Herbs and Ingredients

11:16 AM MC 0 Comments

 I am writing about the herbs and ingredients that are commonly used in Thai food and are available in the North American market. Some fresh herbs are from Thailand, some are from North America, and some are from Central America. For some ingredients you cannot get exactly the same as are used in Thailand, but we can substitute with similar kinds of ingredients that are available here.  For example, for the Prik Kee Noo type of fresh Thai chilli pepper, we can use fresh chilli peppers, the size is about one and an half inch long that are available here at Asian grocery stores and are very close to Prik Kee Noo. And in some recipes we may use jalapeño peppers instead of Prik chee fah.

Lemongrass
Lemongrass is native to tropical Asia. It is widely used as an herb in Asian cuisine, especially South-East Asian cuisine. In Thailand, lemongrass is one of the major herbs in Thai food, is commonly used in soups, curries, tea, salads and ground chilli paste for spicy stir-fried dishes. You can find this lemongrass at Asian grocery stores and many major supermarkets. Lemongrass in the North America market is from California or Central America. It is slightly different from the Thai variety. Lemongrass in the North American market is harder and tougher than lemongrass in Thailand, and the color is greenish-yellow and in Thailand it is more of a pale greenish-white. I haven’t had a chance to compare the scents of Thai and North American lemongrass side by side, but the Thai dishes I make in North America are just like authentic ones.
Galangal
Galangal is a root plant in the ginger family, in its raw form; galangal has a stronger taste than ginger but is also less hot. Like lemongrass, it is another commonly used ingredient in Thai food.  Normally, if there is Galangal in a recipe, there is lemongrass too. Galangal is less common than lemongrass in the North American market, but it’s pretty much available at most Asian grocery stores.



Kaffir Lime
Kaffir lime is in the citrus family and is native to tropical Asia. We use both leaves and fruits for our Thai dishes. The rind of the fruit is commonly used in Thai curry paste and the leaves can be use fresh or dried; I prefer the fresh ones, as they add a stronger aroma and flavour. We use leaves in salad seasoning, spicy stir-fried dishes and soups. For example, Kaffir lime leaves are used in Tom Yum soup, one of the most well-known Thai spicy and sour soups in the world. Fresh Kaffir fruits and leaves are available at Asian grocery stores in North America. They are from Thailand.


Coriander
Cilantro, or coriander, is another commonly used herb in Thai cuisine. Originally, cilantro in Thailand came from China through the cuisine of Chinese immigrants. Thai food has a lot of influences from Chinese cuisine. Noodles are an example, especially rice noodles and stir-fried dishes. Many Thai dishes are originally from Chinese food, adapted, modified, and adjusted for the Thai palate. For example, Krung Ob Woon Sen (Shrimp and glass noodles marinated with herbs and cooked at low heat in a clay pot) was originally a Chinese dish. You can find this dish at almost every Thai restaurant. We use all parts of the cilantro plant: leaves are used in Salads and soups (eg. Tom Yum soup), seeds are used in curry paste and roots with green stems are also used in curry paste. Cilantro is one of the main herbs in Krung Ob Woon Sen dish.
  
Thai Shallot
Shallots are another popular herb in Thai cuisine. We use shallots in many kinds of cooking, being used in fresh dishes like salads (or, “yum”, in Thai), and finely sliced in soups. Deep fried shallots are used as a condiment in some dishes and shallots are a key ingredient of curry paste.





Tamarind Pods
Tamarind is originally an African tropical plant and now grows widely all over the tropics around the world. In Thailand Tamarind fruits are eaten as fruits and used in cooking. Young leaves are used in soups or eaten fresh (with Nam Prik, a spicy dip). Tamarind stalks from mature tamarind trees are used for making cutting boards. There are many kinds of tamarind in Thailand, some are very sweet and some are very sour. We eat the sweet tamarind varieties as fruits and the sour ones we use for cooking and also for snacking – coated with lots of sugar.



Tamarind Cake
 We can find the cooking variety in North America, usually a rectangular cake of them wrapped in plastic.  When Tamarind fruits are very ripe, the skin of the pods is removed and the flesh with brown seeds in side is soft, but firm, and allows for shaping them into this rectangular cake.






Thai Chilli Pepper
Chilli peppers are most popular ingredient. Bird chilli or Prik Kee Noo in Thai is the most popular type of chillies in Thailand. Often when we are hungry, the simplest and fastest dish we will make is a fried egg. But, even for this simple food, we never miss chopped Prik Kee Noo chilli peppers in fish sauce (and, if we cannot find eggs in the kitchen, we may just eat rice with chopped Prik Kee Noo chilli peppers in fish sauce), so chilli peppers are always available in Thai kitchens. We cannot live without them! Thai cuisine is unique in that it addresses all 5 taste senses – sweet, bitter, salty, sour and spicy. The spiciness in Thai food typically comes from chilli peppers, but some southern dishes in Southern Thailand have white pepper added to them, for extra spiciness. Chilli peppers are very commonly used in a majority of Thai dishes – in soups, curry paste, stir-fried dishes and salads.

The Chilli peppers those we use in Thai food are available at the Asian grocery stores in North America. They are about one and a half inches long, some are red and some are green.

Coconut Palm Sugar
Coconut palm sugar is produced from the sap of cut flower buds of the coconut palm. Pure coconut palm sugar is soft like the batter of a cake. Originally coconut palm sugar was contained in a 30-kg tin and was called Nam Tan Pib (Tin sugar). Nowadays, the coconut palm sugar at supermarkets often comes in solid cakes and has been mixed with sugar cane sugar for a longer shelf life and a nicer appearance, but it is still called Nam Tan Pib (Tin sugar).  The original soft coconut palm sugar in a tin is still available at the local markets and for ordinary quantities it is scooped into small plastic bags for sale. 
Coconut palm sugar is used both in savoury dishes and in desserts in Thailand.  Coconut palm sugar is one of the most important ingredients in Pad Thai which, itself, is one of the most well know and popular Thai dishes in the world! 

Thai Basil or Horapha
Thai basil, Asian basil, or Horapha in Thai, is a type of sweet basil that is native to Southeast Asia. Thai basil has a square stem with purple colour and the leaves always grow in pairs with narrow shape.  Thai basil is used in soups, curries, salads, stir-fried dishes and fresh veggie side dishes.  For example, Nam Prik dishes, or Ka Nom Jeen (this is a kind of Thai noodles made from rice and eaten with curry sauce; the noodles are available in supermarkets and Asian grocery stores.



Holy Basil
Holy basil or Ka Prow is an aromatic plant which is native to tropical areas. It is a bush 30 -60 cm tall with hairy stems and hairy leaves that are strongly scented. There are two types of holy basil in Thailand: one with a green stem and green leaves, the other with a purple stem and a stronger scent. Holy basil is commonly used in stir-fried dishes and soups. A common, well known and popular dish is Pad Ga Prow, especially as street food; it is so familiar, it’s like having a hamburger in western countries.

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