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Pantry Audit: The Thai Kitchen

October 25, 2007 |

We adore Thai food - the fresh and complex flavours and the harmony of colours and textures. Thai cuisine, like Chinese cuisine, is vegan-friendly. However, we were intimidated by the prospect of preparing it at home, especially with J’s aversion to anything ‘fishy’ (like the fish sauce and shrimp pastes that find their way into many of the vegetable curries). Both of us have visited Thailand (separately) and would love to understand the cuisine of this beautiful nation.

A trip online helped us locate many Thai vegetarian cookbooks, and we ordered this one.

The term “eating Thai-Thai” captures the Thai culinary ethic. Chat Mingkwan explains it thus:

The first “Thai” in “Thai-Thai” means freedom, as in the spirit of the Thai people, whose independence has been maintained throughout the centuries against formidable Western powers of colonization. The second “Thai” means Thai food and style. Eating anything, anytime, and anywhere seems to best capture the meaning of “eating Thai-Thai.” And why can’t we cook a delicious Thai meal our way, the vegetarian way?”

This book focuses on munksa-virut (Sanskrit for ‘meatless‘ ) cuisine - the food the Thai people consume during holy days as part of their Buddhist belief system. It has helped us prepare and enjoy many of our favourite Thai curries at home.

The recipes in this book are authentic and straighforward. Buddha’s Table has a whole array of recipes from the various parts of Thailand. If you love Thai food and are vegetarian or vegan, we recommend this book highly. We will be focussing, for the most part, on the section in this book titled ‘Curries and Sauces’.

Listed below are staples of the Thai vegetarian kitchen. Since we do not buy these ingredients often, when we do, we make an assortment of curry pastes and freeze them. Even if we are missing an ingredient or two or make substitutions, the end result tastes far superior to the readymade spice pastes.

CHILLIES - dried and fresh

The spice pastes in this book use New Mexico or California chillies, that are milder and smokier than the dried red chillies used in Indian cooking. The new Mexico variety is hotter and smokier than the California variety. If using Indian dried chillies, adjust the quantitity to suit your taste.

Dried red chillies used in India are often of the jalapeno, serrano or Thai variety.

Thai Bird’s eye chillies from our garden

These babies are HOT. Serranos, jalapenos etc will work too.

THE GALANGAL MAN

Ginger is an okay substitute, but it does not have the citrusy odour and pungency of galangal. We puree and freeze our galangal if we get a big quantity. It’s also great in tea.

KAFFIR LIME LEAVES

A kaffir lime leaf looks as if two glossy, dark green leaves were joined together end to end, forming a figure-eight pattern. Most Thai recipes count each double leaf as two separate leaves. Frozen kaffir lime leaves are a good substitute for fresh. Dried leaves are much less flavorful, so use twice as many as the recipe calls for if you’re substituting them for fresh leaves. Substitutes: lime leaves OR kaffir lime (One tablespoon of zest from a kaffir lime is equivalent to about 6 kaffir lime leaves.) OR lime zest (One tablespoon of zest from a lime is equivalent to about 6 kaffir lime leaves.) OR lemon leaves OR lemons (One tablespoon of zest from a lemon is equivalent to about 6 kaffir lime leaves.)

(from cooksthesaurus.com)

Or try a combo of lime zest and curry leaves.

Kaffir lime leaves store well for atleast three months in the freezer.

LEMONGRASS

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) is a native of India, but is used much more widely in Thai and Vietnamese cooking. We love it in tea with ginger. Frozen lemongrass is a good substitute for fresh, but dried lemongrass (soaked in hot water) is only a fair substitute. Use powdered version (called sereh powder) only in a pinch.

Substitutes: lemon zest (1 tsp = 1 stalk lemon grass) OR lemon verbena OR lemon balm OR lemon leaves. Lemon zest has a slight bitterness, so watch how much goes in. (More about lemongrass and its uses HERE)

LIMES

SHALLOTS

Red onions are a good substitute

GARLIC

CILANTRO / CORIANDER LEAVES

THAI BASIL

Stronger than Italian basil, which is a good substitute.

TAMARIND

Tamarind (Tamarindus Indica) is called ‘Indian date‘, and is the fruit of the evergreen tamarind tree. Tamarind leaves are used in a variety of preparations in India. The tree is native to eastern Africa, and the fruit is commonly consumed in India, South and Southeast Asia, and in Mexico. They are very tangy and a tad sweet - with notes of date and lime. Tamarind is the secret ingredient in Worcestershire sauce. Nutritional info here.

COCONUT MILK

(Pic: Wikimedia Commons)

Home-made or from a can. Not all coconut milks are created equal. Find a brand you like and stick with it. We like the Chaokoh brand, reduced fat. Coconut milk powder works equally well. Available at Asian and Carribean stores.

FERMENTED BEAN CURDS

Fermented Bean Curds (Tao hu yee) are tofu curds that have been fermented with salt, vinegar, rice wine, and/or spices until they develop an extremely pungent taste and flavour equivalent to Thai shrimp paste or Limburger cheese. They come in a small jar and may be stored, tightly sealed, in the refrigerator for up to one year.

This is used instead of the fermented shrimp paste normally used in Thai cooking. Honestly, we don’t see any difference in flavour even if we skip this ingredient. So if you don’t have it already, don’t bother buying it.

VEGETABLE STOCK

Many recipes call for vegetable stock. You can use water instead. We used diluted Better than Bouillon Organic Vegetable base and reduce the salt in the recipe.

NAMPRIK POW (Chilli Paste in Soybean Oil)

This is hot and sour, and gives the distinctive taste to favourites like Tom Yum Soup.
Most store-bought versions have fish or shrimp paste. Recipe for the vegetarian version HERE.

PEANUTS

Peanuts are often toasted and added to curries.

RICE

The most well-known among the Thai varieties is Jasmine rice.

Another distinctive variety is Black Rice. See Thai Black Rice Pudding.

Then there are the usual pantry staples like

Soy sauce (we use tamari)
Toasted (dark) Sesame Oil
Tofu in various forms
and spices like coriander, turmeric, peppercorns, etc.

Not to forget our favourite kitchen tool - the granite mortar and pestle (it’s from Thailand). Spice pastes made using this taste so much better.

Thailand in pictures

Thai cooking videos

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44 Comments so far

  1. sharmi on October 25, 2007 12:48 pm

    the pic of tamarind can not get any better! very informative post!

  2. Asha on October 25, 2007 12:52 pm

    Okey dokey!! Bring them on!! I love red Thai curry :)

  3. sia on October 25, 2007 1:28 pm

    thats cool. while browsing for the veg thai recipe book i had option of buying Buddha’s Table and Thai Vegetarian Cooking by Chat Mingkwan and i went for the latter. and boy!!! no regret as u will be posting recipes for me(us;) :dance: i am still waiting for my book. as soon as i get hold of it i too am gonna try quite few thai recipes :D

  4. sia on October 25, 2007 1:35 pm

    oh it’s Real Vegetarian Thai by McDermott not the one i mentioned before :)

  5. Madhu on October 25, 2007 1:52 pm

    Beautiful introduction to ingredients, like the pictures.
    Will be looking forward for the recipes.

  6. pam on October 25, 2007 2:07 pm

    Thai cooking is my favorite! I loved this post (that was the first time I’ve seen tamarind other than a paste), and I look forward to more.

  7. Rajitha on October 25, 2007 2:22 pm

    yaay..thai food..awesome..i have been eyeing that book for a while..but was not sure..but will be buying it now :)

    bee- the low fat oatmeal crumble- suganya has a yummy one posted in her blog.

  8. Mishmash! on October 25, 2007 2:56 pm

    Looking forward to ur Thai series.. I will have to upgrade my pantry as I dont cook much thai food ..waiting to see your notes and experiments!

  9. sunita on October 25, 2007 3:06 pm

    First Sia, then you two :notlisten…I’m seriously craving Thai now :cry:…hmmm something needs to be done soon :hmm:

  10. kribha on October 25, 2007 3:10 pm

    Very informative. I echo Sunita. Anyway, will wait for your recipes for the different pastes.

  11. Nabeela on October 25, 2007 3:12 pm

    I recently went on a Thai food craze too and bought a bunch of things. My thai pantry looks very similar to the one you have :)

  12. musy on October 25, 2007 3:23 pm

    There’s a Thai food wave going on :). I have been making lots of Thai curries too :-D. Lovely pcitures of the different ingredients!

  13. Manisha on October 25, 2007 5:14 pm

    I have a mess of drool on my keyboard cos of that tamarind pic. I haven’t been able to read further…

  14. Vidya on October 25, 2007 5:43 pm

    I can definitely endorse that lemon zest is NOT an equal substitue for lemon grass… bitterness can kill!

  15. richa on October 25, 2007 6:46 pm

    what an exhaustive post :D look forward to the curry paste recipes

  16. pelicano on October 25, 2007 7:29 pm

    Very nice…addictive cuisine isn’t it? I think most especially wonderful is the expectation to experiment, have fun and use what is fresh and in season- never the same dish twice!

    I’ll add Buddha’s Table to my list by your recommendation; another good one is Thai Vegetarian Cooking, Vatcharin Bhumichitr.

  17. Rajeswari on October 25, 2007 8:52 pm

    Thai cusine is attracting to many of us, you have just took a great topic and your post is informative with percect photograhy :)

  18. Tina_Who on October 25, 2007 9:40 pm

    I love cooking Thai food and also speak a bit of the language
    so to say hello is Sawadee Kha if talking to a female.and Sawadee khap (male )
    Khopkhoon kha ..means Thank-you

    I liked all the pictures ..good job on them ..

  19. sra on October 25, 2007 10:35 pm

    We got that tamarind here a while ago, sold as Malaysian sweet tamarind!

  20. Rachna on October 26, 2007 2:32 am

    i have exactly the same mortar and pestle…will have to leave it behind here in africa :( :( :(

    ive never delved into thai food much, wud love to try yur pastes and recipes…. :D

  21. indosungod on October 26, 2007 3:29 am

    Looking forward to the recipes. Can’t believe its our good old tamarind looking that pretty. I am still looking for Galangal, the Asian stores don’t carry it around here or I am not asking correctly :)

  22. Nupur on October 26, 2007 3:57 am

    Very informative post, and a true feast for the eyes!

  23. padmaja on October 26, 2007 4:11 am

    hey what a post with those fantastic pictures to describe thai food. Bee its amazing!!! and hey I am so glad I won your prize, sent an email now!!

  24. swaroopa on October 26, 2007 5:42 am

    very informative post!! liked the way u explained thai-thai.

  25. Priya on October 26, 2007 5:42 am

    Can’t wait for the recipes. I absolutely love Thai food and had got the curry pastes you mentioned in the microwave cooking post. After that it was Thai for a week at home. I’ve stocked a few in my pantry now too but can’t wait to make my own :horn:

  26. Latha on October 26, 2007 6:01 am

    Wonderful post Guys! Lovely to see all the ingredients up close - no chance to wonder what they look like! And that book sounds perfect - especially since it is munksa virat! Will try to get a hold of it sometime..meanwhile looking forward to some yummy thai recipes from your blog!
    Og BTW - the first picture is beautiful. I have not been to Thailand - my parents went for a visit recently and they loved it - so much culture, love all the shopping they did for me :-)

  27. sandeepa on October 26, 2007 6:20 am

    Great post, where do you get your Kafir Lime leaves from ? have been searching hi & lo, in my local Asian Store, but very hard to explain to them what I am looking for !!!

  28. bindiya on October 26, 2007 6:41 am

    Love Thai food, splendid post.

  29. Anita on October 26, 2007 8:11 am

    I look forward to this series and hope I can bring about a change of heart for my vegetarian husband!

    That pestle and mortar is just so beautiful! I have gotta get me one!

  30. Mansi on October 26, 2007 11:21 am

    Looks great!! we are huge Thai Food fans…I’ve posted soups and pad thai and thai curries on my blog as I love cooking them!! Sia just posted red and green curry 2 days ago, and you guys will fill up the rest of the void! Perfect :) a very well-written post, btw!

  31. Dhana on October 26, 2007 11:37 am

    ooh, u are making me nostalgic..I did my Masters in Bangkok, so this was a total walk down memory lane for me :)

  32. grihini on October 26, 2007 3:19 pm

    very informative peice. thanks for sharing. will book mark this page. :)

  33. Seema on October 26, 2007 4:13 pm

    Superb photography & information.. My family loves thai food.. so looking out for recipes!!

  34. Cynthia on October 26, 2007 7:30 pm

    Looking forward to your Thai adventure in the kitchen. I too am a big fan of Thai cuisine.

  35. Meg Wolff on October 27, 2007 2:04 pm

    :love:
    I really loved the first photo of the people & boats on the klong. I love Vegan Thai food too, but I only have it a little spicey. This cookbook looks great. Maybe my son would like it for Christmas (he makes a great Tofu Pad Thai). Nice post, thanks.

  36. Maninas on October 27, 2007 2:39 pm

    Hi Bee & Jai! This was a fantastic post!
    I was also very interested to see your pestle and mortar. - Because I almost bought one like that myself. I wasn’t sure whether the sides were too low, which is why I didn’t do it. Also, how easy is it to clean, given that it’s quite heavy? Your advice is much appreciated! Many thanks!

  37. Pragyan on October 29, 2007 6:16 pm

    oh boy..why are you doing this to me? I just ate dinner and I am hungry all-over again thinking of Thai food. :) Can’t wait to see how to make the pastes!!

  38. Vegeyum on October 30, 2007 2:28 pm

    Great photos! Really nice.

  39. Maninas on November 1, 2007 7:58 am

    Hi Bee! I bought my pestle and mortar! yippiiii! Thank you for the info and advice you gave me!

    ps. what is a good substitute for grated fresh coconut?

    THANKS! :)

    you can get frozen grated coconut at indian stores. or you can use unsweetened dry dessicated coconut, also found at indian stores. we mostly use frozen. - b.

  40. Maninas on November 2, 2007 11:37 am

    Once again, thanks, Bee! :) This info is very helpful!

  41. Sir on November 14, 2007 6:27 am

    Awesome pics B&J esp the pretty tamarind pic. Thats my favorite… :yes: I am not at all good at Thai cooking and also had a very little opportunity to have Thai food outside in restaurants.. :( :(
    Will look forward to your recipes.. :love: :love:
    and now a final :bow: for your photographic skills..will I cud be that good.. :shh: ;)

    -Siri

  42. pauaprincess on January 5, 2008 3:23 am

    I love a nice green curry, the tang of lime with coconut milk and the warmth from the curry. I like Malaysian cooking too. Jasmine rice is my favorite fragrant rice, I always have a bag of it in my cupboard and I always have coconut cream as well. Here in NZ we get most of our coconut milk/cream from the Pacific Islands.

  43. mendbroro on January 22, 2008 11:06 am

    Hello!
    Nice site ;)
    Bye

  44. PookandHouse on June 8, 2008 10:19 pm

    We are Thai and have to admit that you guy are Thai food expert. Awesome site !!

    Love the pictures in pic section….

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