A variety of packaged canned goods, bottled sauces and pickled foods are used to create classic Thai food. Check the ethnic food sections of local grocery stores to find common prepackaged ingredients which are used in Thai style cooking. Online specialty stores, such as Import Food and Temple of Thai, offer a complete line of canned, bottled and other prepackaged Thai food ingredients.
Coconut cream
- Thai name: hua ka-thi
- Available canned, or as a powder which can be reconstituted with water. Coconut cream is used to make curries and desserts. Coconut cream has a thicker consistency than coconut milk.
Coconut milk
- Thai name: haang ka-thi
- Available in 15 ounce cans of sweetened or unsweetened coconut milk. The unsweetened variety is used in soups and curries, and can be mixed with palm sugar to make a variety of desserts. The sweetened variety is used to make custards, black sticky rice and other classic Thai recipes.
Curry pastes
- Thai name: khreuang kaeng
- Curry pastes, which contain many ingredients, are usually homemade. Canned, premade curry pastes are widely available in a variety of flavors including red curry paste, green curry paste and yellow curry paste.
Fish sauce
- Thai name: naam plaa
- Fish sauce is made from anchovies that are allowed to age, the liquid that is drained off from this process is fish sauce. Cheaper varieties are aged for 8 to 12 months, while premium varieties are allowed to age for up to 2 years.
- Fish sauce is used as salt is used in Western cooking, and like soy sauce is used in Chinese cooking.
Green peppercorns
- Thai name: phrik thai
- Fresh green peppercorns, which look a bit like capers, can be purchased in glass jars, packed in a brine solution.
- One or more clumps of peppercorns are added to soups and curries such as nam prik.
Pandan essence
- Thai name: bai toey
- Tiny bottles of pandanus leaf essence are used to flavor desserts, similar to using vanilla extract in the west.
- Homemade pandan essence is made by boiling screw pines leaves with water, to extract the flavor and green coloring of the leaf.
Pea eggplant
- Thai name: ma-kheua phuang
- Pea sized green eggplants can be purchased in glass jars in a brine liquid.
- The eggplants are added to soups and curries.
Pickled lemon
- Thai name: ma-nao
- These are actually pickled limes, although the jars say pickled lemon.
- Whole pickled limes are available in glass jars. Pickled limes add a mellow sweet and sour flavor to soups and curries. Pickled limes can also be diced and added to diced tomatoes to make a salsa.
Shrimp paste
- Thai name: ka-pi
- Available in small containers, made from fermented and salted dried shrimp. Shrimp paste is used to flavor soups, curries and sauces.
Sweet chili sauce
- Used to flavor meats and vegetables and as a dipping sauce for dim sum and spring rolls. Sweet chili sauce is made from palm sugar, red chili, salt, vinegar, water and garlic.
Tamarind paste
- Thai name: ma-khaam
- Tamarind is a fruit commonly used to add a sour flavor to Thai dishes. Tamarind concentrate, which is often labeled sour soup base mix, is the easiest to work with. Tamarind cakes, or paste, which are also available, must be soaked in water, and processed to remove the fibrous pulp, before the resulting tamarind juice is added to recipes.
Additional Information
Thai food uses a plethora of canned and bottled ingredients, besides the ones listed above, such as:
- Bamboo shoots - naw mai
- Lychees - linchii
- Pickled garlic - kra-tiam dong
- Pickled ginger - khing dong
- Preserved cabbage - phak gaund dong
- Preserved radish - tang chai
- Vinegar - naam som
Additional Thai Culinary Ingredients
Fresh Thai culinary ingredients contains a description of the fresh herbs and vegetables that are commonly used in Thai recipes. Dry Thai culinary ingredients discusses which premade dry packaged goods which are used in Asian style cooking. Thai tom kha soup is a wonderful recipe for a chicken, galangal and coconut milk soup.
Resources
The Food of Thailand by Lulu Grimes (Whitecap Books, 2005).
Importfood.com
Lynn Smythe - ABOUT THE WRITER Born and raised in Rochester, New York, freelance writer Lynn Smythe obtained her bachelor's degree in Geology from ...
