Thai Fish Sauce (Nam Pla)
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This has been a late arrival in this country, and in the beginning was only available in specialist oriental food shops.
Now it is much more widely distributed, and in supermarkets at last. You could almost say this is an Eastern version of Worcestershire sauce, not so much in flavour but in the way it gives the same kind of lift to other ingredients.
As its name suggests, it is a fermentation of small, whole fish (sometimes shrimps) and is quite salty, so a little goes a long way. It's an essential ingredient in Vietnamese and Thai cooking, and because of the growing popularity of these cuisines (which I personally love), it has become a staple storecupboard ingredient.
Serves 2Thai Monkfish Lime and Coconut Stir-fry
Packed with classic Thai flavours of lime, coconut milk and fish sauce, this wonderfully fragrant stir-fry takes just 10 minutes to cook, once you’ve marinated the fish. Who needs ready meals or takeaways?
Serves 2Thai Prawn Curry with Pineapple
This lovely recipe from The Oriental's Cookery School in Bangkok has been slightly adjusted to accommodate Western ingredients without, I think, losing its authenticity. It's incredibly simple and easy and it really does taste exotic and unusual. If
Serves 4Hot and Sour Thai Chicken Broth
A Thai Tom Yum soup full of flavour and with hardly any fat, this lovely recipe is just as good made with prawns.
Serves 2Stir-fried Chicken with Lime and Coconut
It's hard to credit that a recipe as simple and as quick as this could taste so good, but I can assure you it's an absolute winner.
Serves 4 as a light lunch or 6 as a starterThai Crab Salad with Mango
This is a low-fat variation of Thai Grilled Beef Salad with Grapes. In Thailand they serve it with pomelo, which is very similar to grapefruit. When they’re not available, I use mango, but you could ring the changes with grapes or small segments of p
