Posted on March 20, 2010.
Thai Cooking 101 Influenced by the Chinese stir-fries and Indian curries, Thai food is a mish-mash style of cooking that encourages experimentation, which is useful if you have trouble finding some of his more obscure ingredients.
Lack of familiarity with these flavors, and even fewer understand how they interact with each other, is common obstacle for beginners, but do not be discouraged! We promise it will be quick and relatively painless, and the reward of exposure to a new world of flavors, well worth the effort.
So next time you plan a meal, resist your urge a rapid solution to prevail; see our beginners guide to Thai cuisine, the areas below, and learn how a little info and a culinary history adventurous palate can cook something that you actually welcome, and good health! We have also compiled a list of several traditional Thai ingredients with everything you need to know about them, from cooking techniques to health services for advice on where to obtain them. So Get ready for ...
Thai Cooking 101
Unlike Westerners who tend to eat in several courses, a Thai meal typically has one and is dedicated suddenly. Steamed rice is a constant at mealtime, and comes with a number of (typically wok)-flat about a person. Eating together is a community event, and all meals are shared around the table as usual.
There is usually a balance between sour, salty, sweet and spicy in a dish or through a meal and is believed to restore harmony between body and Yin Yang forces. Yin represents the cold, or the soothing energy, for example, coconut milk, and Yang represents the hot energy that increases the pulse rate, for example, peppers.
This theory has been transmitted from generation to generation, and while many people swear by it, we invite you to discover for yourself.
Jasmine Rice
The jasmine rice is aromatic and popular almost exclusively from Thailand, making it one of the least accessible foundations of Thai cuisine Do not panic right away, fans of jasmine rice: health food and specialty stores are Storage jasmine rice in their packaging section of the grain, and Asian grocery stores / markets are more likely to do so. Another popular Thai rice is short grain sticky rice, which is easier to find similar markets, and can be replaced with sushi rice, if available.
Tip: Store in a dry jasmine rice cool place away from moisture and outdoor; Cooked rice can be refrigerated for up seven days, or stored in the freezer for six months.
Lemongrass
An essential ingredient in Thai cooking, lemongrass is an aromatic compound (some say mint) herbs to taste lemony. It grows in long fibrous stalks of which only the juicy yellow-white bulbs are used, and it is customary to break them with a knife before cutting and cooking to help their aroma and flavor of a dish.
Lemongrass can be finely chopped and added to curries and pasta, but it is more often used as cinnamon or bay leaves, which are generally removed before serving.
Lemongrass has been used since antiquity to relieve fever, abdominal pain and symptoms of colds. It is gradually becoming a more common in health food stores and can almost always be found at Asian grocery. If you are not lucky enough to have one in your area, a mixture of lemon zest (peel) with a small amount of ginger is a common substitute for lemongrass, lemon leaves and are sometimes also used. If fresh lemongrass is not available, it is dried and powdered varieties. Two tablespoons of spice powder is equal to about one stalk fresh, and use a 2-3 extra rooms if cooking dried lemon grass (where the seasoning, keeping in mind that lemon grass is dried salty).
If you want the freshest possible lemongrass, yo.
