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So intimidating. I just got a cookbook, but every dish has so many ingredients and so many steps...
Makes me nervous.
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway
If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy
He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
i always make a big mess too, and i can't ever get it to be as good as a restaurant... worth a try though, especially if you have more culinary skills than myself
Another thing is that I'm so unfamiliar with many of the ingredients that I don't really know what I'm looking for as far as freshness, quality etc.
So I don't even know if the things that I'm using are very good, and that's always important when cooking...
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway
If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy
He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
whatcha cooking? i cooked in a thai joint for ~10 yrs (i'm a white guy) if i can help, let me know. and yeah, its hard to recreate some of the stir fries when you don't have a well-seasoned wok sitting on top a gas jet burner.
as far as the mess goes, make sure you have all your ingredients in order, chopped and measured (mise en place).
curries and soups are rather easy to prepare at home. i like green curry (gaeng keow wan) and hot and sour soup (tom yum). good homemade results are not hard to achieve, even for the beginner.
some stir fries like chicken basil (gai grapow) are pretty easy to make also. but, i will tell you, pad thai cooked at home is kinda tricky- definitely need a screaming hot wok or flat-top griddle.
and remember- thai food is so delicious because it is a balance: sweet, sour, salty, spicy.
-------------------- ~I'm not In a Position to Properly run Anything?~
~Twice the Fun in Half the Time!~
2 newtz is right, Thai culinary studies will talk extensively about the balance of the 5 flavors. Thai is a lot easier than one would think but if you are just getting started there are ways to cheat. Curry pastes are available premade and pretty much all you have to do is add coconut milk and your meats/veggies. My local Asian market has Tom Kha and Tom Yum pastes that all you do is mix with water and add your meats an veggies and those are pretty damn good. Not as good as from scratch or a good Thai restaurant obviously, but good none the less.
Shake your cans of coconut milk and listen to it before you buy them. I personally don't like buying a can of coconut milk and it coming out entirely solid and shaped like the can... Also shake em before you pour em anyway, makes life easier.
Kaffir Lime leaves are great, I store mine whole and frozen and they keep their flavor just fine that way if you ask me. You may have to ask your local Asian food market about them as they might not always be on display fresh/frozen
Don't forget to bruise your lemon grass. It helps pull out of a lot more of the flavor if you take a blunt object and beat your lemon grass.
Fish Sauce is AWESOME don't let the name intimidate you from using it even if your bottle does say "Sauce De Poisson" and buy a larger bottle, you will have a lot of recipes call for this just like with coconut milk.
Don't be afraid to tweak your recipes after you have tried them. Add more red chili powder, or lime leaf or maybe throw some cashews on your mussaman curry (i love it topped with fresh avocado) Anyway, tell us what you end up making or would like to make. Cooking Thai is a blast. And remember Galangas are not boobies.
I am not at all afraid of it. But this gets to my "I don't know which kind to get..." thing. The local oriental store stocks probably 30 different kinds of fish sauce, some of which are markedly different in texture and ingredients from another.
Can you recommend a good "basic" fish sauce?
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway
If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy
He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
A decent fish sauce will appear brown to dark brown and have the consistancy of malt viniger IMHO the bottle I have in my kitchen contains nothing but water, salt, sugar and anchovy extract and its pretty good.
I really like squid brand (this is thai fish sauce: nam pla). you should be able to find it at an asian grocery. stay away from tiparos brand (nasty IMO). the vietnamese fish sauces (nuoc mam) are also less superior.
most thai restaurants use curry pastes. i have made curry paste from scratch, but it involves a lot of ingredients and time (pounding them together with a mortar and pestle).
here's how we made green curry at the restaurant:
1 small can mae ploy brand curry paste 6 cans chaokoh brand coconut milk (DO NOT SHAKE) 1 can water (use empty coconut milk can) ~1/2 can fish sauce ~3/4 can sugar ~8 kaffir lime leaves (fresh is obviously more intense) small handfull fresh thai sweet basil (hora-pa)
in a heavy deep pot heat 2 T vegetable oil. add curry paste and stir constantly till smooth. add kaffir leaves and fry this mixture for about 1 minute. add the cream portion of the coconut milk (good coconut milk will settle over time, cream on top, water on bottom). reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally. after 15 minutes add the remaining coconut "water". simmer 10 more minutes. at this point check the consistency and add regular water if it's too thick.
now add the fish sauce and sugar (of course these can be adjusted for taste). simmer a little longer. add fresh basil when done. this is your sauce to which you'll add meat and/or veggies.
this recipe makes a lot, but will keep for a week .
of course not all curries are the same, and there are differences that set them apart. for instance, green curry is usually sweeter (little more sugar). masaman (muslim) curry typically has no basil, and has roasted peanuts added. also, certain meats are more well-suited for certain curries. red and green curries can carry most any meat or seafood, but masaman and paenang curries do not carry seafood well. I'm sure you're cookbook will give you some ideas and direction with what you like.
-------------------- ~I'm not In a Position to Properly run Anything?~
~Twice the Fun in Half the Time!~
have a few books i got as gifts..never able to get to the point where its just as good as at a restaurant. Tried to make some Tom Yum today...turned out quite sub par. Not awful just...not what its supposed to taste like haha
-------------------- Try to realise it's all within yourself
no one else can make you change
And to see you're really only very small
and life flows on within you and without you
good tom yum is pretty easy- and i don't recommend using a pre-made soup mix.
you'll want to make a stock with 1 stalk lemongrass (bruise and chop into 6 inch lengths), a knob of galangal, ~6 dried kaffir leaves, and a few dried whole red peppers. chicken bones can also be added. add these to about 1 gallon of water and bring to boil... then simmer for ~20 min. this is enough stock for 8 large bowls of soup.
next, take out the amount of stock you'll want to use (2 servings...etc). put this in a pot. for each serving add 1 heaping T nam prik pao(sweet roasted chili paste), 1 t fish sauce, 1 t sugar, and the juice of 1/2 a small lime.
in this, cook your meat (shrimp/squid/scallops/mussels/chicken), then add mushrooms (typically paddy straw) and large diced fresh tomatoes. garnish with fresh cilantro and green onion. i love to eat this with a bowl of rice.
-------------------- ~I'm not In a Position to Properly run Anything?~
~Twice the Fun in Half the Time!~
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(sweet roasted chili paste), 1 t fish sauce, 1 t sugar, and the juice of 1/2 a small lime. 
