Curry Spices

Curry spices in the market.

A stall you will find in most markets will sell the fresh spices that go into many Thai dishes, perhaps most notably the well known hot and spicy tom yum soup. From these vendors, food stall owners will buy bunches of lemongrass, kilos of galangal and the other spices that will be used in many curries. The ordinary home cook who just wants to make a single dish of tom yum or other curry will most likely buy a “kit” assembled by the stall owner, and consisting of a few stalks of lemongrass, a small knob of galangal, a couple of kaffir lime leaves and a lime. These kits are usually packaged in a heavy plastic bag and will cost less than 25 US cents.