7 tips to cooking Thai like a native

The first time I ever left Australia was a trip to Thailand. I can’t begin to describe how excited I was to emerge from the flight into a wall of humid Bangkok air.

I was in the Northern Hemisphere. In Asia! Wow!

It was only 7 o’clock in the morning when we left our newly found hotel and headed towards the Royal Palace. I couldn’t believe how few people there were. I was expecting a bustling city with food hawkers everywhere.

Instead I got a serene calm – not a food seller to be found.

Eventually we came across a lone vendor peddling some sort of noodle soup from his cart. Without really thinking we ordered and stood near the palace, slurping hot noodles for breakfast in the early morning calm.

Welcome to Thailand.

Over the years I’ve returned to Thailand many a time – as much for the food as for the people and the beaches. But it wasn’t until I started working in my last job that I got to make friends with a real Thai native.

Working with Jan was always a joy. Her big smile and passion for food are as infectious as her famous chocolate cake.

So it made sense that when I wanted to perfect my Thai home cooking, that I’d persuade Jan to share some of her Thai cooking tips.

Here they are…

1.Smile
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my time in Thailand and from working with Jan – Thai people have to be up there as the most smiley in the world. I secretly think that even when Jan is on her own she is smiling – and I have to say she is one of the calmest cooks I know. So before you start cooking make sure you smile and again before you serve your guests – you’ll be amazed what a difference it makes.

2. Learn to cook by taste
Thai people are brilliant adapters and rarely follow recipes. Fish sauces vary in saltiness and chillies are notoriously unpredictable so have the courage to trust your instincts, use the recipe as a guideline but not a bible and taste as you go.

3. Practice the art of balancing
The Thais are the masters of finding balance and harmony with their seasoning. If something tastes too salty, add a little sugar. Or if it is too sweet, add a little more saltiness with fish sauce or some soy. Use lime juice to balance if the dish tastes a little flat and needs some zing.

The other thing to consider is heat – sugar can mask a little if the chilli is too intense but only a little – so it’s always wise to add your chilli gradually. If you’re serving people who have a variety of chilli sensitivities it’s best to err on the mild side and serve some fresh or dried chilli at the table to allow your guests to balance the heat to their individual taste.

4. Remove time pressures
There’s no real reason to eat at a certain time. The meal is ready when it’s done. Take the Thai approach and you’ll find you enjoy the cooking process a lot more.

5. Eat with a fork and spoon
That’s right – the traditional way to eat Thai is with a fork and a spoon. For newcomers to Asian food, Thai is a great place to start for it’s fresh fragrant flavour and the fact that they don’t use chopsticks.

6. Cook a variety of dishes & share
The Thai’s really take the whole ‘variety is the spice of life’ concept to the extreme. Typical Thai meals will involve a few different dishes as well as the ubiquitous steamed jasmine rice. Everything is serves ‘family style’ in the middle of the table so each diner can help themselves. A good place to start is serving one curry, one stir fry and one other dish as well as rice. But the meal can really contain as many dishes as you’re prepared to make.

7. Or keep it simple.
I think one of the main reasons I don’t think to cook Thai as often as I’d like is that I tend to associate a thai meal with multiple different dishes as described above. But in reality, there’s no need to go the ‘full Thai’ every time. Try big bowl of laksa or just make one stir fry including plenty of veg and serve with rice or cauliflower rice. And keep the multi-course shared meals for the weekends.

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