I firmly believe that Khao Soi should be ranked as one of the world’s great dishes. You can call it a curry or you can call it a noodle soup and it is both of those with more on top, literally on top! A broth of aromatic curry paste and orange-tinged coconut milk with tender chicken …
This is a totally delicious way to serve roast chicken as well as being very simple to prepare. Cooking a whole chicken this way is practised in various forms throughout Asia, sometimes pot roasted, sometimes over hot coals and with many different curry pastes.
This is a dish that is incredibly easy and quick to prepare. If you have a bag of frozen seafood in the freezer and the whole dish can come together in the time it takes to cook the rice. Talking of rice, I find myself increasingly turning to black rice
This is as fiery as it gets for a Thai curry, it is way more spicy than most people can handle. It is also one of the simplest Thai curries to prepare, Jungle curries, or more accurately, forest curries, were traditionally made with whatever was to hand so your choice of meats and vegetables comes down to whatever you wish to put in it.
This is such a quick and easy dish to make and yet so versatile and packed full of flavour. You can substitute prawns for chicken and mix and match on the veggies as well, whatever way you do it you’re in for a treat! Using the quantities below this will easily serve 3 hungry people, but it also scales up easily and you..
(Updated). Meltingly tender duck combines wonderfully with the sharp and sweet flavours of pineapple and coconut in a Thai red curry sauce. I’m not normally a fan of pineapple in savoury dishes (put it on my pizza at your own risk!) but it really does work with this dish. I used to cook this with duck legs but so many people have told me they prefer to use duck breast so I have updated the recipe to reflect that fact. This also has the benefit of allowing the breast to be served pink with the sauce spooned over the duck breast instead of it being cooked in the sauce…
These pork and lemongrass meatballs provide a wonderful contrast to the Thai red curry sauce. Really easy to make and as a red curry is one of the milder curries this can be enjoyed by the whole family. A big pot of them also goes down well at summer barbecues, assuming summer arrives:-)
I often like to garnish my dishes with finely cut kaffir lime leaves. The technique is known as a chiffonade and can also be applied to other herbs such as basil. This is achieved by taking a few lime leaves and stacking them on top of one another, rolling them up tightly and using a sharp knife to slice finely as in t…
This is a very versatile dish that cooks in minutes, you can make it with green or red curry paste if you prefer, it can be served as a main dish or as a starter. It also works well with either noodles or spaghetti. I used fresh mussels for this but if they’re not available there is a good alternative with cooked musse…
This Thai fish curry is simplicity itself. Made with yellow curry paste as it is here it is more typical of the fish curries of Southern Thailand and Malaysia owing to the light Indian spicing of the yellow curry paste. This could also be cooked in the same manner using red or green curry paste. Many Thai fish curries are not always compatible with Western tastes, often being cooked with fish heads and too sour for the Western palate. However, this is not the case with this version which is both easy to cook and makes for very easy eating too! This can also be cooked with a wide variety of fish, in this example I’m using Red Bream simply because I saw it at the fishmonger’s and wanted to give it a try, turned out to be delicious I’m pleased to say. This will work well with any firm white fish such as cod or hake,
Thai curry pastes are extremely versatile. Apart from their use in curries they are also used in stir-fries and marinades and many other dishes. In this dish I have used tofu but I could also have used thinly sliced meat or simply vegetables on their own. You can really experiment with this one and chop and change ingredients..
This is actually a Thai dish that doesn’t scream I’m Thai! It uses evaporated milk in place of coconut milk and traditionally this is cooked with curry powder, a rarity in Thai cooking. Here we are using Thai yellow curry paste so maybe not so traditional but it makes the cooking easier and the outcome more certain as curry powders can vary tremendously. This is actually a pretty quick dish to prepare and cook so don’t be put off by the amount of pictures below, that is just me covering it in detail.
Thai red chicken curry with butternut squash is a classic and a great favourite of mine. The colouring effect of the squash results in a curry that is orange rather than red; however it is still very definitely a Thai red curry. And if that sounds confusing, what you have to know is that in Thai when we refer to a red or green curry we are talking about the colour of the chilies we use to make the curry paste, not the colour of the finished curry. You can chop and change the ratio of chicken to squash in the recipe as you wish, or even omit the chicken altogether if you prefer.
The mere mention of the words “Chicken Satay” to someone who has travelled in Southeast Asia is enough to bring that far away look into their eyes, and for good reason. There has to be something special about a dish that can be found throughout the countries of the region, taking on national and local culinary characteristics on its travels and so often delivering on an incredible taste experience. It is invariably at its best as a street food rather than in a restaurant. Frequently, the Satay vendor’s stall may be providing the income for a whole family, and there is fierce competition for customers from other street food vendor’s. If you want to stay in business then your Satay has to be good, very good. The marinades and peanut sauce are always prepared by hand and closely guarded recipes are the norm in this business rather than the exception!
Making your own curry paste can be fun and wonderfully therapeutic as you bash away with a mortar and pestle. A great Thai green curry depends on the quality of the paste and, so often overlooked, the quality of the coconut milk.
Those two factors are the most important in determining the success of the final dish.
Not your cooking skills, not the quality of the meat you are using, be it fillet steak or the finest organic chicken. It’s the paste and the coconut milk. It is as simple as that.
This is a classic Thai dish, combining as it does the salty, sweet, sour, and spicy tastes that define Southeast Asian cooking. In Thai it is known as Laab Gai. I find that if I ask people who have spent extended periods in Thailand, particularly in the north or north-east, that they will often name this as their favourite dish. It’s certainly a spicy dish, and yet manages to be refreshing at the same time, it makes a great appetiser and even the non-heat lovers will be tempted to try a spoonful and will find there is a lot going on here apart from the heat!
Lamb massaman curry is a truly luxurious dish. Lamb Shanks cooked in a Thai massaman sauce become meltingly tender and the spices blend so harmoniously with the lamb it truly is a perfect match. This is an oven cooked dish requiring around 2 ½ hours cooking time. If you are thinking of using a slow cooker, then please check out this link as the recipe would need to be adapted. This is not an everyday curry so personally, I would stick with the oven for best results.
Yes, yes, I know. Thai fish cakes are supposed to be round and flat. No worries, you can still use this recipe to make them as round and flat as you like. That is exactly what I have been doing with umpteen varieties of fish in an attempt to determine the most suitable type of fish to make Thai fish cakes. It got a little repetitive, so to relieve the boredom instead of making round and flat fish cakes I started to make some fishcakes that were, well, just round. These also have the advantage of being grilled rather than deep-fried which some people may prefer.
I grew up in a small village in the north-east of Thailand. Our methods of preparing food were very traditional and I was set to work with the mortar & pestle from a very early age. We would grow most of our ingredients ourselves, raise our own chickens and catch fish in the nearby rivers or rice paddies. Supermarkets had yet to make an appearance and what shopping we did was in local markets.
Although many things have changed since then, a lot of the values remain the same. We have supermarkets selling fresh food and canned goods but the ready-made meals we are so used to seeing in the UK don’t really exist in Thailand..
Now that young coconuts are much more freely available, due mainly to the popularity of fresh coconut water as a drink, they offer the possibility of creating a spectacular way of serving a Thai curry for special occasions. Not only that, the young coconut flesh they contain is a superb addition to any curry, can also be served with a Thai green seafood curry….
This curry is also known as Kaeng Hung Leh or Burmese style pork curry
Thai curry = coconut milk, right? Not so actually. The definition of a curry in Thailand is far looser than it is in the West and there are many Thai curries where coconut milk is totally absent. Some of these curries are most definitely not to the Western taste, this is certainly not the case with this curry, and in fact, I would go so far as to say it is one of the most palatable Thai curries for a Westerner. Therefore, you may ask why it is not better known in the West. I believe that the reason for this is that many Thai restaurants overseas are heavily dependent on commercially produced curry pastes and I have never seen one to make this dish.
Sometimes seen on Thai restaurant menus written in English as “Kaeng Kari”.
One of the few Thai curries to be notable for it’s use of Indian spices this is also a relatively mild dish popular with children and adults not wanting the full blown Thai spicy experience. For me this has to be served with “ajat”, an easily made relish that is a wonderful palate cleanser. I would no more dream of eating this curry without ajat than I would eat roast beef without Yorkshire pudding! In the above picture I have also garnished it with some sliced onions fried until crisp. Not essential but I think it goes well with this dish.
Luscious. I love that word and hate the fact that my Thai tongue has difficulty in getting around it to pronounce it properly! However, to me it’s a word that truly describes the combination of King prawns in a Thai red curry sauce. Despite the fact that I always have a bag of prawns in the freezer (and a packet of curry paste knocking around:-)), this is not a dish I eat often. The reason for that is simply that it is one of my all time favourites and so I keep it as a treat. This dish just works. It looks great, tastes wonderful, and yet takes only minutes to prepare. Treat yourself!
To my way of thinking there is a lot of Malay influence in this paste with the various spices, it’s also one of the very few dishes in Thailand that we cook with potatoes. One thing I can tell you is that I’ve made this paste from the traditional recipe and that it is one of the most time consuming and complex pastes to make so please treat it with respect 🙂 By that I mean please don’t use one of those dreadful “reduced fat” coconut milks, it just won’t work, the additives they put in that stuff to keep it together also break down in cooking and you’ll end up with a not very nice tasting soup!
Sometimes also spelt as Panaeng Curry this is one of my favourite dishes. It’s sometimes stated that this dish originates from the Malaysian island of Penang. I don’t buy that at all but it’s a fight I will leave to others!
I’m cooking this with beef. I think that this is a dish that benefits from slower cooking, so although it can be cooked quickly using rump steak I prefer to use braising steak or similar. This will produce a dish where the melting texture of the slow cooked beef and the richness of the sauce is a heavenly combination!
A Massaman curry will always be one of my favourite dishes. Rich and creamy and ideal for a feast. My problem is that when I feel like a Massaman curry I often find myself unable to decide between Lamb Massaman, Chicken Massaman or this Beef Massaman. Sometimes my decision might be influenced by the time available to me because a Beef Massaman should never be made with a lean quick cooking cut of steak. Instead, it benefits greatly by being cooked with a far tougher cut of beef that will require long slow cooking in the sauce to the point where it is just about to fall apart.
Possibly the most famous of Thai dishes, certainly the most abused! I long ago gave up shaking my head in amazement at what passes for Thai green curry outside Thailand for fear of repetitive strain injury to my neck. The quality of meat available in the West is far superior to that which we can obtain in Thailand, and yet in Thailand we can produce divine tasting curries.That is because we know the quality of the paste and the coconut milk is far more important to a Thai curry than the quality of the meat. An expensive corn-fed organic chicken can’t redeem a curry cooked with a jar of supermarket gloop and a can of coconut milk loaded with stabilisers.
I’m that rarest of creatures; a Thai who loves Indian food. Believe me, if you live in a Bangkok condominium, and want to fall out with your neighbours, there is no better way to do it than to cook lamb Rogan Josh. The aromas will escape despite all your precautions and you will encounter a frosty silence the next time you step into the elevator. Been there, done it, got the T-shirt!
In the UK I’ve developed a particular affection for chicken tikka wraps. This normally follows a night in the local pub and the realisation that I’ve managed to survive several hours without food, another very uncommon trait for a Thai!
I come from north-east Thailand, a region also known as Issan. Every year there is a festival called Bun Bang Fai which is held to celebrate the coming of the rainy season so essential to our rice crops. It takes place over three days starting with Buddhist ceremonies and traditional dancing, by the second day events become far more raucous thanks to the liberal use of alcohol and the Thai desire for “sanook” which means “fun” in English. This means by the third day most of those taking part awake with huge hangovers for which the most popular cure is usually more beer or rice whisky. It is at that stage that they stuff huge tubes with around 100 kg of gunpowder which they then haul up rickety wooden scaffolds and launch their rockets into the sky. Or not:-)
There are several ways to open a young coconut, however, if the aim is to keep the coconut shell to use as a serving bowl just a little more care is needed. You will need a strong sharp knife as you see in the pictures. Most of the time I use a meat cleaver but not everyone has one so on this occasion I’ve used the type of knife can be found in most kitchens. You will also see that I placed a nonslip mat under my chopping board, if you don’t have one of these just make sure your chopping board is in a position where it can’t move about.
