The green papaya is shredded and is mild tasting and crunchy and combined with tomato, lime, garlic and sometimes tiny thai eggplant or blanched green beans and fresh peppers. The dressing can have oil in it (but usually doesn't) and tamarind or sugar (it's a sweet and sour dressing and some people like it sweeter and some more sour). The lady that owns our favorite thai restaurant says that in her family, some like it sweet and some not, so if you want it a little less sweet you can ask for that. Also tell them how hot you want it, as it can be very mild to mouth-searing.
One thing that is great with thai food - is that thai people are condiment fiends (like me, yeah), but as a result they seem (to me) a lot more willing to accomodate individual preferences. If you ask for substitutions or modifications they're not likely to be offended, as it's assumed that you will modify your dish at the table as you wish (there are often an array of condiments on the table or served with some dishes). In our thai restaurant when you order the pho, they actually wheel out a cart of condiments the size of a small table.
healthy thai restaurant choices
