Of all the Asian cuisines, I think Thai food has to be my favourite. That combination of sweet, salty, sour, bitter and hot. The aroma of steamed jasmine rice and coconut milk based sauces gets me every time. But Thai takeaway is a thing of the past for me. I’d much rather make it at home. It may not taste exactly the same as the restaurant but it’s still good. Here’s what you need to stock in your pantry to make easy Thai food at home.
To make an authentic Thai flavoured dish, you need a lot of fresh herbs and vegetables. Some may not be as easily accessible to most of us but there are some amazing supermarket products on the market now that replicate a good Thai dish. Most ingredients are available from the supermarket but try your local farmer’s market for authentic Thai herbs and vegetables.
You’ll also have to try and balance the 5 tastes of Thai food, as mentioned above. You can do that with the following ingredients:
- Sweet – cane or coconut palm sugar, pineapple
- Sour – lemon, lime, tamarind, paw paw/papaya, raw mango, sour pineapple or other sour fruits
- Salty – sea salt, soy sauce, fish sauce or sardine and other fish pastes
- Bitter – bitter melon or raw leaves from various plants and trees (either wild or cultivated)
- Hot – different chili peppers, fresh and dried, and peppercorns, fresh, pickled or dried, and ground peppers
In the Pantry
Jasmine rice, noodles (egg or rice), Thai pastes (red curry, yellow curry, Massamun curry etc), fish sauce, soy sauce, chilli (powder, paste or sauce), nuts (cashews, peanuts etc), powdered ginger, coconut milk, coconut cream, oil (for frying paste and/or meat), cinnamon, sesame seeds, sesame oil, nutmeg, curry powder, five spice powder, dried chillies, rice flour, salt and pepper
In the Fridge
Meat (chicken, fish, beef, seafood, pork, tofu etc), Thai pastes (after opening), shrimp paste, lime juice (or fresh limes), tamarind paste (the bitter flavour), crushed ginger (or fresh ginger)
Vegetables
Capsicum (bell peppers), fresh chili, cucumber, beans, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, salad vegetables, bean sprouts, cabbage, green onions (shallots), eggplant, bamboo shoots, asparagus, spinach, bok choy (and other Asian green vegetables), sweet potato, cassava, lotus root, taro, mushrooms
Fruit
Mango, pineapple, guava, pawpaw (papaya), lime, mangosteen, coconut, rambutan, passionfruit
Herbs
Coriander (cilantro), mint, Thai mint, basil, dill
Easy Recipes
Here are a selection of Thai inspired recipes I’ve cooked at home on many occasions.
Thai Red Curry Beef & Cauliflower
Thai Marinated Chicken & Warm Wombok Salad
