See the highlight article below for this topic. Scroll down for a list of more articles on the subject as well as recipes.
Herbs
Thai Basil on sale in a fresh market.
Thai basil (horopa) has an aroma that is very heavy with the scent of anise, much like its Italian cousin. In appearance it has dark purple stems and green leaves with purple veins. Fresh uncooked Thai basil tastes quite a bit like liquorice. Raw sprigs of basil are often served with spicy foods. They cool the mouth quite effectively when you’ve eaten some really hot chillies, and freshen the breath as well.
Thai basil is a critical ingredient in green curries, and its lighter character goes quite well with seafood stir-fries. If you can’t find Thai basil, Italian sweet basil may be used as a last resort, in some cases. Thai basil is a variety specific to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. In English, it is sometimes referred to using its Thai name horopa.
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Pork Panang Curry Panang Moo
Panang is a simple curry that makes a frequent appearance at the curry stall. It uses red curry paste, which is perhaps the most commonly used curry preparations. The recipe for the paste follows. You can make more than necessary for one dish and keep the leftoversMore...
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Pandan – Toei Hawm
Thais have found an amazing number of uses for the leaves (bai) of the pandan plant (toei hawm). The plant is a small shrub whose leaves look like jumbo sized blades of grass. The long slender dark green leaves extend about 80 centimeters from the central root stalk.More...
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Thai Jasmine Pudding with Coconut Cream Topping – Ta-goh
"Jasmine pudding?" I hear you ask. Yes, well coming up with an English name for this Thai sweet was a little difficult. After all, the Thai name ta-goh doesn’t have any direct translation, and it might be a bit confusing if I just used that. You might think I’dMore...
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Lemongrass
The same stalls which sell galangal usually also carry lemongrass which is called ta-krai in Thai. The two end up together in a number of recipes. At the wholesale market, you will see large bundles of lemongrass on sale, bound together with string or strips of dried bananaMore...
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Khmer Chicken with Lemongrass and Holy Basil
This recipe marks a significant departure for me. Not only is it my first Khmer / Cambodian dish, but this is also the first recipe I’ve had to "reverse engineer" from a couple of tastings of the dish. Although I’ve been to Cambodia several times now, I haven’tMore...
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Jade Sticky Rice
I noticed that a few visitors coming here were looking for a "jade" sticky rice recipe, so as it’s December, even here in Bangkok, I thought I’d make a nice "Christmassy" version. The green color ostensibly comes from the addition of pandan flavoring to the sticky rice layer, butMore...
Mint – Saranae
The mint plant’s more than 25 varieties probably originated in Asia but today are found all around the world, and have been used by man since pre-historic times. The common Thai variety is a strain of peppermint and has bright green wrinkly leaves. Mint is used in manyMore...
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Spicy Pork Salad – Larb Moo
The spicy minced meat salad known as larb is found in many different styles all over Thailand. Variations abound, as the dish can be prepared with just about any kind of meat, including duck, chicken, catfish, prawn, beef, and on and on. Sometimes referred to as Thailand’s ownMore...
Coriander
Chili peppers may get all the attention, with their bright colors and flaming spiciness, but in my view the coriander plant is the real workhorse of Thai cuisine. Known as pak chee to the Thais, every part of the plant is used in Thai cooking. The green leaves of freshMore...
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Kaffir Lime
A large basket of dark green leaves is probably the most unusual thing you might see at the curry spice stall. These are the leaves (bai ma-groot) of the kaffir lime tree. The leaves give off a strong lime aroma, and are an important ingredient in many Thai soups andMore...
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Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls
Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls and sauce Fresh Vietnamese spring rolls are one of my favorite snacks / appetizers, although there have been many times when I’ve made an entire light meal out of them. It’s the Thai basil that makes them so addicting, I think. There are many different recipes outMore...
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Holy Basil
The Thai name krapao seems to aptly describe the punch the leaves of this plant give to stir-fries. This relative of the well known herb central to Italian cuisine is used in a large number of Thai dishes, lending its unique fragrance and taste to every kind of meat.More...
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Holy Basil Stir-Fry
Pat krapao, as it’s called in Thai, is a rather ‘standard’ dish that you’ll find available in just about every restaurant and road-side stall in Thailand. My Thai friends sometimes smile at my frequent orders for this dish, since many Thais consider it a bit pedestrian – what theyMore...
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Northern Style Pork Salad
Minced meat salads called larb are a very popular "country" food among the Thais. The dish is mostly identified with the regional cuisine of north-eastern Thailand, which the Thais call Isan, but Chiang Mai has its own variation, which can be a bit more like a soupy curry thanMore...
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Chicken Kaffir with Mushrooms
This meal was the result of having a lot of leftover ingredients from other recipes that I made for posting here. The main things I had filling up my ‘fridge was a large chicken breast, a big packet of kaffir lime leaves and a half can of mushrooms. I decidedMore...
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