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Community Corner

Celebrate Thai New Year

Celebrate Thai New Year in Campbell and Cupertino.

While a quarter of year 2011 is already gone,  year 2554 of the Buddhist calendar is just about to come.

The Buddhist New Year's celebration April 13-15, also known as Songkran,  is a cultural holiday to immigrants from Buddhist countries including Thailand. Although the Thai government adopted the Western New Year since 1940, Songkran is still a traditional holiday celebrated in Thailand, and by Thai immigrants in America.

Some of the must-have dishes for Songkran happen to be on the regular menus of Thai restaurants in Silicon Valley. You can get a taste of Songkran by trying the following:

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1. Fish cakes:

Thai families will make fish cakes for Songkran, though they also eat them in other times of the year, according to Aom Chuakrung, a local Thai immigrant.  

You can find fish cakes in the appetizer section of the menu at almost every Thai restaurant in Silicon Valley.

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Thai fish cakes, with red curry paste and crushed kaffir lime leaves in them, are more flavorful than their Western counterparts. The cucumber sauce that comes with the deep fried fish cakes make them taste less greasy and even more delicious.

2. Papaya salad:

Chuakrung says Thais eat a lot of salad during Songkran because it's in a hot season of Thailand. She especially recommends papaya salad, which is made of shredded green papaya, shredded carrots and crushed peanuts. It can come with or without dried shrimp depending on preference.

Papaya salad is almost ubiquitous at local Thai restaurants as well.

3. Green curry chicken:

Many sources of web literature name green curry chicken as a traditional Songkran dish, though Chuakrung says she, in her 20s, may be too young to know the tradition, which doesn't seem popular in Thailand nowadays.

While Chuakrung explains that April in Thailand is too hot for people to enjoy a curry dish, it's cool enough here in Silicon Valley partake in the old-fashioned Songkran special, which is served in almost every Thai restaurant.

For rice to go with the curry dish, and you want a little tropical flavor, try coconut rice, which may not be on most local Thai restaurants' menus but is available at Thai Delight at 20916 Homestead Road in Cupertino.

Don't worry about consuming too much coconut milk. According to the latest findings in medical research, the saturated fat in coconut milk contains medium chain fatty acids, which turn into energy fast, won't be stored in the body, and may even trigger fat burning.

4. Pad Thai:

This most common Thai restaurant dish in America is coincidentally one of the Songkran specials.

According to various sources of web literature, Thailand is one of the East Asian countries where noodles symbolize longevity. It's natural to have such an auspicious symbol for Thai New Year.

5. Sweetened sticky rice with mango slices:

If you look through travel blogs about Thailand, you will find numerous bloggers raving about this Thai dessert at the Songkran festival they experienced.

It can be a little tricky to make the sticky rice in the dessert not too sweet, not too bland. But at 866 E Campbell Ave. in

Campbell appears to get it just right.

In addition to the restaurants mentioned above, the following also offer Thai fare:

  • Thai Pepper: 2000 South Bascom Avenue, Campbell;  Phone: (408) 369-9399
  • Olarn Thai: 19672 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino; Phone: (408) 255-2170
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