Tasty Thai Food Recipes: Shop Thai ingredients

Showing posts with label Shop Thai ingredients. Show all posts

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Where to buy tamarind pastes –Thai tamarind concentrate

Tamarind paste (or in Thai-Makham Peak) is one of the most important and versatile ingredients in Thai cuisine. Thais use tamarind paste in many recipes. For example eggs with tamarind sauce, shrimp with tamarind sauce, pad Thai, pork rib with tamarind sauce etc. We also use it for dipping recipes or curry pastes. Some add tamarind paste in Massaman curry to make the flavor more umami. We use Tamarind paste to make tamarind juice, a best beverage in my opinion in any hot summer days. Ancient Thai used it to polish silver utensils or to wash slime of squid. It also a medicinal fruit employed by many Asian traditional herbalists as a laxative. Some Thai girls even use this food ingredient as a mixture for making scrub and face mask! You can easily see how useful tamarind paste in Thai culture.

Thai tamarind concentrate

Since tamarind is a seasonal fruit, it is hard to find in the out of season. Even you have found one the price would be so high, hence Thai usually buy or make it in a paste form to keep it at the time of year when tamarind is not available.

Thai people buy tamarind pastes from their local market. Some of them make it themselves. However, if you live abroad where tamarind is hard to find, I would suggest you to use Thai tamarind concentrate. I used it before when I was abroad. Thai tamarind concentrate contains no preservatives or artificial flavor. The color is also the natural color of tamarind paste. It’s cheap and easy to use. The taste is really good. Real one.

Some may ask what the difference between tamarind pastes and tamarind concentrate. These two products are almost the same and interchangeable except that tamarind paste usually has light brown color while the tamarind concentrate usually has dark brown.

The flavor of tamarind paste is too unique that you may find some substitute ingredients but, trust me, nothing can truly sub for it. It would not be real taste. So I would suggest you to buy one for your kitchen. Where to buy tamarind pastes or tamarind concentrate? Any Asian store near your house or buy it from Amazon.com via the link below. On orders more than 25 dollars they also offer you free super saver shipping! The deliver is, according to one customer review, faster than expect. They have only one size but since tamarind paste can keep in a refrigerator for months, this is not a problem. You just put some salt (may be a bag of salt to avoid contamination) over the paste to prevent the changing of tamarind paste color.

PS. You may wonder how Thai woman use tamarind paste as a face mask. This is the in recipe I got. I have to tell you that I have never use it, but if you interest, you can try it yourself. Just mix tamarind paste with 3-4 tbs. of milk and 1tbs. of honey. Mask you face for only 5-10 minutes and wash out.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Dehydrated lime juice-OJ lime juice review

OJ lime juice is a dehydrated lime juice made by Thai factory. I’ll be frank to you, if I have option, I prefer the fresh lime to the dehydrated lime juice because the fresh one have a better lime aroma beside the taste. Anyway for those of you who have some difficult finding lime or lemon, this is your solution.

OJ Lime Juice

I use OJ sometime in the past when it was hard to find any lime or lemon. OJ is intense and more acidic but less bitter than actual lime. You can use this dehydrated lime juice to make some bakeries, such as pie or cake, beside Thai dishes. Since lots of Thai recipes need lime, you can use this product as a substitute ingredient for fresh lime juice. Just dilute the powder with water as instructed on the package and stir. It is easy and convenient.

OJ can also be used to make drink. I love a cold sour drink especially in the hot day. Just dilute the powder with water, add some sugar or syrup, and, lastly, some ice cubes. What more?

A pack of OJ equal about 6 lime fruits. With the intense of concentration in OJ dehydrated lime juice, you do not need to use to much of it. That means one pack of OJ can be used for period of time, hence you don’t have to buy it so often. Just keep it in the refrigerator and it can stay good for at least a year. (It has on preservative in the ingredients). Another way to save your money, even though the price of OJ is not so expensive compare to the others dehydrated lime juice brands in the market.

You can buy OJ from Amazon via the link below. As usual, I put all of the links for your convenience.

Tastythaifoodrecipes.blogspot.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, endless.com, MYHABIT.com, AmazonSupply.com, or AmazonWireless.com.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Mae Ploy curry paste-Panang

Mae Ploy curry paste is the brand under the Theppadungporn Group, a manufacturer for many Thai food ingredients. The name of the brand is a leading character in a Thai famous novel. For many Thais, Mae Ploy represented a Thai lady who well trained in both manners and Thai cuisine. Hence Theppadungporn Group use this name as a brand name for Thai chili pastes.

Mae Ploy curry paste-Panang

Most Thais usually buy curry pastes from a fresh market or supermarket near their houses. My mom does too. Even we are Thais, it takes time to chopped, sliced, pond etc. all the ingredients to make a curry pastes.Plus, if you are a foreigner, finding all the ingredients to make curry pastes might be a hard work if you have not live near any South East Asian stores. A pre-prepared products like Mae Ploy will be a time saver for you. (and for me!)

Mae Ploy curry paste for Panang also made in Thailand. As you all know, it is best to purchase a product from Thailand for use in Thai dishes. I know that most of the pre-prepared product always taste like they're lacking something, but for Mae Ploy curry pastes, the exact opposite is true. I found that this is the most closest to the authentic Thai Panang curry paste. I have read some review in the Amazon.com said it is too spicy for his/her tongue, but this is the real one! If you find that it is too spicy, just lower down the quantity of curry paste in your ingredient and/or add some more coconut milk.

This brand is all natural. No chemical, preservatives, or artificial ingredients; just real, natural, flavorful ingredients. The Mae Ploy curry paste for Panang also contains shrimp paste while some brand ie, Mae Sri panang curry paste, does not. However this may be a drawback for some of you who are vegetarians. In that case, just used Mae Sri, a second best of curry paste in my point of view.

I use Mae Ploy curry paste for other Thai dishes, not just Panang. For example fried fish with Panang sauce. Just experiment in your regular everyday cooking. This curry paste can surely added exciting to many dishes.

Even with no preservatives, this pre-prepared pastes seems to last indefinitely. I've kept it in the fridge for months with no molding or spoilage. The curry paste is vacuum-sealed in a plastic bag and placed inside a plastic container with a snap-tight lid. However, this may be a little disadvantage for you since some say that this makes it very difficult to measure the pastes from. The container has direction on the side, really easy to use. Just follow the instructions and you can have a good real Thai Panang for your meal.

You can buy Mae Ploy curry paste for Panang from any South East Asian store near your house or order from Amazon.com via the links below. The first two also offer free super saver shipping. This is a must-have for Thai Panang lover!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Cooking with fish sauce- Squid brand review

Cooking with fish sauce will give you the best result if you know how to use the proper fish sauce for specific recipe. As mention in Tiparos review, another brand of fish sauce I use is Squid. This brand can get along with any recipes. I will quote a poll from a famous cooking webboard of Thailand that votes this brand as the second best fish sauce. It was written in Thai, so I will translate some of the poll for your understanding. The topic is asking which brand of fish sauce is the greatest in both taste and aroma. 27.56% chose Tiparos (in Thai ทิพรส), follow by Squid brand (20.47%). (Squid in Thai is ปลาหมึก, the ปากหมึก was typo)

Fish Sauce

Not much fish sauce reviews state that what the brand is good for. I’ll tell you. The flavor of Squid brand is richer than Tiparos because it has not added water, make Squid more “full body”. More anchovy flavor, more umami. The aroma is also more fishy, hence it would be a perfect one for frying, Thai salad, or common dipping like Nam Pla Prig. Since the aroma of Squid is stronger than that of Tiparos, I prefer not to used it for any dished that has mild smell like steamed egg or dishes that need the flagrance of the herbs.

Beside Thai cuisine cooking with fish sauce can get along with pasta cooking and many Western dishes. Some people use this brand as an anchovy substitute. A good fish sauce like Squid with rice vermicelli, chopped chili, grounded dried shrimp, and lime juice is a wonderful meal in a hurry. (I just had it about 2 days ago!)

Hey, Squid is also packed in glass, not plastic. That’s really great! The cap of the bottle has a spout that lets you apply it in drops. It looks neat with a squid molded on the bottle of the fish sauce. Reviews often state about this point. A minor thing, but it is worth to mention.

You should avoid cooking with fish sauce brands that contain hydrolyzed wheat protein which has been broken down into amino acids. The acid was the original source for MSG. I would not state the name of the brands, you just find them yourself. Luckily, the Squid and Tiparos are naturally fermented fish sauces, no MSG.

You may ask where to buy fish sauce. I think an Asian store in your location should have the Squid brand. Otherwise you can buy it from amazon.com (with further reviews from customers) via the links below which have all the size of Squid brand for you to choose. They also offer you free super saver shipping. Just pick one and enjoy your cooking with fish sauce for your next meal!

Photo:

- http://indyalbum.com/?p=14

Friday, July 13, 2012

For Thai recipes using fish sauce: Tiparos!

There are many Thai recipes using fish sauce as an ingredient, but which brand is the best? That depends on personal taste. There are lots of fish sauce brands selling in the market. Some were made from Thailand, some from

Vietnam

. In general, fish sauces from Thailand tend to be a bit pungent in taste and aroma than those of Vietnam. If you ask which brand I prefer most to add in recipes using fish sauce, I would say Tiparos.

You may ask if one can use Vietnamese fish sauce instead of Thai’s. I would say they can be substituted but since most of Vietnamese fish sauce are milder and sweeter, better use Thai fish sauce for Thai dishes and Vietnamese sauce for Vietnamese cooking for the best result.

Good fish sauce should be clear brown with no dregs

I always have two different brands of fish sauce. One would be a “light” to use for any curry soups, steaming or some dipping with lime juice as an ingredient. Another would be a “full body” or “all purpose” to use for frying or general dipping. For the first I use Tiparos. The taste is salty (of cause!) but not too much, with umami. When I add some of this sauce in any recipes using fish sauce especially Thai curry, the mild smoky aroma would not spoil the scents of herbs. Also it can be use for dipping sauce that has lime juice as an ingredient due to the fact that the mild scent would not mess up the fragrance of lime juice. I love Tiparos with Thai paprika, lime juice, and Thai omelet. Really yummy!

The difference in taste and aroma of fish sauces depends mainly on fermentation and aging processes. For all Thai fish sauce, this brand’s taste is light. The ingredients in fish sauce are small fish (Indian anchovy) 76%, salt 23%, and sugar 1%. You can easily see that Tiparos has the highest proportion of fish but, surprisingly, the aroma is low in fishy but smoky instead. The taste is salty with a bit of sweet make it the most proper choice to add in any Thai curry soup as I post earlier. The price is not so expensive. Tiparos also low in sodium and all natural. Good for your health!

Not just me that rate this brand as the finest. A poll from a famous cooking webboard of Thailand showed this brand as the best for any recipes using fish sauce. Unfortunately, it was written in Thai, but I can translate to you. The topic is asking which brand of fish sauce is the greatest in both taste and aroma. Out of 127 voters, 35 (27.56%) chose Tiparos (in Thai ทิพรส), followed by Squid brand (26 people, 20.47%) which is the sauce I use in frying.

Tiparos passes all the criteria for being one of the best for any recipes using fish sauce. It is clear brown liquid with no dregs even though you leave it for a long time. The brand also has protein of more than 20 percent, a good criterion for Thai Industrial Standards (TIS). The bottle is highly sealed. The only drawback of Tiparos is that its bottle is made from plastic for the convenience of transportation which may look shoddy for users, but it is a minor thing compares to all the pros.

If you are planning on cooking any Thai recipes with fish sauce, this is the sauce you should have. Trust me, you will use it a lot in Thai cooking! You can buy it either from any Asian store near your house or from amazon.com (with further reviews from customers) via the links below which have all the size of Tiparos for you to choose the one that fits your need.

Photo:

- http://www.healthcarethai.com