Maawn Fermented Fish Paste
(กะปิมอญ ; gabpi maawn)

Mixing finely chopped fresh chilies including their seeds with fish sauce and a splash of lime juice makes the staple sauce accompanying almost every Thai dish. Restaurants reserve it an honor place on the table, next to the tissue paper and the tooth picks. The debate is on. Some call it “phrik naam bplaa” other will insist on “naam bplaa phrik“. Whatever it’s called, every Thai will admit that some foods just do not taste right without it. It is unimaginable having hot and crispy Thai omelette over rice without it. So, make a batch of it. It will keep for a few weeks in the fridge and will bring you closer to Thailand as it does to the millions of Thais abroad every day.

Stir Fried Chicken with Ginger and Black Ear Mushrooms

Most Thai curry dishes call for freshly prepared curry paste that is best used fresh just before cooking.

Here is a delicious and simple exception – Stir-fried crab meat in curry powder, milk and eggs – A popular Thai seafood recipe which is unique in its use of commercially available curry powder.

The dish was first created by Teochew Chinese chefs in the numerous Chinese restaurants in Bangkok who used to cater to the working class of Thai-Chinese immigrates, that came to the Kingdom from the Guangdong province in the southern coast of China.

Naem is a fermented sausage made with pork, pork skins, cooked sticky rice (glutinous), fresh garlic, salt, sugar and bird’s eye chilies. The sausage is wrapped in banana leaves or synthetic casings, and fermented for 3-5 days at about 30 degrees (C) and 50% humidity. The fermentation process enables the growth of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts, mostly lactobacilli, which accounts for the sourness of the sausage. The salt acts as an inhibitor – preventing the meat from going rotten, allowing the lactic acid bacteria and yeasts to feed on the rice and sugar, and fermenting the meat to perfection.

Here is a dish with a modest name that has been part of Thai culture for at least couple of hundred years. Traditionally Thai salads are divided into three main categories based on the dressing type. The most popular salads are those with with clear dressings made of lime juice, fish sauce, crushed chilies and a touch of sugar.