If you grew up eating Thai food, you already know garlic as a finishing touch: the spoonful of crisp kratiam jiao (fried garlic) on a bowl of rice soup, or the heap of it on garlic-pepper pork. Spanish cooking leans on garlic too, but it uses it differently. This guide explains the main Spanish garlic dishes in terms a Thai diner will recognise, and where to order them in Thailand.
Two ways to fry garlic
Both kitchens start the same way, with garlic in hot fat. The difference is where they stop.
Thai fried garlic is cooked until every piece is evenly golden and crisp, then drained. The garlic becomes a topping, and the fragrant oil is kept for cooking or drizzling. It is used on khao tom, noodle soups and stir-fries.
Spanish al ajillo dishes work the other way round. Sliced garlic goes into olive oil, often with a dried guindilla chilli, and cooks gently. Most cooks take the slices only to a light gold before the main ingredient goes in, since garlic that goes too dark or burns turns bitter. The main ingredient then cooks in that oil. Gambas al ajillo (prawns) is the best-known version and arrives still sizzling in a small clay dish. The oil is part of the dish, so ask for bread and mop it up. Pollo al ajillo applies the same method to chicken pieces.
Garlic pounded raw: allioli and the Thai mortar
Thai cooks reach for the mortar and pestle for garlic all the time. The basic paste of coriander root, garlic and white pepper is pounded before it goes into a marinade or a soup, and garlic is crushed into dipping sauces and salads.
Spain's closest equivalent is allioli, from the Catalan for "garlic and oil". In its traditional form it contains nothing else: garlic is pounded to a paste with salt, then olive oil is worked in drop by drop until it thickens. That takes patience, so many cooks now add egg yolk, which makes a sauce closer to a garlic mayonnaise. Allioli is served with grilled meats, rice dishes and potatoes. Expect it to be strong, since the garlic is raw.
Garlic as the main ingredient: sopa de ajo
Thai cooking has pickled garlic (kratiam dong), eaten as a side with some rice and noodle dishes, where garlic is the whole point rather than a seasoning. The Spanish dish that plays that role is sopa de ajo, the garlic soup of Castile. Garlic is fried in olive oil, stale bread and pimentón go in, then broth or water, and an egg is poached or stirred in at the end. It began as a way to use up old bread and is still eaten mostly in cold weather.
Spain also has a raw, cold garlic dish: ajoblanco, a white soup of almonds, bread, garlic, olive oil and vinegar from Andalusia, often served with grapes.
Different garlic, too
Thai garlic heads have small cloves with thin skins, and cooks often crush them without peeling. Spanish recipes are written for larger cloves that are peeled and sliced. If you're cooking al ajillo at home in Thailand, slice the cloves thinly and keep the heat low so the smaller pieces don't burn before the oil takes on their flavour.
Spain has its own prized garlic. The purple-skinned garlic of Las Pedroñeras in Cuenca carries a protected geographical indication, and the town calls itself the garlic capital of Spain.
Where to try Spanish garlic dishes
- La Cava Phuket: chef-owner David Aldea's restaurant lists gambas al ajillo as its signature dish.
- VASO Spanish Tapas Bar (Bangkok): gambas al ajillo is on the rotating tapas menu alongside patatas bravas and grilled octopus.
- Little Spain (Hua Hin): garlic prawns sit among the tapas classics, and the owner, whose family runs a restaurant on Menorca, cooks from her mother's recipes.
- Brasa (Washington DC): for allioli, the open-fire menu serves butifarra sausage with mongetes beans and alioli.
For more options, browse the Bangkok, Phuket and Hua Hin pages. When you order gambas al ajillo, save a piece of bread for the oil.
