Learning To Make Curry Pastes,& Best Thai Cook Book?

[uptou]

Anybody know of any book,info,cooking class that covers making authentic thai curry pastes,eg green,red,gaeng paa,southern curries etc?

Also what are the best authentic (not watered down) thai cooking books out there IYO?

Thanks for any help

[crowbait]

If you live in Thailand it's probably best to buy your curry pastes from the ladies in the local markets. Whereas if you ive outside Thailand you will probably be faced with considerable difficulty in sourcing fresh authentic ingredients.............I know I've tried here in the UK..............the galangals too old, the coriander has no roots, the chillies just don't taste right. In the end I gave up and bought commercial pastes trying various different makes until I found ones that approximated the real taste of curries in the LOS. My favourites are Mae Ploy for green & red curry paste and Maesri for massaman curry paste.

I've got about ten or a dozen Thai cook books but quite a few seem to be aimed at farang taste and dumbed down to the point of blandness. Books by Vatcharin Bhumichitr are pretty authentic (they're nice books with good pics and interesting story lines as well) but they seem to be more aimed at restaurant food rather than the food of the streets and raan ahaans.

I think I learned most watching Thais in food halls and night markets actually cooking the stuff.......................and then eating the end result YUM YUM!

[chiliwasabi]

I can't recommend any cook books off the top of my head but would in the past I have found the internet a good source of inspiration when I am stuck for an ingredient or need some inspiration. However you have to wade through all the watered down farang versions to find some of the more authentic stuff.

Do a search for specific recipes. From memory Muoi Khuntilanont Thai Food Recipes (google it) has some good stuff, the ucancookthai website is ok too - Although it uses store bought curry pastes (some of which are pretty good, the brands crowbait suggested are good). "Clay's Kitchen" is another place you could look. Remember that with curries a lot of the magic comes from how you use the paste and what you add to it.

Depending on your abilities in the kitchen these recipes can give you a good starting point and you can then refine them to suit your tastes or the regional variations you are after.

Where do you live? I am lucky as in Sydney I have access to plenty of fresh ingredients (even finding coriander with decent roots is getting much easier)

Chok Dee and happy eating!

[pumpuiman]

"It Rains Fishes" by Kasma Loha-unchit.

Great book, with interesting anecdotes and history.

Also gives tips on buying ingredients outside of Thailand.

If you search...you'll find many, if not all, of the recipes online.

Got mine from Amazon.

Have fun,

Eric

[meandwi]

There is so many good thai cooking blogs on the web. If you can type in Thai, you will find even more.

Here is one link that is very good.

http://www.enjoythaifood.com/

meandwi

[njpski]

Thai Food by david Thompson is an awesome reference - not just recipes, but also details the role of food in Thai society and the various regions