Fish Sauce
Nam pla: the salt of Thai cooking, made from anchovies fermented with salt for a year or more.
21 recipes
Condiments
The sauces, pastes and seasonings that make Thai food taste Thai: what they are, how to use them and what to buy.
Thai cooking is seasoned at the end, by taste, and these are the sauces, pastes and seasonings that do the work: fish sauce for salt and depth, palm sugar for roundness, tamarind and lime for sourness, and shrimp paste and chilli pastes for the savoury backbone of curries and dips.
Each guide explains how the condiment is made, how to cook with it, what to look for on the label, how long it keeps and what to use if you cannot find it. Many also go on the table, so diners can adjust their own plate: prik nam pla, chilli flakes and Sriracha among them.
Shrimp Paste
Kapi: fermented krill paste that gives curry pastes and chilli dips their deep, savoury backbone.
7 recipes
Palm Sugar
Nam tan pip: soft, caramel-scented sugar that rounds off curries, dressings and desserts.
17 recipes
Tamarind
Makham piak: a fruity sourness for pad Thai, massaman and sour curries.
5 recipes
Oyster Sauce
Nam man hoi: a thick, glossy sauce that brings savoury sweetness to stir-fries.
3 recipes
Thai Soy Sauces
Si-io khao, si-io dam and seasoning sauce: the light, dark and sweet soys of the Thai kitchen.
11 recipes
Nam Prik Pao
Roasted chilli paste: smoky, sweet and savoury, for tom yum, stir-fries and spreading on toast.
1 recipe
Prik Nam Pla
Fish sauce with sliced chillies and lime: the little bowl on every Thai table.
1 recipe
Pla Ra
Fermented fish from Isaan: pungent, cloudy and the soul of northeastern cooking.
Sriracha Sauce
Sauce Si Racha: the original tangy, garlicky chilli sauce from a seaside town on the Gulf.