Mixing the cuisines from India and China, as well as stong influences from neighbouring Vietman, Cambodia and Burma; Thai food has become extremely popular the world over. A unique blend of hot, spicy, sweet, sour, bitter and piquant flavours surely has something to tempt every palette, with each region of Thailand having its own distinct style.

 

The ritual of sharing is essential to the Thai table and food is usually cut into small pieces to facilitate this.Guests are served with separate bowl of rice at the start of the meal, and the accepted etiquette is to place a spoonful or two of rice on a plate and then taking one of the accompanying dishes that have been arranged in the center to eat with the rice. Dipping into several curries or accompaniments at the same time is considered very bad etiquette.

A spoon and fork are usually used to eat Thai food, not chopsticks. The spoon being be held in the right hand and used to eat from, the fork should only be used to manouver food around the plate, and should definately not be placed in your mouth.

Here’s a recipe for a typical Thai green curry., add or take-away chillies to suit your taste. The curry paste can be made well in advance, and if you store the paste in an airtight jar with some vegetable oil added, it will keep in the fridge for about 3 months.

For the Green Curry Paste
1 tsp. kaffir lime leaves (or the juice and zest of 1/2 a lime)
5 tsp. shallots
1 tsp. coriander seeds
5 tsp. diced garlic
2 cm. peeled cube galangal or ginger.
2 or more hot green chilles
10 or less small mild green chilles
(the green chillies give the dish its colour, if you don’t mind not having a very green curry, you can omit them)
3 tsp. ground corriander
3 tsp. lemon grass
Good pinch of cumin
Good pinch of black pepper
2 tsp. shrimp paste
(alternatively, buy a jar of green curry paste)To make the paste: Put all the ingredients except the shrimp paste in a blender, or use a pestle and mortar, to grind down to a fairly fine paste, add the shrimp paste last. - see above for storage of excess paste.

Ingredients
2 tbsp. curry paste
2 chicken breasts cut into strips
2 cans coconut milk
250ml chicked stock
2 tsp. white sugar
2 tbsp. fish sauce
100g. fresh or frozen peas
Fresh basil leaves
3 or 4 kaffir lime leaves to garnish

Cook the paste in a large wok or frying pan on a medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Add the chicken and fry until the chicken is just cooked (ie. is not pink) Add the coconut milk and simmer for a few minutes stirring all the time, so it doesn’t stick. Turn the heat up and bring to boil. Add all the other ingredients, except the basil. then simmer gently until the peas are cooked. Just before serving add the shredded basil leaves and stir in well.
Serve over Thai jasmine rice, garnished with the kaffir lime leaves.

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