Most Favorite Ingredients - Chef-Me-Not, Cooking on Instinct

View a list of this Thai soprano-wife-mother's most favorite. See how she survives day-to-day cooking while applying her Thainess through tips and techniques and fun Thai facts!

We are in the last stages of introduction. Although you might feel antsy and want to get to the cooking part already, it is necessary to acquaint you with some of the most favorite ingredients, or most often used ingredients in my kitchen. As you know, when you have a couple of things going on the stove timing is important, and you often place your necessary ingredients in a spot that's convenient for you. I'm the same way, and mine are placed on the kitchen counter near the stove-top for the easy-reach purpose.

I use ingredients, herbs, spices and the like from all over; yet, I can't help that most of my favorite ingredients are from Thai and Chinese cuisine - Did you know that, a thousand years ago - give or take - the original "Thais" were a group of peaceful people who migrated south from China in search for a new land -where "In water (body) there is fish; In field there is rice"- because they wanted to avoid confrontation in wars and combat? Even though the end production of Chinese and Thai cuisines are quite different, however, we share similarities in our ingredients.

Let's get started to see what kind of things are on my counter-top.

Nampla! I can't live without my Nampla!!! Well, actually, I can - if I absolutely positively really, really HAVE TO. But since we are in the year 2009, and we have a wonderful global connection, Nampla can be found in just about any grocery store in the United States. Two brands dominate the market - "Squid" and "Tiparod" (I may be a little off in the spelling - but still darn close) I use Squid brand (Not to worry! Squid is the brand name - its logo - a proper noun, and has no part in the making of Nampla), and have been since I lived in Bangkok. In fact, this brand, as well as at least twenty others, have been around since I was a little girl lurking into our huge kitchen.

What is Nampla, really?

Nampla is another level up from salt. My guess (oh yes, there will be a lot of guesses, instinct, and gut feeling), is that a long time ago people put salt to flavor their food, and later they discovered that salt magically made the food last longer. Somewhere along the line, since we have a lot of fish in the water (and rice in the field), the Thais found it most flavorful when salt was mixed in with fish. I'm sure you can guess the rest of the story: they then also realized that after awhile, out of the 'mixin' came liquid that produced such a strong aroma. Strong, yet inviting, they boiled the liquid and added it on top of their cooked long grain scented Jasmine rice (Jasmine rice has made its way to many cuisines and is imported all over the world. It can be found in most grocery stores and Asian food stores. Please do not settle for less), and history was made. In Thailand, there are many Nampla brands that use different kinds of fish - all fresh water. If you travel to the countries and mingle with the locals, you will find that they still make their own Nampla from fish that are found in the river which runs through their town.

Nammunnhoy - or "Oyster Sauce" If the Thais could come up with mixing salt with fresh water fish, the Chinese - or the Thai-Chinese - could come up with mixing salt with oysters, too! Alright, I admit, I am a Nammunnhoy junkie. To me, it helps bring out the flavor of the food. When I stir-fry, after I heat up the oil and my chopped garlic turns yellow, I put in the meat which is immediately followed by three shakes (I go plong-plong, and one last plong and that is my three shakes) of Nammunnhoy and freshly ground black pepper. A vegetarian who worships Saint Guanim (a Chinese Saint) is allowed to use Nammunnhoy as the ancient tale told that when Saint Guanim was shipwrecked and stuck on an island (probably in the South China Sea!), she ate oysters to stay alive. Well, I'd say it smells good and tones down the otherwise sharp edge of each flavor - salty, sour, spicy and sweet, so let's use it - vegetarian or not.

Maggi Sauce

Maggi-oh yes! From Switzerland! Made from soy beans by the person whose name is (guess!) "Maggi." I personally love the smell of Maggi sauce but do feel sorry for folks who lived in the town where it is produced. Maggi sauce stood proudly as the first sign of western cooking that made its way into a Thai kitchen since, what, the late 40s or early 50s? Oh, don't take my word, I don't research. But, really, I remember growing up in the late-late-very late-really really late 60's (emphasize to convince myself that I am neither old nor out-dated) that in order to make a "farang" - or western - dish, one must own a bottle of Maggi. It was considered an act of treachery if any household avoided the high imported price tag by substituting Maggi with the Thai's own immitation called "Golden Mountain Sauce" or Sauce tra "Pookowtong."

Just a little thing: when I use Maggi, I don't use Nammunnhoy or Nampla, it might create a 'taste buds' confusion!

Since we talked about soy products, let's go to the Chinese version of soy beans, 'Towjiew,' or soy bean paste. Among many famous dishes, I use Towjiew in the dipping sauce for my Sichuan chicken rice. It's also an important ingredient in many stir-fry large noodle dishes which I will also introduce in Chef-Me-NOT! With all my sauces, I tend to use them until their last drops by pouring in a small amount of lukewarm boiled water, put the cap/lid on, and shake until the inside of the bottle/jar is free of the sauce, then pour that into my cooking. If you also do this, please remember, only put in a small amount of water: you don't want to drown your dishes with the watered-down sauce!

The one ingredient that is not on my counter, and I haven't yet got around to use, but since it is so famous here in the Thai food connaisseurs of the USA I will talk about it, is Sriracha sauce - a sauce that looks like tabasco sauce but is more balanced on the scale of flavor (sorry, folks). It is hot, sour, and a little sweet. Sriracha is a name of a province east of Thailand, less than two hours from Bangkok (by distance, not by the unpredictable traffic) on the Gulf of Siam. Chances are, the sauce probably originated from there, and/or by the people who lived/came from Sriracha province.

The one and only time that Sriracha sauce would best serve its purpose is when it accompanies the most delicious golden, crispy-fried kaijiew hoynangrom, which is our famous golden crispy fresh-big and beautiful oysters omelet. (I'll put a photo up as soon as I make it!) I remember going to a seaside town on the east coast of Thailand with my parents every weekend. For an appetizer they would order a large platter of kaijiew hoynangrom which would be served along with a large bowl of Sriracha as a dipping sauce. My father would order Singha beer (famous Thai beer, very strong), my mother would have her iced tea while my sister and I got our favorite green or red jasmine scented syrup with soda water in crushed ice. The combination of sea breezes, kaijiew hoynangrom and Sriracha sauce, with our favorite drinks, made a perfect day for us two little girls!

Cooking Oil - We all have our favorite cooking oils and we have our own reasons. I used sunflower oil and safflower oil, but for the last ten years, I switched to olive oil.

Prikkeenoo pohn - Ground Thai chilli

I can't talk about my favorite ingredients without mentioning Thai chili, or prikkeenoo. The ground chili - my prize possession in the freezer right now was made by my mother, well, her kitchen help. She went out to buy the most expensive pure-bred prikkeenoo she could find, after she cleaned them, pulled out stems and leaves, got rid of the bad ones, etc., she roasted them. When they were cool enough she ground them in the blender. She put the ground prikkeenoo in an air tight container and my sister carried it in her suitcase with her when she came to visit me last time. If you plan to bring food back from overseas, please follow regulations, and declare your food when you go through customs.

Kaosan/kaohommali - Rice (uncooked)/Jasmine scented rice and Kaosuoy - not just "cooked" rice, but"beautifully" cooked rice

So, we Thais have a high standard when it comes to rice. Our best quality rice is the long grain Jasmine rice which - pre-cooked or cooked - has a natural fragrance that resembles the scent of the jasmine flower. When you buy rice in a store (a 25-pound bag size imported from Thailand) look for "Jasmine rice." From time to time, I'd consider myself lucky when I find the words "new crop" labeled on the bag . Should this be the case, take new crop.

In Thailand I became a rice connoisseur and would go to a rice shop where 30-40 giant size rice bags (around 100 kgs or 220 pounds, each with a label showing its origin, what kind of crop, and price per kilo(gram) would be displayed. I'd walk around inspecting the grains, scooping up each kind of rice with its large scoop and bringing it up to my nose. I'm a rice addict, this, I admit!

People prefer their rice differently. My father likes shorter grained-rice because it holds more moisture when it's cooked. My mother prefers long grains and she likes it dry. I, too, like to cook the long grain rice with less water so it comes out drier. We always made two pots of rice at our house; a small portion for my father, and a larger portion for the rest of the family.

Kaoniew - sticky rice or gluten rice

More of a Northern and North-Eastern cuisine than from the Central part of Thailand. But we all come to enjoy the aroma and the sweet taste of the hot sticky rice when we form it into a ball in the palm of our hand and dip the kaoniew ball into somtum, laab, ghaiyang, or various kinds of spicy and savory dipping sauces and pastes. In our mouth-watering dessert "ripe mango with sticky rice", sticky rice is cooked the same way it would be for serving with laab and somtum, but palm or coconut sugar, coconut milk, and a dash of salt is also added to turn it into a great dessert.

I can't end my most favorite ingredients page without mentioning the noodles I stock up on all kinds of noodles, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Italian pasta. When I am overdue for food shopping and barely have anything left, except, for example, celery, a couple of eggs, a pack of meat of any kind, I would use those few ingredients and grab a pack of noodles - large, small, flat, rice, egg, pasta, Chinese, Thai...etc. and make soup or stir-fry. Noodles are a staple ingredient around my kitchen!

Have yourself a Chef-Me-NOT!!! day.