How to Stock a Thai Pantry?

Fish sauce "Nam Pla"

Fish sauce is used as salt in Thai cuisine. It's the backbone of Thai cooking, it adds savor to Thai salads, curries, soups, stir-fries, and marinades.

Add to fish sauce some lime juice and coconut sugar and you've got the ubiquitous hot-sour-salty-sweet dressing for Som Tam papaya salad.

Palm Sugar "Nam Tan Ma-phrao"

Coconut palm sugar is one of the natural sweeteners you will love to have in your kitchen!

It is produced from the sap of the flower bud stem of the coconut palm. Less sweet and more complex in flavor than white cane sugar, palm sugar delivers a caramelized sweetness with a woodsy, earthy undertone.

Coconut Milk "Ka-thi"

One of the many ingredients that make Thai food so delicious and unique is coconut milk.

It’s a wonderful ingredient that adds sweetness and body to a dish and can bring all the flavors together.

Thai Curry Pastes

Nearly every Thai recipe begins with a curry paste.

It's a great product to have on hand for cooking up a quick midweek meal, or for adding a fantastic flavor bomb in your dish.

Tamarind paste "Makham Piak"

Tamarind has a delicious sweet and sour tang. The acidic kick from tamarind isn't as sharp as lime and is absolutely addictive.

It's used in various soups, sauces and marinades.

Oyster & Light soy sauce

Oyster sauce is a must have in the kitchen. It has a distinctive taste which is not fishy at all. It is a good choice for flavoring stir-fried vegetables, meat, seafood, noodle dishes.

Light soy sauce has a mild and soft salty flavour not present in other soy sauces. Simply add a few drops to all dishes when cooking, it will enhance the flavor!

Dried Chillies & Kaffir leaves

Kaffir limes are visibly different as they have a bumpy peel compared to the smoother surface of regular limes. They are indispensable to create that tangy and sour flavour featured in Thai cooking.

This fruit is extremely versatile, you can use the juices from the fruit (though they don’t yield much juice!), the zest from its skin and its leaves to give dishes that distinct citrus and floral fragrance.

Rice Noodles

Rice noodles are truly one versatile ingredient to have on hand! They are quite neutral in flavor, and pick up the flavors of ingredients in any dish quite superbly.

Used in most stir fried noodles dishes, salads and soups, rice noodles are another staple of Thai cuisine.