Building a Thai Pantry: The Fifteen Things Worth Buying First

A trip to an Asian grocer can be overwhelming. Whole aisles of sauces, pastes, noodles and dried goods, many labelled only in Thai, and every one of them looks essential. The good news is that most Thai home cooking rests on a fairly short list of ingredients that keep well for months.

The fifteen below are the ones worth buying first. Between them they cover the seasonings, starches and dried goods behind most of the recipes on this site, from pad Thai and green curry to larb and som tam. Fresh herbs and vegetables are a separate shopping trip, and there are notes on those at the end.

The seasonings

These seven bottles and packets do most of the work of making food taste Thai.

1. Fish sauce (nam pla). The single most important bottle. Look for a short ingredients list: fish, salt and perhaps a little sugar. Once opened it keeps for a long time in a cool cupboard, though it slowly darkens and strengthens.
2. Palm sugar. Sold in hard or soft cakes, or in tubs. It has a rounder, more caramel flavour than white sugar. Shave it with a knife or crush it in a mortar, and keep it sealed so it does not dry out.
3. Tamarind. Buy the block of seedless pulp rather than the very dark, thin concentrate if you can. Soak a piece in warm water, squeeze and sieve. The block keeps for months in an airtight container.
4. Shrimp paste (kapi). A dense, purple-grey paste of fermented shrimp and salt, essential in many curry pastes and chilli dips. It is pungent, so wrap the tub tightly and keep it in a sealed jar. A small amount goes a long way.
5. Light soy sauce. Thin and salty, used in stir-fries, marinades and Chinese-Thai dishes. Thai light soy is a little different from Japanese or Chinese soy but those work in a pinch.
6. Oyster sauce. Thick, savoury and slightly sweet, the base of many stir-fries such as pad kra pao. Refrigerate after opening.
7. Dark sweet soy sauce. Thick and treacly, used in small amounts for colour and sweetness, most famously in pad see ew. One bottle lasts a very long time.

Heat and spice

1. Dried red chillies. Large dried chillies are soaked and pounded into curry pastes; small ones are fried or toasted for extra heat. Store them in a sealed bag away from light so they keep their colour.
2. Roasted chilli flakes (prik pon). Made by dry-roasting dried chillies until fragrant and grinding them coarsely. You can buy them ready-made or make your own in a dry pan. They are needed for larb, nam tok and nam jim jaew.
3. White peppercorns. Used more often than black pepper in Thai cooking, in marinades, soups and pastes. Buy whole and grind as needed, as the ground version fades quickly.

Rice, noodles and coconut

1. Jasmine rice. The everyday rice of central and southern Thailand. Look for Thai hom mali on the label. Store in an airtight container and use within a few months for the best fragrance.
2. Glutinous (sticky) rice. A different grain entirely, essential for northern and northeastern meals and for mango sticky rice. It needs soaking and steaming rather than boiling. The packet may say sweet rice or glutinous rice.
3. Dried rice noodles. Flat rice sticks are the most useful single type, covering pad Thai and many noodle soups. Thin rice vermicelli is a useful second packet.
4. Coconut milk. Cans or cartons are fine. Check the label for a high coconut content and few additives. Do not shake the can if you want to scoop off the thick cream from the top for frying curry paste.

One for depth

1. Dried shrimp. Small, salty, orange shrimp that bring a concentrated savoury flavour to som tam, chilli dips and stir-fries. Choose bright, plump ones over dull, crumbly ones, and keep them in the fridge or freezer once the bag is open.

Toasted rice powder (khao khua) is not on the list because it is so easy to make. Dry-roast a handful of raw sticky rice in a pan until deep golden, then grind it coarsely. It keeps for a week or two in a jar, though it is most fragrant when fresh.

Fresh things that freeze well

A pantry is only half the story. Thai food relies on fresh aromatics, and the good news is that several of the most important ones freeze very well. If you live far from a good Asian grocer, buy these in quantity when you find them:

• Makrut lime leaves: freeze flat in a bag and use straight from frozen.
• Lemongrass: trim, cut into lengths and freeze.
• Galangal: slice or leave in pieces and freeze. It is hard to cut, so slicing before freezing helps.
• Bird's eye chillies: freeze whole and use from frozen.
• Coriander roots: wash, dry and freeze for curry pastes.

Thai basil, holy basil and coriander leaves do not freeze well and are best bought fresh. Limes, garlic and shallots keep well at room temperature or in the fridge for a week or more. See our guides to Thai herbs and vegetables for more on each.

What to add next

Once the basics are in place, a few ingredients extend the range considerably. Ready-made curry pastes are a reasonable shortcut on busy evenings, and many Thai households buy them from markets rather than pounding their own. A jar of nam prik pao (roasted chilli jam) adds sweet, smoky depth to tom yum and stir-fries. Dried wide rice noodles, khanom jeen (fermented rice noodles, often sold fresh or frozen) and a bottle of plain white vinegar for pickled chillies are all useful.

For northeastern cooking, a jar of pla ra (fermented fish) opens up the more pungent style of som tam and many Isaan dips. It is very strong, so start small.

Buy one ingredient at a time and cook with it a few times before moving on. A pantry built this way tends to get used, rather than slowly expiring at the back of a cupboard.