Fish sauce is indespensable in Thai cooking. Made from salted, fermented fish or prawns, good quality fish sauce is golden-brown in color and has a salty tang. It is used in the same way as the Chinese use soy sauce.
Galangal is a rhizome similar to ginger in appearance and a member of the same family Known as kha in Thailand, laos in Indonesia and lengkuas in Singapore and Malaysia, it adds a distinctive fragrance and flavor to many Thai dishes. Dried galangal lacks the fragrance of fresh galangal, and most food stores now sell it fresh. It can be sliced and kept sealed in the freezer for several months.
Garlic chives or ku chai, also known as Chinese chives, have a far more emphatic, garlicky flavor than Western chives and resemble flat spring onions.
Green peppercorns are fresh peppercorn berries that are available still on the vine or bottled or canned in a brine. The peppercorns should be drained and rinsed before use. Thai and European varieties are readily available.
Kaffir lime is a small lime that has a very knobby and intensely fragrant skin, but virtually no juice. The skin or rind is often grated and added to dishes as a seasoning. The fragrant leaves are added whole to soups and curries, or finely shredded and added to salads or deep-fried fish cakes, giving a wonderfully tangy taste to these dishes. They are available frozen or dried in Asian food stores; frozen leaves are much more flavorful than the dried ones. The dried rind can be reconstituted and substituted for fresh.
Lemongrass, also known as citronella, is a lemonscented stem which grows in clumps and is very important in Thai cooking. Each plant resembles a miniature leek. Use only the thicker bottom one third of the lemongrass stem. Remove and discard the dry outer leaves and use only the tender inner part of the plant. Lemongrass is available fresh, frozen or dried; fresh lemongrass is preferable because of its stronger smell and flavor.
Palm sugar is made from the distilled juice of various palm fruits (especially the coconut and arenga palms). Palm sugar varies in color from gold to dark brown. It has a rich flavor similar to dark brown sugar, molasses or maple syrup, which make good substitutes.
Noodles are available in many forms, and are made from either rice, wheat or mung bean flour. Kway teow, also known as rice sticks or hofun, are wide, flat rice-flour noodles sold fresh in Asian markets and available in dried form elsewhere. If fresh kway teow cannot be obtained, use dried rice stick noodles instead (these are thinner than kway teow and must be soaked in warm water for 10 minutes and drained before use). Dried rice vermicelli are very fine rice threads that must also be soaked before using. Kanom jeen are spaghetti-like rice-flour noodles which are similar to the laksa noodles of Malaysia and Singapore. Egg noodles (ba mee) are made from wheat flour. Glass noodles, also known as cellophane noodles, tang hoon or bean threads, are thin transparent noodles made from mung bean flour. They are sold in dried form and must be soaked in warm water briefly to soften.
Pandanus leaves come from a member of the pandanus palm or screw-pine family. Pandanus leaves are used as a wrapping for seasoned morsels of chicken or pork, and wrappers or flavoring for desserts. Look for fresh leaves at wet markets. One-ounce packages of dried leaves labeled "Dried Bay-Tovy Leaves" are exported from Thailand to overseas markets, but fresh leaves are preferred.
Preserved mustard cabbage or mei cai, is made from cooked bamboo or leaf mustard cabbages that are mixed with salt, sugar and dried. It is used largely as a flavoring rather than vegetables. Normally sold in sealed plastic bags, it can be stored refrigerated in an airtight container for about 6 months. This preserved vegetable should be soaked, rinsed and squeezed in a couple of changes of water to remove the salt and odor before use.
Shrimp paste or belacan is a dense mixture of fermented group shrimp. It is sold in dried blocks and ranges in color from pink to blackish-brown. Shrimp paste should be slightly roasted to enhance its flavor before adding to other ingredients. Traditionally, it is wrapped in banana leaves and roasted over embers for a few minutes. Now it is commonly roasted directly over low flame using tongs for 30 seconds or heated in a frying-pan, wrapped in aluminium foil, for 1 to 2 minutes. Alternatively it can also be microwaved very quickly in a bowl covered with plastic for 30 seconds or so. Do not overcook the shrimp paste or it will scorch, become bitter and hollow.
Tamarind is a sour fruit that comes in a hard pod shell. Tamarind juice is one of the major souring agents in Thai cooking. To make tamarind juice, mix 1 tablespoon of dried tamarind pulp with 2 tablespoons warm water to soften, then mash well and strain to remove any seeds and fibers.
Turmeric is a member of the ginger family. This rhizome has a very rich yellow interior (which can stain clothing and plastic utensils) and a pleasant pungency that is absent in dried turmeric powder. Substitute ½ teaspoon turmeric powder for 2 cm (½ in) fresh turmeric.
Spicy Seafood Salad (Yam Talay)
150 g (5 oz) fresh squids (4 to 5 small squids)
8 fresh medium prawns (about 150 g/5 oz), peeled and deveined
8 mussels in shells, scrubbed
8 fresh crab claws
200 g (7 oz) white fish fillets such as snapper or halibut, sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 tomato, sliced
3 spring onions, cut into lengths
3 stalks (1 cup) Chinese celery, cut into lengths
4 large lettuce leaves, to serve
Dressing
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 bird's-eye chillies, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Thai chilli sauce (Sriracha sauce)
1 To make the Dressing, combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix well, until the sugar is dissolved.
2 Rinse each squid thoroughly, detaching and discarding the head. Remove the cartilage in the center of the tentacles. Remove the reddish-brown skin from the body sac and scrape the inside of the body sac with the dull edge of a knife. Rinse well. Slice the body sac into rings. Pre-cook the squid pieces by steaming or stir-frying in a little oil for about 1 minute. Set aside.
3 Blanch the prawns in boiling water for 1 minute until just pink. Remove and set aside. Blanch the crab claws in the same manner. When cool, crack the claws and remove the shells.
4 In the same boiling water, cook the mussels until open. Drain and set aside to cool. Remove mussels from the shells.
5 Steam