What Thais Eat for Breakfast: Rice Soup, Fried Dough and Strong Coffee

There is no single Thai breakfast. There is no fixed plate in the way that some countries have a set morning meal, and very few dishes are reserved strictly for the hours before nine. What there is instead is a morning rhythm: markets that open before dawn, carts that sell out by mid-morning, and a handful of foods that taste best when the air is still cool.

The common thread is rice. Many Thai people eat rice three times a day, and breakfast is often simply a smaller, gentler version of lunch. Alongside the rice sit a few foods that really are morning specialities, most of them brought by Chinese and Vietnamese communities and long since made Thai.

Jok and khao tom: rice in a bowl

Jok is rice cooked for a long time until the grains break down into a thick, smooth porridge. It is usually served with small pork balls or minced pork, and topped with shredded ginger, spring onion, white pepper and sometimes a soft-cooked egg cracked in while the porridge is hot. Crisp fried dough or fried garlic adds crunch. A splash of soy sauce or fish sauce and a pinch of pepper from the table finish it.

Khao tom is lighter. Here the rice grains stay whole, sitting in a clear broth with pork, chicken, shrimp or fish, and a scattering of fried garlic and celery leaves. It is a common breakfast and a common late-night meal too, the kind of food people want when they need something warm and easy.

A related style, khao tom kui, is plain rice gruel served with a spread of small salty side dishes: salted egg, stir-fried greens, sweet preserved radish, minced pork omelette and pickled vegetables. It comes from Teochew Chinese cooking and is still found in older parts of Bangkok and other cities with a strong Thai-Chinese presence.

Patongko and a sweet dip

Patongko is deep-fried dough, two strips pressed together so they puff and pull apart in the hot oil. It is a close relative of the Chinese youtiao and is sold from a wok by the roadside, often in small cross or X shapes. On its own it is crisp outside and soft and airy within, with very little sweetness.

The pleasure comes from what goes with it:

Nam tao hu: fresh soy milk, served warm and often sweetened, sometimes with basil seeds, jelly or beans added.
Sangkaya: a soft custard of egg, coconut milk and sugar, frequently coloured green with pandan.
Sweetened condensed milk: drizzled straight over the dough, simple and very popular.

Patongko is also torn into jok, where it soaks up the porridge. Few morning foods are cheaper or more widely loved.

Grilled pork and sticky rice

Moo ping is pork on bamboo skewers, marinated in garlic, coriander root, pepper, sugar and fish sauce, sometimes with coconut milk, and grilled slowly over charcoal. The sugar caramelises and the fat drips into the coals, so the smell carries a long way down the street. Bought with a small bag of khao niao, sticky rice, it is a breakfast eaten on foot, on a motorbike or at a desk.

Sticky rice keeps well in its bag and travels easily, which is why it suits the morning. Grilled chicken, grilled pork neck and small sausages are sold the same way, with a little packet of chilli dipping sauce on the side.

Kai kata and the northeastern table

Kai kata means pan eggs. Eggs are cooked in a small, shallow metal pan with a handle, served still in the pan and topped with sliced Vietnamese-style pork sausage, minced pork, spring onion and pepper. It comes with bread or a baguette-style roll and a cup of coffee or tea. The dish shows the Vietnamese influence that runs through parts of the northeast, especially along the Mekong in provinces such as Udon Thani and Nong Khai, and it is now found much further afield.

Rice for the working day

For many people, breakfast is a full rice meal bought on the way to work. Three kinds of shop are especially busy in the early hours:

Khao man gai: poached chicken over rice cooked in chicken fat and stock, with a bowl of broth and a sauce of fermented soybean, ginger, garlic and chilli. Many stalls open early and close once the chickens are gone.
Khao gaeng: rice and curry shops, with trays of curries, stir-fries, omelettes and braised dishes ready from early morning. You choose one or two and they are spooned over a plate of rice.
Khao kai jiao: a puffy, deep-fried Thai omelette on rice with chilli sauce, quick and cheap, and as likely to be made at home as bought.

In the south, breakfast often looks different again. Khanom jeen, fermented rice noodles with curry sauces and a basket of fresh vegetables, is a morning meal in many southern towns. Roti with sweet tea is popular in Muslim communities, and towns with large Thai-Chinese populations, such as Hat Yai and Phuket, have a strong tradition of dim sum in the morning.

Morning markets and the alms round

The talat chao, morning market, is where much of this food is found. Markets open before sunrise and are busiest early, as cooks buy produce for the day and families pick up ready-made dishes in small plastic bags. Alongside the vegetables, fish and meat are stalls of curries, chilli dips, grilled meats, sticky rice and sweets, many of them gone by mid-morning.

Early morning is also when Buddhist monks walk their alms round, called tak bat. People wait outside their homes or along the road to place rice, cooked food and sweets into the monks' bowls. Much of the food offered is bought at the morning market minutes before, which is one reason the markets start so early.

Coffee and tea

Thai coffee culture has two sides. Modern cafés serving espresso drinks are everywhere, and Thailand grows its own coffee, much of it in the northern hills. But the older tradition is still easy to find at markets and in old shophouse coffee shops.

Kafae boran, old-style coffee, is strong, dark-roasted coffee brewed by pouring hot water through a cloth filter, often shaped like a long sock, and served with sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk or sugar. Oliang is the iced black version, sweetened and sometimes made from a blend that includes roasted grains and seeds such as corn, soybean and sesame alongside the coffee. Cha yen, Thai iced tea, is brewed strong and mixed with sugar and milk, giving it its well-known orange colour. Cha dam yen is the same tea iced without milk.

A cup of hot coffee with patongko at a market table, or a bag of iced oliang carried away with a straw, is one of the simplest ways to start a day in Thailand. Get up early, follow the smoke from the grills, and eat what the people around you are eating.