Homestyle Thai Cooking
By Alison Anton
I'm no Thai chef, but I sure have made my share of Thai green and red curry in this life! To me, there's nothing like the taste of these curries, with their rich exotic flavors of coconut, lemongrass, ginger and chilis.
Many of the ingredients that give Thai food its distinct flavors can be purchased here in the West, and not just in the Asian markets either. True, the really good stuff you'll be able to find only at the Asian stores or online, but decent substitutes for those of us who do not want to drive all over town can be found at natural foods stores and even some conventional stores around the US.
If you can't get (or if you just don't want to get) the fresh ingredients for Thai food at home, sometimes all it takes is to purchase a good jar of curry paste, which contains many of the exotic flavors, like galangal, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and chilis, that give a Thai dish its authentic taste (see recommendation below).
To make it easy for a fast and flavorful lunch or dinner, I created a simple Thai Formula that can be used for a number of coconut and curry based dishes. Once you remember the basics of the Thai Formula, you can't really go wrong. Along with brown jasmine rice with a stick of ginger in the rice cooker, your meal is ready in 30 minutes. And the flavors only get better through time - your left-overs tomorrow will be richer and creamier than your dinner today.
Here's a few of the mandatory pantry ingredients needed for authentic Thai cooking at home:
Thai Fish Sauce - This distinctive sauce is a must-have for Thai at home - it adds just the right flavor to take your so-so curry and make it authentic. Have you ever wondered, "why doesn't my coconut curry taste like the ones I get in the restaurants?" This is why. Fish sauce has concentrated flavors so only 1-3 tablespoons are needed for most dishes. It can be found at most natural foods stores, specialty stores and of course Asian markets.
Thai Curry Paste - Good
A Traveller in Siam in the Year 1655
<P class=producthead>A Traveller in Siam in the Year 1655</p><P class=productheadtwo>Extracts from the Journal of Gijsbert Heeck<br>Translated by Barend Jan Terwie</p><p>Gijsbert Heeck (1619-1669) visited the east with the Dutch East India Company. From his journal we get an eyewitness account of 17th. Century Siam. He gives us not only information on larger political issues such as the problems between the Dutch and the Portuguese, but also the smaller ones like the relationships of local Dutch men with indigenous women</p><p>Paperback<br>Chiang Mai 2008<br>Silkworm Books <br>124 pages<br>ISBN 9789749511350</p>
Thai curry paste should give the dish a rich, pungent flavor without taking over. Not-so-good curry paste will be over stimulating (i.e. your mouth and lips will burn) but the curry ends up lacking depth and overall flavor. Kasma Loha-unchit, Thai chef and cooking instructor from the Bay Area, recommends Mae Ploy brand curry pastes that come in plastic tubs rather than jars or cans. Red, green and yellow curry pastes are the most popular.
Coconut Milk - Coconut milk is a blend of the meat from the coconut with the coconut water (or sometimes plain water). It imparts a very rich, sweet succulently exotic flavor and a creamy texture to Thai and Indonesian food. Choakoh is the milk of choice of many Thai chefs and Cook's Illustrated. Find coconut milk on sale and stock up, you'll need it if you want to start experimenting with Thai cooking.
Here are some articles to start with...
| Offshore Weddings By Bridget Cull Who would have thought getting married in exotic wedding destinations could be cheaper and easier to organise Read more... |
Thailand: Favorite Asia Travel Destination By Monice Dulcinea No wonder people love to travel to Thailand these days. It's hot. It's fun. And it's cheap. Everything here is cheap -- hotels, food, shopping -- you name it. A coconut costs 20 baht (that's Read more... |
| thailand news: |