> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://easythailandvisa.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Heat Is Not the Same at Every Stall and That Is the Whole Trick - URL: https://easythailandvisa.com/thai-chilli-heat-and-how-to-eat-spicy-food/ - Published: 2026-07-30T00:30:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-09T12:00:16.000Z - Description: Thailand's chillies run from a mild, floral heat to something that genuinely hurts. Knowing which pepper is on your plate turns every meal from a gamble into a decision. - Author: Somchai Jaidee - Tags: Street Food, Practicalities The first thing anybody tells you about Thai food is that it is spicy. The second thing, which is more useful, is that the word *phet* on a menu is not a measurement. It is a claim, and the claim is made by a restaurant that has never met you. So you learn the peppers instead. Last verified 1 August 2026. ## There are three chillies that matter ***Prik kee* is the green one, and it is the mildest of the three,** with a grassy, fresh heat rather than a burning one. It is what most of a [green curry](https://easythailandvisa.com/pad-kra-pao-and-som-tam-ordering-thai-favorites/) actually is, and green curry is not the aggressive dish people think it is. ***Prik chi fah* is the small, round, deep red one** that appears in almost everything stir-fried, and it brings a slow, clean, spreading heat with a little fruit in it. This is the default Thai chilli and the reason a stir-fry can be more fiery than a curry. ***Prik ha* is the big pale one that looks mild and is not.** Fresh green or ripe red, it is the chilli that sits in a Tom yum and in a green curry and does not announce itself until about four seconds after you swallow. **Dried chillies are a different ingredient.** *Prik haet*, the dried version, is used in curries and has a deeper, rounder heat than the fresh thing, and it is the reason a curry can be building slowly while your mouth says nothing is happening yet. ## What nam phet prik means **The literal translation is literally hot.** Nothing in the phrase tells you whether that means a pleasant warmth or an argument. **But in practice, on a menu, *nam phet prik* is used loosely,** the way a menu in any country uses chilli rating. A dish described that way is a dish the cook expects people to find exciting rather than dangerous. **The tell is elsewhere on the menu.** If a place lists six dishes and two of them are *nam phet prik*, those two are their idea of their boldest food. That is a very different situation from a menu where all eight are marked the same way, which usually means the kitchen is not interested in nuance. ## How to ask for less heat, properly ***Mai phet, khrap* is the phrase, and it is enough for most situations.** The polite particle at the end is worth keeping. It is a request rather than an instruction. ***Mai phet jai* means not spicy to the stomach,** and this is the one that works better than *mai phet* alone, because it asks for the kitchen to build the dish around the absence of heat rather than to add a pile of sugar on the end. **What you will usually get is a milder version of the same dish,** with the chillies left out at the cooking stage rather than fished out afterwards. A few places will serve you the whole bowl and a saucer of *nam prik* on the side so you can add it yourself, which is the ideal arrangement and worth asking for explicitly. **Ask early.** Requesting a mild version after the food has arrived is a different conversation, and the result is usually a bowl of plain rice. ## Heat is not a single axis **There is a difference between heat you can eat through and heat that is trying to remove you.** Fresh *prik kee* is the first kind. A large quantity of dried *prik haet* is the second. They sit in completely different cuisines. **There is also a difference between heat and numbing.** That is a different ingredient entirely, and it is not a chilli. If something makes your lips feel strange, that is not heat and asking for less of it will not help. **And there is a difference between heat and a lot of salt and** [**fish sauce**](https://easythailandvisa.com/thai-seafood-pla-tha-and-fish-sauce/)**,** which is the honest reason a lot of people who claim not to like spicy food do not like Thai food. If the real problem is *nam pla*, ask for *jam nam pla*, less fish sauce, and leave the chilli alone. ## What to drink, which matters more than people expect **Water is fine and the one thing you should always have.** Sugary soft drinks and [Thai iced tea](https://easythailandvisa.com/thai-milk-tea-cha-yen-and-iced-coffee/) make the heat worse, not better, because you are adding sugar to a system that is already sending messages to your brain about temperature. **Milk is a genuinely effective reset,** because capsaicin is fat soluble and dairy carries it away. If there is one thing to eat when a Tom yum has gone wrong, it is not water, it is a spoon of *khom tao* rice pudding or a spoon of coconut milk if it is on the table. **And do not be brave.** The local order of a bowl in front of you is not a challenge. Nobody is watching, nobody is keeping score, and the only person who suffers if you eat the whole thing is you, on a night bus, three hours later. **More on this** - [The Stall With Four Hundred Customers Is Safer Than the One](https://easythailandvisa.com/street-food-safety-in-thailand/) - [Chatuchak Is Not a Market, It Is 15,000 Shops and a](https://easythailandvisa.com/chatuchak-weekend-market-guide/) - [Getting a Tattoo in Thailand, and the Part That Hurts](https://easythailandvisa.com/getting-a-tattoo-in-thailand/) - [Dengue Does Not Bite at Night, Which Is the Whole Problem](https://easythailandvisa.com/thailand-dengue-fever-prevention/) - [What I Actually Eat in Bangkok, and the Twelve Things I Do Not](https://easythailandvisa.com/what-i-eat-in-bangkok/)