Thai Spices Source

Overview

Thai food is currently enjoying an international vogue. There are numerous Thai restaurants all over the world in big like such as Los Angeles, Tokyo , New York, Paris and many others. The following are some essential herbs and spices used in Thai cooking. The proper combination of all these ingredients is regarded as a big art in Thailand, one that requires both skill and time. The preparation of a single sauce can take hours of grinding, tasting and delicate adjustment until the exact balance of flavours is archived. Only then, can the true glory of Thai cooking be fully appreciated.

Tags: Thai, Spice, Basil, Cooking, Yum

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Thai Spices - Chilli Dips

Chilli dips

Usually served with vegetables, meat or fish, chilli dips are very versatile. A dip can be a main dish or side dish, added to a pan of fried rice to flavour it, or drizzled on chips to liven them up. A cook will make up a bowl of dip from whatever is available, including chilies, garlic, onion, shimp paste, sour tamarind etc.

Salads

Thai salads, called yam, are sour, sweet and salty. A simple dressing works equally well for meat, seafood, vegetable and fruit salads. This is made from fish sauce, lime juice and a dash of sugar. The heat comes from the fiery little chillies, but just how hot a salad should be depends on the texture and flavour of the meat, vegetable or fruit used. Fresh herbs such as marsh mint, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and cilantro are usually used as garnish.

Tags: Thai, Spice, Chilli, Cooking, Salad

Thai Cooking Schools

Overview

Finding a cooking school in Bangkok or the major provinces is increasingly easy. Most of the major hotels that have their own in-house Thai restaurant will offer cooking classes, either as intensive hands-on sessions or as watch-and-eat events. In addition there are cooking schools that provide basic skills sufficient to prepare a Thai meal in your own home, or even training to professional standards.

This legendary hotel on the bank of the Chao Phraya opened its own Thai cooking school on the other side of the river a few years back. The four-day cooking course, conducted in English, is mainly a “ watch and learn” experience, with emphasis on demonstration by the chef-lecturers followed by some hand-on participation by students. Classes start off with some background on Thai cooking, followed by different cooking techniques and fruit and vegetable carving. Recipes are a blend of the traditional and the imaginative. Menu preparation and selection is included in the course, as well as how to order at Thai restaurants. Classes take place from 9 in the morning to noon, followed by lunch. Tuition is charged per class.

The Thai Cooking School at The Oriental Hotel
c/o The Oriental Bangkok, Charoen Krung Road, Bangkok 10600

Tel : 0 2437 6211, 0 2437 2918

Tags: Cooking, School, Thai, Recipe, Spice

Simply Thai Cooking

Book Review - Simply Thai Cooking

Thai cooking is exhilarating, it's exotic -- and now it's easier to make than ever before. With Simply Thai Cooking, Second Edition you will find easy-to-follow recipes for a wide range of Thai standards. Included in this edition are many new recipes that expand the vegetarian and chicken sections. Just try some of these foolproof recipes and you'll understand the unique qualities of Thai food. Nothing else so magically combines the savory with the sweet, the tart with the spicy.

The second edition of this popular guide to Thai cooking includes 16 new recipes and an expanded vegetarian and chicken section.

Wow, Thai food is so easy to make at home, especially if you have Asian food stores nearby for curry pastes etc. There's a lot of preparation but most dishes are cooked in minutes. Wandee's book explains the ingredients and the recipes are easy to follow (and the dishes get rave reviews from guests). The bad news is that I don't get to visit the restaurant much, as it's just so simple to stay home!

Tags: Food, Recipes, Thailand, Book, Curry

Thai Recipes - Fried Red Curry Paste with Fried Catfish

Fried Red Curry Paste with Fried Catfish

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the curry paste and stir-fry until odorously smell. Add coconut milk and stir-fry until well blended. Add in the kaffir lime leaves, eggplant and pasta and stir-fry until done. Season with palm sugar. Follow with cayenne chilli and fry for 30 seconds.
2. Serve on the plate with fried catfish.

Ingredients:
50g. Lobo Red Curry Paste.
50g. Vegetable oil.
100g. Coconut milk.
3 pcs. Kaffir lime leaves, shredded.
50g. Eggplant.
300g. Boiled bow shape pasta.
1 tsp. Palm sugar.
2 pcs. Long sliced cayenne chilli.
Fried catfish as desired.

Thai Spices - kaffir Lime Leave

The Kaffir lime (''Citrus hystrix DC.'', Rutaceae), also known as Kieffer lime, Makrut, or Magrood, is a Southeast Asian citrus plant with very pungent leaves. The green lime fruits are distinguished by their bumpy exterior, and the hourglass-shaped leaves are widely used in Thai cuisine and Lao cuisine. Kaffir lime leaves are also popular in the west of Cambodia, but less so in Vietnam. Malay and Indonesian (especially, Balinese; see also Indonesian bay leaf) cuisines use them sporadically with chicken and fish. The leaves can be used fresh or dried, and can be stored frozen. Although the most common product of the Kaffir lime tree is its leaves (which impart a sour flavour to Thai dishes such as tom yum, and to Indonesian food such as sayur assam - literally sour vegetables), the juice and rinds of the small, dark green gnarled fruit (known as jeruk obat - literally medicine citrus) are used in traditional Indonesian medicine. As for the zest, it is widely used in creole cuisine and to impart flavor to "arranged" rhums in the R鵮ion island and Madagascar. For other types of lime, see lime (fruit). Category:Citrus Category:Herbs Category:Spices fr:Combava ms:Limau Purut

Top Ten Favorite Thai Food Dishes

I spent most of the day at the Book Fair at Queen Sirikit Convention Hall. The big fairs are usually during the school holidays in April and October. I used to comment that Thai people don’t like reading much (apart from cartoon books), but every year more and more people go to these book fairs. Today was packed and I could hardly move. I bought quite a few books that I will share with you later, but first I want to show you this book which is all about the Top 10 of Thai Food! Obviously one of my favourite subjects. As you can see, the book is in Thai. I think I already have the best of the cookery books in English. Most of them are quite limited and repeat themselves a lot. So, that is why today I was browsing through the cook books written by Thai people. A better selection for sure. I bought half a dozen cook books which will help me a lot identifying the ingredients of street food that I have already photographed. I could blog about Thai food every day, I am just lacking the information sometimes.

Anyway, according to this book, the following is the Top 10 list of Thai Food:

1. Hot and sour soup with shrimp
2. Green curry with chicken
3. Fried Noodles
4. Pork fried in basil
5. Red curry with roast duck
6. Coconut soup with chicken
7. Thai style salad with beef
8. Satay pork
9. Fried chicken with cashew
10. Panang curry

Tags: Pad, Thai, Curry, Panang, Food

Thai Recipes - Kaang Masman

Masman Curry seems to be the only kaang praised in the Thai historic royal poem, memorized in the heart of every Thai student. Cumin, cardamon and clove give this curry strong sensational flavor. But overall it really has a very smooth flavor. Anyone who ever tasted it will ask for more. Not only it goes perfectly well with pork, but also chicken, duck and beef. Nowadays there are many advances in various aspects of cooking Masman Curry. If you wish to get more cooking information, please do not hesitate to let us know.

Recipe: Kaang Masman

1. heat a skillet and add 1 cup (240 ml.0 coconut milk together with content of this packet.
NOTE: Heavy Cream can be subsitute for Coconut Milk for variation.

2. Add slices 250g. beef or chicken and stir-fry until done. Add 1 Cup of water and bring to a boil.

3. Add some potato and peanut. Cook until tender.

4. Add fish sauce to taste Serve with cooked jasmine rice.

Made From: Chilli, Lemongrass, Garlic, Salt, Shallot, Galangal, Shrimp Paste, and Spices.
No Coloring, Preservatives or MSG added

Can be kept upto 1 year in dry cool place. See package for Best Before Date.
Package Weight: 50g

Thai Recipes - Tom Kha Kai

This is a mild but spicy chicken soup (it can also be made with shrimp, pork, beef or mushrooms), flavored with the very unique flavor of galangal ("kha" in Thai) which creates a heavenly taste when combined with hot chile peppers, coconut milk, lime leaves and lemongrass.

Ingredients

16 fluid ounces soup broth (chicken stock)
4-5 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
4 or 5 2 inch pieces fresh lemongrass, bruised to release flavor
1 inch cube (or a bit more) galangal sliced thinly.
4 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
4 oz chicken breast cut into smallish bite sized pieces
5 fluid ounces coconut milk
small red Thai chile peppers, slightly crushed (to taste)
coriander (cilantro) leaves to garnish.

Note the number of red peppers is a personal choice. It can be as few as half a chilli per diner, to as many as 8-10 per diner, but the dish should retain a balance of flavors and not be overwhelmend by the chili peppers. We suggest about 8-12 chili peppers for this recipe.

Method

Heat the stock, add the lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal, fish sauce, and lime juice. Stir thoroughly, bring to a boil, and add the chicken and coconut milk, then the chile peppers. Bring back to the boil, lower the heat to keep it simmering and cook for about 2 minutes (until the chicken is cooked through).
Enjoy!

Not really intended to be eaten as a separate course, we like it served ladled over a bowl of steamed Thai jasmine rice. This quantity serves 4 with other food, but is probably only enough for two if eaten
separately.

Thai Recipes - Chicken Panang Curry

Start heating a sauteed pan over medium heat. Place the Curry and Sugar in the pan. As they reduce together, add the Chicken immediately and mix together. Next, mix the Coconut Milk Concentrate, followed by the water. When the Chicken is almost finished, add the Fish Sauce, Peanuts, Basil, Red Chili and Bell Peppers. Let simmer for 10 minutes and serve.

Makes 2 servings
Ingredients

12 oz. Sliced Chicken Breast
1 package Coconut Milk Concentrate
12 oz. Water or Chicken Stock
2 tablespoons ground Peanuts
1 tablespoon sugar
2 oz. Fish Sauce
4 - 5 Thai Basil Leafs
2 oz. Lobo Panang Curry Paste
1/2 teaspoon ground Red Chili(add to taste only)!

Tags: Thai, Chicken, Panang, Curry, Recipe

Thai Herbs - Pick your favorite Spices

Thai Basil - "Bai Krapow"

The botanical name for basil is Ocimum basilicum. This aromatic herb is native to Thailand, SE Asia, and NE Africa and is an important herb used and Thai cooking (and less significantly in other cusines). Thai Basil is "the" key ingredient in "Pad Kraprow" dishes which includes garlic, and meat like chicken, pork, or shrimps.

Thai Kitchen Cookware - Tools for every household

Thai Granite (Stone) Mortar and Pestle


Although the Thai mortar and pestle has been used for centuries we have to credit Jamie Oliver (Naked Chef) for really putting this product on the map.

Brief History

sturdy stone Thai mortar and pestle (called Krok Hin in the Thai language) dates back to the Sukhothai period (the first Thai Kingdom founded in 1238) when it was one of the few cooking tools used to prepare meals. The Thai meal consisted of four basic food preparations, "Tom", "Yaang", "Jim" and "Yum". Translated, Tom (boiled foods) Jim (dips), Yaang (grilled) and Yum (salads). As with most other cultures the mortar was used to grind foods as well as medicines.When we look at the key flavoring ingredients used in Thai cooking, fresh basil, palm sugar, makrut lime leaf, garlic, fresh ginger and galingale, tamarind, lemon grass as well as a variety of chilies, coriander and cumin we can see why the use of the mortar and pestle is key in the preparation of this cuisine.


Tags: Thai, cookware, cuisine, pestel, mortar

Thai Recipes - Dishes you can make!

Shrimp Tom Yum or Tom Yum Goong must be one of the best know Thai dishes abroad. It's a subtle blend of hot and sour with citrus overtones derived from lime juice and kaffir lime peel. Be careful not to overcook the shrimps as they will become tough very easily. All the spices are already pre-mixed for you using the Tom Yum Paste (pictured).

Tags: Tom, Yum, Goong, Lobo, Paste

Welcome to Thai Spices Source - Your guide to Thai Food!

Thai food is known around the world for its complex tastes derived from its variety of Spices. The most well known thai dish without question is TOM YUM Goong - the spicy shrimp broth soup. Some of other well known dishs are PANANG, GREEN CURRY, MASAMAN and many more. Now you can learn the secret recipe to these dishes. Now you can enjoy these dishes right in your own home; simple, fast and delicious!