How well do you know Thai ingredients?

To cook Thai food well, one needs to understand Thai ingredients. Let's take a deep dive into the basics!

Sawaddee ka! 🙏🏼

The first place to begin when learning any new cuisine is to learn about its key ingredients.

Ingredients are the alphabet that form the words, and then the language. But where to start? It can be overwhelming navigating shelves of unfamiliar sauces, but in this video I take you on a tour of an Asian grocery store to demystify all of the core Thai ingredients!

Are you a food nerd?

Then you’ll want to take it further and do a “deep dive” into individual ingredients, and even a few “how it’s made” videos. Here are a few to check out, but for ALL of my ingredient videos, view my complete Thai Ingredients 101 playlist.

Oyster Sauce

Oyster sauce is a member of what I call the “Sauce Trinity” of Thai Cuisine (the others being fish sauce and soy sauce). But how do you know which of oyster sauce is the “best” one? Some are cheap and some are pricey but does that matter? In this video I taste test several brands - including vegetarian options - and give you lots of tips on what to watch for when shopping.

Thai Curry Paste

Curry paste is a staple in any Thai kitchen and one that’s really important to understanding Thai cuisine as a whole. But, there are endless variations available and it can be hard to know which to choose from. In this video I walk you through how to choose the right curry paste for you, making VS buying, storing, and more!

How Coconut Milk is Made

In this mini documentary I take you from farm to can as we learn how coconut milk is made in Thailand and you might be very surprised by the process! We go from very low tech and adventurous to very high tech and fascinating as we follow the whole journey in a single day!

Soy Sauce - The Ultimate Guide!

If there is one ingredient in Thai cooking that can be completely overwhelming and confusing it has to be soy sauce. The options are endless and how on earth do you find the one you’re looking for?? I could do an entire series on soy sauce but I created this video to distill it down to the most important info you’ll need - especially when it comes to Thai cuisine.

Lemongrass

Lemongrass is a staple in Thai cooking but when you see it in the store you might have a lot of questions about what to do with it! In this video I share lots of tips and tricks on the multiple ways to work with it including alternates to fresh lemongrass and some handy storage tips.

I have lots more Thai Ingredient 101 videos for everything from fish sauce to palm sugar in this YouTube playlist!