Choochee/Panaeng. Tomatoes. Avocados

[georgey]

Can anyone plse tell me if there is meant to be any difference in the recipe for making the curry paste for choochee vs panaeng curries? Or are they exactly the same? In my experience Choochee is usually served a little thicker, & clearly it is a term only applied to fish dishes, while panaeng appears to apply to meat as well as prawns & salmon (which often get labelled "choochee"). But I can't work out if I should make the paste following the same recipe.....

Another question:

I need to buy a large(ish) amount of good-quality Thai-grown tomatoes (for making tomato paste, which I'll then freeze). What is the time of year when they're at their best, & where should I go (in BKK) to buy them (I'm assuming it'll be a market)?

Last question:

Where in BKK can you buy Thai-grown avocados? Carrefour (before it became Big C) sold them for a while; now I can't find them anywhere. They're, IMO, just as good as, & sometimes better than, the imported Aussie ones, at a much more sensible price.

If anybody can can help on any of these it would be much appreciated.....

[AyG]

The pastes are different. Choochee normally doesn't contain cumin or coriander seeds, panaeng does. Sometimes panaeng paste includes peanuts (which I personally prefer). Choochee obviously doesn't.

In my opinion, Thai tomatoes are never particularly good - the flavour is poor, and they're rarely fully ripened. If you want to buy them in bulk, the local market, or Makro is likely to be cheaper than the big supermarkets.

I saw rather small avocados for sale in Villa at Pure Place, Ramkhamhaeng this morning. I'm pretty sure they're locally grown. 75 Baht, I think, for about half a dozen in a bag.

[tinfoilhat]

avocados at villa on 11 have been 49 baht this month