When a home cook is at a loss for what to rustle up in the kitchen, a simple but tasty egg dish is often what springs to mind. To make a great omelette, all you need to do is beat some eggs and add meat or vegetables of your choice. In Thai kitchens the fluffy version of the omelette reigns supreme and to make it you will need a deep wok and tons of oil.

The omelette was historically documented in the Memoir Archives of the Princess Naridara Dhevi as one of the foods served during the ceremony of the Emerald Buddha in the time of King Rama I, but there was scant evidence regarding the actual origin or background of the dish. Historians presumed that it took influence from the omelettes cooked by visiting westerners and expatriates because the cooking methods are quite similar. In the western version, eggs are beaten together with milk and fried in a hot pan with butter before cheese, ham and tomatoes are added and the whole thing is folded in half and served.
The word ‘jiaw’ is a Cantonese word which the Thai language has borrowed and means to fry in oil, hence “Kai jiaw”, the Thai word for omelette.