Ben's Home Cooking

Thailand Menu

Thai food is one of my favorites, and the prices at Thai grocery stores are very low, about one third of what you’d pay for Thai Kitchen brand at the supermarket. If you shop at Thai grocery stores and eat nothing but Thai food, you can feast like a king on a food budget of $100 per person per month. Surprisingly, the prices at Thai grocery stores have gotten lower over the past 20 years, rather than higher.

Nam pla is Thai fish sauce, which is an essential ingredient in Thai food. Fish sauce is also popular in other Southeast Asian countries. The best brand of Thai fish sauce is Squid brand. It’s not made from squid though; it’s made from anchovies subjected to a fermentation process similar to that used for soy sauce. Fish sauce is known as nouc cham in Vietnam, and as patis in the Philippines (where it’s made out of mackerel). Among the inland hill tribes of Indochina, fish sauce is made out of freshwater fish.

Another important fermented seafood product is dry shrimp paste. This product is a common seasoning throughout Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. It’s known as kapi in Thailand, ngapi in Burma, bagoong in the Philippines, and blachan or trasi in the South Pacific.

If you frequently cook Thai food you may want to get a Southeast Asian style mortar and pestle. The mortar is made out of clay, and the pestle is made out of wood. They are quite large and very sturdy; a Western style small set won’t do the trick, because sometimes you’ll be pounding several cups of food at a time. They are reasonably priced at Thai grocery stores.

The correct variety of rice to serve with Thai food is Jasmine rice. It has a special aroma that sets it apart from ordinary long grain rice. Don’t settle for anything less.