กินกิน! Kin Kin! Eat Eat! – Thai Cooking

Fish sauce – is the cornerstone ingredient that is found in almost all Thai dishes. It is made of anchovies and salt and is fermented to achieve a highly pungent and full flavour that is balanced wonderfully with sour ingredients and sugar.

Palm sugar – is a lighter colour sugar, usually sold in a solid block that then is grated or broken into pieces to melt into what you’re cooking. There are also darker palm sugars, they are usually used more in desserts and if it’s all you have access to then you can supplement half white sugar so that the flavour isn’t too strong.

Coconut milk is a staple in Thai cooking, it makes the red and green curries rich and delicious. Try to get a good brand of coconut milk without stabilisers. If you are careful not to shake the can then you can take the cream (solid white bit) out and add it to a hot wok and it should split into oil and cream – this is called ‘cracking the coconut’.

Tamarind concentrate, juice, pulp, or fresh gives that tart, sour, sweet taste to pad thai and is used in papaya salads and many more dishes.

Rice is the central dish that brings together all meals. It is generally white long grain rice just cooked in water. There are variations with coconut that are common in restaurants but at home it’s regular boiled or steamed rice. There is sticky rice which is made with glutinous (not wheat gluten) rice and coconut milk and is more common in the north of Thailand.

Toasted rice -khao khua is toasted rice powder that is used in north eastern Isan cuisine. It adds a nutty flavour and great texture to salads and larbs. In restaurants they put crushed peanuts in place of khao kua but I’m sure once you try it you’ll make the small effort to make it to add a dimension to the dish.

Rice noodles are common in Thai cooking and come in three sizes, from an angel hair to a thicker flat noodle. Usually they are bought dried and then rehydrated and cooked. They are often labelled ‘rice stick’ noodles. There are also fresh rice noodles for soups and more northern dishes.

Curry paste – green, yellow, red, masaman, panang. Thailand is famous for its curry and most people, even in Thailand, use the prepared curry pastes. Fresh curry pastes are always better, of course, but it can be hard to find some of the ingredients, coriander root is very hard to find in Barcelona and is essential to making curry pastes at home. If you find it, add it to Sawcer, we’ll all appreciate it! 

My close friend in Australia, Suresh, has put together these gorgeous curry paste recipes.