Store cupboard – These are the essentials I have in the cupboard to cook a selection of Thai dishes at home. It’s probably no surprise to hear I buy Thai brands where ‘Product of Thailand’ is written somewhere on the bottles or packaging. I’ve stated which brands I tend to buy below to help.
- Fish sauce (Squid or Tiparos)
- Thin light soy sauce (Healthy Boy)
- Oyster sauce (Maekrua)
- Tamarind concentrate (Garden Queen)
- Palm sugar (Maesri or Aroy-D) – look for Thai brands that are 100% palm sugar
- Shrimp paste
- Coconut milk (Aroy-D)
- Dried shrimp (medium sized shrimp about the size of a penny coin are the most universal)
- Rice – fragrant jasmine is best but whatever you can get your hands on will do
- Noodles – I tend to use rice vermicelli or glass noodles the most
- Red curry paste (Mae Ploy or Nittaya) – good to have around if fresh Thai ingredients are scarce, you can adapt a basic shop bought red paste by adding more chillies, more aromatics or even roasted dry spices to suit other purposes
- Roasted chilli powder – I make my own but please go ahead and see what’s out there on the market
- Blanched peanuts
- Dried chillies – Thai bird’s eye and long red chillies for curry pastes
- Thick dark soy sauce (Healthy Boy)
- Yellow bean sauce (Healthy Boy)
- Distilled white vinegar (Golden Mountain)
Fresh produce – I tend to stray away from buying too many fresh ingredients that carry lots of airmiles for all the obvious reasons. That being said, it’s difficult to cook Thai food without a certain number of these fresh ingredients that bring soul to the dishes. Here’s a list of ingredients I have knocking around in the fridge or pick up whenever I’m passing by Chinatown.
- Kaffir lime leaves (fresh or frozen, never dried)
- Limes
- Thai chillies – I favour ‘prik ki nu’ and red bird’s eye chillies
- Coriander roots (these keep well in the freezer)
- Krachai or finger root (peel and keep in the freezer)
- Galangal (peel and slice into pound size pieces then freeze)
- Lemongrass
- Shallots – smallish round ones ideally, but again use onions if not available
- Garlic
- Coriander
- Mint
- Kaffir limes (these keep in the freezer for when you need the zest)
- Pandanus leaf
- Turmeric (peel and keep in the freezer)