The secret to Thai food rely on two things, Thai Herbs and Thai Sauce. Herbs are all about the scent but the mouth watering taste comes from the sauce. Delicious Thai dishes come from perfect Thai sauce recipes. If you get the combination right, you are on your way to cooking perfect Thai Food.



The next time you find your self in a Thai restaurant, look over to your neighbors’ table. Often time, you’ll find small extra Thai sauce in those dishes, unless your particular Thai restaurant caters specifically to non-Thais. I guess what I’m saying is, the more Thai sauces you find on the tables the more authentic Thai food you’ll get.
It’s usually a good sign if those sauces in the small plates taste good. You can assume that other sauces probably comes from a well made sauce recipes. Better yet, if you see condiments with Thai sauce and spices on the table, you know this restaurant is pretty authentic. Thai cooking is about blending herbs, spices, and sauces together. There’s no better way to deliver all the intense flavors than Thai sauce. Thai sauce is divided into two category, cooking sauce and dipping sauce.

ผัดไทย (Pad Thai) - Pad Thai Noodle

ผัดไทย (Pad Thai) - Pad Thai Noodle
Thai Sauces:

Dipping Sauce

* Prik Naam Pla (fish sauce with sliced chili and lime juice) – a universal sauce that goes with almost every rice dishes. Some

restaurants included it in the condiment.
* Prik Naam Som (chili & vinegar sauce) – condiment used to flavor noodles
* Naam Prik Pao (roasted chili paste) – condiment used in variety of dishes (soups, salads, stir fries). Some Thais use Nam Prik Pao as jam substitute to spread on toast.
* Aa-jaad (pickled cucumber Salad) – great dipping sauce for fried fish cakes, satay, and other fried appetizers
* Naam Jiem Saate (peanut sauce) – one of the most popular Thai sauces out side of Thailand. It tastes so good people do not only use it to dip Satay but use it as salad dressing, pizza sauce substitute, pad Thai sauce substitute, and much more. The American should call it “See Food” sauce, what ever food you see you dip in this sauce.
* Naam Jiem Talay (Seafood Sauce) – yes, you’ve guessed it. Naam Jiem Talay is a dipping sauce for all your seafood need. Move over melted butter! Get ready for a fiesta in your mouth. This bad boy is full of flavor and once you take a bite, the intense combination of spicy, sour, salty and sweet will knock your socks off (if made right).
* Naam Jiem Buoi (plum sauce) – popular among kid and people who cannot handle spicy food. Nam Jiem Buoi is great for any fried dishes.
* Jig Choe (vinaigrette soy sauce) – use for making hot and sour soup and dipping sauce for pot sticker and Dim Sum.
* Naam Jiem Gai (chicken dipping sauce) – sweet and spicy sauce. Great with BBQ chicken
* Naam Jiem Seir Rong Hai (crying tiger sauce) – Crying Tiger is one of the more popular dishes in the US. Seared medium rare beef served with dipping sauce, consists of fish sauce, ground roasted rice, chili pepper, soy sauce, and lime juice.


Cooking Sauce

* Nam Pla (fish sauce) – for adding salty flavor. Use in soups, stir fry, and making sauces. You will find fish sauce in dishes like Tom Yum (hot and sour soup), Tom Kah (coconut soup), and pad krapow (stir fry holy basil).
* Nam Som Sai Choo (vinegar) – for adding sour flavor. Use in soups, sweet and sour stir fry.
* Pad Thai Sauce – use for cooking pad Thai
* Phu Khao Tong (Green lid soy sauce) – flavored soy sauce. one of the important sauce which included in many Thai stir fry sauce recipe
* See iew Dum (Sweet black soy sauce) – for making Pad See iew (Sweet sir fried noodle with chinese broccoli and meat). Ingredient in Khao Mun Khai (Broiled chicken meat over flavored rice) dipping sauce
* See iew khao (light soy sauce) – important sauce in many dipping sauce.
* Tammarin Juice – important ingredient in pad thai sauce. Included in some dipping sauce and Thai Khang Som soup (Sour soup with tammarin based)
* Oyster sauce – ingredient in many Thai stir fry sauce recipe including sweet and sour stir fry.
* Curry paste – All curry pastes have similar herbs and spices but different proportion.
o Green curry paste
o Yellow curry paste
o Red curry paste
o Mussamun curry paste
o Chu chee curry paste
o Panang curry paste
o Khua Kling curry paste (Southern Thai food)
o Khang Pa curry paste (Not popular in foreign country)
o Khang Som curry paste (Not popular in foreign country)


As you can see from the list above, Thai food rely mostly on Thai sauce. When you mix and match sauces, they become totally different dishes. Even the same dishes, different proportion make a big difference in flavor. That’s why sauce recipe is the key to separate good Thai food from outstanding Thai delicacy.
Like I said “If you got that combination right, you are on your way to cooking perfect Thai Food”.

Article provided by ThaiSauce.net.

Garlic and Pepper Crusted Pork is a recipe which my friend P-Mala made up. She’s been a professional cook for 20 years, and is one of the best in Thailand! She was patient enough to teach me how to make this recipe, step by step. In fact, she’s so generous, she has agreed to let me come by on a weekly basis to learn some of her special recipes. Keep a look out for more recipes by P-Mala!




You'll need:
* 1/2 kilogram (about 1lb) pork steaks, boneless loin cut
* 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped coriander roots, with about 2" of the stem still on. (about 2-3 roots)
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 cup garlic cloves, de-skinned
* 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
* 1 1/2 tablespoons white soy sauce
* 1 tablespoon white sugar
* 1/2 cup tempura or all-purpose flour


Directions

1. Smash the cilantro roots and salt in a stone mortar & pestle until a paste.
2. Add de-skinned garlic, and smash. Then add peppercorns and smash until paste.
3. Cut your meat into 4 equal slices, and put in a bowl. Add your paste, soy sauce and the sugar. Mix to cover the meat. You can also stab the meat a bit with a fork so the marinade seeps in better.
4. Coat with flour. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 10 hours.
5. After you’ve waited, fry on medium heat in about 1/2″ of oil. Cook until the meat is cooked through and dark brown, flipping once (about 2 minutes on each side). The meat will be pink and not white, since it’s marinated. Do not overcook or burn the garlic crust.
6. It’s best to wait until cooled before cutting, so you don’t lose any juice.

Note:

Serve with Prik Naam Bplaa: 1 tablespoon fish sauce with a chili sliced into rings. This dish can be a one-plate-dish with rice (sticky rice is a great match), or you can serve with a many-dish meal. You can either marinate the day before, or make it in the morning to eat at dinner.

Article provided by Cee (www.realthairecipes.com)

Shallots are used in Thai cooking almost as much as garlic. The shallots which are found in Thailand are smaller than the European varieties, and are a touch more flavorful.




Preparation: To prepare shallots, first cut off the bottom (roots) and then peel off the paper skin. As with any onion, it’s best to not stand directly over the onion, so that you don’t get the onion fumes and start to cry. Keep cutting the shallot lengthwise starting from the first cut you made before. Shallots taste really yummy when cut thin.

Storage: Shallots can be stored unrefrigerated for many weeks at a time. If the bulb is soft, it’s time to buy new shallots!

Recipe provided by Cee (www.realthairecipes.com)

Garlic is used in virtually all Thai dishes. The garlic which is found in Thailand has a stronger flavor than the western version, but all garlic can be used in Thai cooking. The garlic found in Thailand has much smaller cloves, so instead of calling for cloves in recipes, I call by teaspoon or tablespoon.



Preparation: To prepare garlic, first smash the clove with the side of the knife to break the clove somewhat. This will both release the juice and loosen the paper/skin. Then peel the skin off, and chop on a cutting board. There are 3 different sizes you can chop, depending on the recipe used. The smallest size is ‘diced’, followed by ‘chopped’, then ‘full clove’.

Storage: Garlic can be stored unrefrigerated for weeks at a time. When the the clove is brown and soft, it’s time to throw it away.


Recipe provided by Cee (www.realthairecipes.com)

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Cardamom seeds are used in Chinese, South East Asian and Indian cooking. They’re also used in some Western Desserts and Indian spiced tea (masala chai). A few roasted pods make a great addition to Massaman Curry. There are generally two types of cardamom, a green and very fragrant variety from India, and this brown fatter variety from China. Thais usually use the brown one.

Storage: The seeds will last months in the cupboard if kept airtight and dry.