Gary Otter

Dried lotus leaf is good for wrapping sticky/glutinous rice. There are also many Vietnamese recipes where beef is wrapped in betel leaf and barbequed. Malaysian otak otak in banana leaves. And chicken in pandanus leaves.

Yoghurt goes well with many Indian side dishes, cucumber, eggplant, banana, spinach. Particularly with spices fried in ghee, cumin is my favourite.

@patrickamory, I have never seen holy basil for sale here, we have to grow it ourselves I feel that I may be preaching to the converted, but most fresh herbs seem keep well if wrapped in absorbent paper, put in a plastic bag, and put in the fridge.

I use golden mountain sauce rather than a Chinese soy. I think Healthy Boy brand is ok. As I am usually cooking only for two, I use canned coconut milk or cream, patrickamory said canned coconut milk can have additives that stop it from breaking. Look on the side of the can if it has emulsifiers they will not work well. I am sure fresh coconut milk would be better, I would like to know if anyone has made coconut milk from frozen coconut pulp? I try to stick with David Thompson's recipes as close as I can, because they are great. I would suggest that you adjust the balance of salty, sour, sweet, and hot, to you and your guests tastes, there is no point in providing a meal that is too hot for your guests. BTW I am only a home cook.

Yes David Thompson is a perfectionist and did a lot of research on finding authentic recipes. With Thai cooking I feel that is best to cook to taste so don't worry about putting less chilli, salt or sugar in your dishes. I freeze my curry pastes in ice cube trays and then transfer them to Ziploc bags for later use, the flavour may not be as good, but it is practical. Also after making up a few different pastes you have a range of pastes ready made. I agree with Chris that if you don't have all the ingredients you are probably better off buying a pre-prepared paste. In Australia when you buy fresh coriander/cilantro the roots are still attached, I cut them off and freeze them. Vietnamese grocery stores often have these herbs. Kaffir lime leaves freeze well too, but I have heard that the dried ones are not worth using. Lime zest is not a bad substitute.

Not at all! In addition, I will never reheat an item in plastic containers in the microwave - even though they swear it's microwave safe. That stuff *does* leach into your food. Just do a quick search on bis-phenol-a (PBA). Also, I no longer automatically reach for the non-stick pan. I only use one if absolutely necessary - and would really prefer to eliminate the use of one altogether. ← Same here. I use plastic for storage but not for reheating or cooking. Pseudo-oestrogens(bis-phenol-a) in plastic may leak out of plastics particularly when heating fatty foods. I just use Pyrex or similar.

Hi Pan, Here are a few names I found on the net, I don't know how accurate they are. I hope these are of use. Asam gelugor - Garcinia atroviridis Som Khaek,Som-kaeg, sommawon, A Sa Ka Lu Ko (Malay), Cha Muang, Cha Muang Chang, Ma Kham Khaek Cheers Gary