Great Thai food products and cooking mixes

[Drdogface]

Dunno how many other people love to cook Thai Food, but we have discovered the Import Food Company (importfood.com) and their products. For great recipes, spices, mixes, sauces and the like I think they are tops. We recently made Thai fried chicken with their batter mix and it's some of the best I ever had. The fried rice mix is also great. There is a whole long page of videos taken in Bangkok where food street vendors make various things as the narrator explains it. I lived in Pattaya, Thailand for two years and this food is authentic...or pretty darn close.

This is great stuff you can make at home....oh and their cooking gear is good as well.

I have no connection with this business...just want to pass along a good company that you will enjoy.

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by Drdogface

I lived in Pattaya, Thailand for two years....

Now I bet there's a story or two there you could share with us....

[TimT]

I have never bought anything from them, but watched many of the videos...

I am pretty lucky in that within 10 minutes from my house I have Asian markets that have every ingredient you could ever need for Thai, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, food etc..

Also have lemon grass growing with my veggies, and have a nice Kaffir Lime tree...

I'd like to get a live rhizome and grow my own Galanga too....

Thai food=yummy

[javadog]

That is indeed a good site. I'd recommend that people stick to buying just the basic items and using them, as shown, to make your own sauces, curry pastes and the like. Making things like pad Thai, or one of the curries, from scratch is much tastier than using a "Pad Thai Sauce" or a pre-made curry paste.

JR

[TimT]

I'd recommend that people stick to buying just the basic items and using them, as shown, to make your own sauces, curry pastes and the like

Werd....

The pre-mixed sauces, like most other pre made sauces, gravies, etc. mostly SALT...

I make my own curries, sans salt.. then use salt sparingly to heighten flavor before plating...

[tabs]

Simple recipe that I use frequently

Wok with oil heated very high...

In a Food Processor Puree

1 large or 2 small Onions
Several Cloves of Garlic
1-2 or if you dare 3 heaping Tablespoons of Sambal Oelek...(Ground Chili's)

Place in in WOK and cook for several minutes

Sprinkle or cover 3 or 4 pieces of Chicken I use Thighs...with Turmeric Powder (cover thoroughly)
Place in Wok with Onion mixture and let cook for a few minute to get about 1/2 way cooked

Pour in a Cup to Cup and 1/2 Coconut Milk..I buy the dried packages and mix with about 1 Cup of warm water...Dry packages have less fat in them..or use Frozen Coconut milk if available. Let cook through and through.

I would say use Canned Coconut Milk if that is all that is availbale. The other choices are a bit better.

Put in some Lemongrass and some Viet Fish Sauce/Soy Sauce to salt...

When cooked you can serve with steamed rice or I use cooked Rice Noodles put into the Wok just before serving...

As a variation you can put in some Curry Powder... I use an Indian Madras...

BTW Turmeric is what makes your Mustard Yellow,,and it has positive affects on memory,

[Drdogface]

Originally Posted by Dottore

Now I bet there's a story or two there you could share with us....

Yes, for sure. It was 1973 and pre-Aids. I have been back there but only a few years later. I guess now it's basically ruined, at least as I knew it to be. The Germans and Finns were just beginning to discover it as the sexual Disneyland it was but it was still a small town and Army guys, like myself, really enjoyed living there. I had come there a year or so before on R&R from Nam and managed to get a tour there. What luck

[MotoSook]

Nice site.

This is where you start....

Sticky rice (sweet rice) - Thai style / ImportFood.com



As for cooking...there really are just a few sauces and seasonings you need to get started.

Get oyster sauce (I couldn't find the brand that I use on this website) and soy sauce (this one is great). You can use MSG if you'd like, just a pinch, when preparing.

Basic start...crushed and chopped cloves (2-3) of garlic, thinly sliced head of onions, 1-2 sliced tomatos. This will make the basic sauce to which you can add any vegetable. Don't try to combine too maybe kinds of veggie. Just 1-2, maybe 3 kinds of veggie.

Get your pan or wok nice and hot, put a few table spoons of oil into the pan and coat it then put the garlic in. It'll cook quickly and you don't want it to be more cooked than a light tan color, then put the sliced onions in and stir. Keep stirring until the onions are soft. Stir as needed to prevent the onions from burning. Add tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes are almost all sauce. Add oyster sauce (1-2 table spoons), add 2-3 table spoons of the soy sauce. stir, then you can add veggie and any meat. Cook until meet is cooked or until veggies are as soft as you'd like. And my secret.....a table spoon of sugar and a slice of lime.

You can add other herbs (basil-chopped leaves, cilantro, dill, etc). You can also add a tea spoon or more of chili paste (this is pretty good. I like to use fresh from my garden peppers. You can also slice jalapeno thinly and added at the end to just distribute the hotness without over cooking the pepper.

Serve over regular rice (not the sticky rice).

With sticky rice, you'll need a dipping sauce. You can easily take a table spoon full of the above chili paste and add the soy sauce. A squeeze of lime, and it's ready for dipping.

[javadog]

FISH SAUCE! YOU FORGOT TO LIST THE FISH SAUCE....

Here's what you need in your pantry to cook Thai food, in no particular order:

Fish sauce
Oyster sauce
Soy sauces; thin, dark and sweet, three kinds
Maggi seasoning
white pepper
black pepper
tumeric
tamarind pods
limes
lemon grass
chilies, dried and fresh
coconut milk and cream
curry powders, various
green onion
white and red onion
cilantro
shallots, or Thai shallots
cumin
garlic
garlic chives, sprouts, various other garnishes
rice noodles, various kinds
rice; jasmine, Han Mi, sticky, etc.
chicken and vegetable stocks
chile paste
roasted chili paste
peanuts
sesame seeds and oil
dried shrimp
shrimp paste
galangal root
ginger
cilantro roots, if you can get them
Kaffir lime leaves
salted radish
bean condiment, black beans, etc.\
various vinegars
palm sugar

I'm sure I'll think of more, but this is a start.

JR

[MotoSook]

Fish sauce upsets my stomach, so I don't use it. The maggi sauce is a good substitute.


My wife just compared the prices from this website to what we pay for the stuff and the website is crazy high on price. The maggi sauce for example is 4x higher! We buy the larger bottle of the stuff (27 or 30 oz) for less than $7 and that's considered high.

[Embraer]

noticed that, too. the prices are wicked high compared to the international grocery store here.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by javadog

FISH SAUCE! YOU FORGOT TO LIST THE FISH SAUCE....

Here's what you need in your pantry to cook Thai food, in no particular order:

Fish sauce
Oyster sauce
Soy sauces; thin, dark and sweet, three kinds
Maggi seasoning
white pepper
black pepper
tumeric
tamarind pods
limes
lemon grass
chilies, dried and fresh
coconut milk and cream
curry powders, various
green onion
white and red onion
cilantro
shallots, or Thai shallots
cumin
garlic
garlic chives, sprouts, various other garnishes
rice noodles, various kinds
rice; jasmine, Han Mi, sticky, etc.
chicken and vegetable stocks
chile paste
roasted chili paste
peanuts
sesame seeds and oil
dried shrimp
shrimp paste
galangal root
ginger
cilantro roots, if you can get them
Kaffir lime leaves
salted radish
bean condiment, black beans, etc.\
various vinegars
palm sugar

I'm sure I'll think of more, but this is a start.

JR

Yeah..I have all MOST all of that in my Pantry or Refer...

Some I have had before and don't like or don't use frequently enough to keep in stock..

[Joeaksa]

You guys have me drooling and its not even lunchtime yet! Boy I miss this part of the world!