COMMON THAI INGREDIENTS This list is by no means exhaustive, and merely provides descriptions of common ingredients used in this workshop and very basic Thai cooking. Chilies Thai cooking uses a variety of chilies, depending on the heat desired. Use any chili pepper that will provide the right sting and bite. Substitution: Sweet peppers mixed with dried chilies or chili powder. Coconut Milk and Cream This is the liquid produced by grating mature coconut flesh, soaking it in hot water and then squeezing the pulp. As the liquid cools, it separates into milk and cream. While fresh is best, canned is generally as good. Be careful not to get coconut milk with added sugar. It is not the liquid found inside a mature coconut, which is actually called coconut water. Coriander Leaves An herb, also called cilantro or chinese parsley, which is similar to italian parsley in appearance but with a sweet, pungent flavour and fragrance. Coriander Roots The root from the coriander plant (above). Has a lemony/peppery flavour and is one of the distinctive flavours found in Thai cooking. Commonly used in pastes and stir-fries. Tip: Coriander roots can be frozen! Substitution: Pound together parsley root and grated lemon peel. Fish Sauce This is a very salty sauce made by pickling fish and then drawing off the liquid that results. A good sauce should be a clear red-brown. A vegetarian variety is available in Thailand (although I have not found one here). Substitution: Light soy sauce with or without a bit of oyster sauce or anchovy essence. Galanga Root Also called siamese ginger or Kha. This root is similar to ginger but lacks the tough outer skin and is a pale yellow/white colour with reddish spots. It has less of a bite than ginger and is slightly lemony in flavour. You can buy it fresh in Asian markets, or frozen. Lemon Grass A tall grass with a bulbous base. The stalks are quite tough even when young. Lemon grass must be pounded or sliced to release its lemony fragrance and flavour. Substitution: Dried lemon grass soaked for at least 1 hr, lemon peel Keffir Lime Also called wild lime or makrood. The double leaf is a shiny green and gives a distinctive lime-vanilla-like fragrance when torn. The fruit looks like a knobby green lime. Substitution: None for the leaf but lime can be used in place of the fruit. Noodles There are manay varieties of noodles in Thai cooking. They can be thin, thick, flat or cylindrical and made from rice, mung-beans or wheat. Woon-Sen, made from mung-bean flour, is my preferred because of its high protein content and slightly chewy texture. They look like Chinese dried rice-noodles. If using rice noodles, dried are better than fresh for stir-frying. Substitution: Angel hair pasta. Oyster Sauce Another fermented sauce made from oysters, soy beans and brine, a vegetarian variety made with mushrooms is widely available. Substitution: Dark soysauce with molasses or honey Palm Sugar This is the palm tree equivalent of maple sugar and has a nice mild flavour. It is sold in cakes or bricks, and you can occasionally find a softer variety in jars. Substitution: Maple syrup, honey, (golden brown sugar) Pickled Radish (Salted Turnip) This is simply pickled daikon radish: a japanese, large, elongated radish. It is available in vacuum packs in most oriental food stores. Substitution: None Soybean Paste This is a fermented sauce made from cooked soybeans. The fermentation process is stopped by the addition of salt just prior to bottling. Buy the varieties in the jars where you can clearly see lots of tan-coloured soybean halves in a dark but not cloudy liquid. Substitution: Light miso paste. Shallot A small red-skinned onion, about the size of a pickling onion. The taste is like a cross between onion and garlic. This is not a spring onion, which is commonly, mistakenly, called a shallot. Substitution: Onion with a touch of garlic. Shrimp Paste A salty paste made by pounding shrimp, fish and salt together. Substitution: None Sticky Rice A glutinous, short-grain rice that cooks up harder, stickier and sweeter than most rices. It is used as a savory rice, or sweetened with palm sugar and coconut as a desert rice. Substitution: Short-grain Italian arborio rice or sushi rice. Tamarind Usually available dried in a block from Asian and Indian groceries, this is the bitter fruit of the tamarind tree. It is an important souring agent. A juice is obtained by soaking the dried paste. Substitution: Lemon juice, lime juice or sour vinegar.