I've divided the ingredients into functional categories: salty, sour, sweet, herbs and spices, and dry goods.

The Salty

Thai cuisine employs a number of different salty sauces in our cooking. Here they are listed roughly in order of how often they are used for the average Thai person.

FISH SAUCE | NAM PLA | น้ำปลา

Fish sauce is a must-have in any Thai home. Made from fermented anchovies and salt, this pungent amber liquid adds a sharp saltiness and a punch of umami that is an iconic characteristic of many Thai dishes, such as salads, curries, stir fries, and if you want to cook pad thai, fish sauce is necessary! 

I have a detailed post about how to choose a good fish sauce and recommended brands in my Ultimate Fish Sauce Guide, but briefly, look for brands only contains anchovies, salt, and sugar (though sugar is not a required). Squid and Megachef are classic, good-quality Thai fish sauce brands that are inexpensive, easy to find, and perfect for everyday cooking.

STORAGE: Fish sauce will not spoil at room temp even after opening because it's so salty. However, the flavour deteriorates over time, so unless you're a daily user like Thai people, keeping it in the fridge will preserve the flavour for longer.

SUBSTITUTIONS: If you’re vegetarian, the easiest thing (and what I do for vegan friends) is substitute soy sauce in equal amounts, or sometimes I do a combination of soy sauce and Golden Mountain Sauce (see below). Larger Asian markets do sell vegan fish sauce, but some of them can be rather awful.

Having said that, I have sampled a decent version labeled “premium pineapple-made vegetarian fish sauce” from Vietnam. Also check online sources from time to time, as there are a few new products on the market that have had some good reviews.

OYSTER SAUCE | NAM MUN HOI | น้ำมันหอย

Oyster sauce is the queen of stir-fry sauces. Imagine a combination of the briny flavors of oysters, the umami of soy sauce, and a subtle sweetness—that’s the flavor of oyster sauce. A common Thai brand is Maekrua, but the widely available Lee Kum Kee is also great for Thai cooking. If you're on a budget, Panda Brand, which is also a Lee Kum Kee brand, is cheaper and is what most takeout restaurants use.

Oyster sauce quality varies significantly though, with the better ones containing more “oyster extract” (which is the oyster poaching liquid). Better ones also tend to be more expensive. For a deep dive, see my post What is Oyster Sauce and Which is The Best One? where I tasted the four oyster sauces in the pic above.

STORAGE: Keep open oyster sauce in the fridge as it can get moldy at room temp over time.

SUBSTITUTIONS: You can find vegetarian oyster sauce at Asian markets, but it won't say "vegetarian oyster sauce" on the label. Look for vegetarian stir fry sauce by Lee Kum Kee.

SOY SAUCE | SEE EW KAO | ซีอิ๊วขาว

You probably have Japanese or Chinese soy sauce in your kitchen already, and they can be used for Thai cooking, but Thai soy sauce does taste different. Compared to Chinese or Japanese soy sauces, ours is a little lighter in both color and body and has a distinctly different aroma and flavor.

Healthy Boy is a classic brand available at many Asian markets; look for a bottle labeled “thin soy sauce” (yellow label) or “mushroom soy sauce” (brown label); these are two varieties of Thai soy sauce. The mushroom version is the one I prefer, though either will work in your recipes just fine. For a deep dive, see Types of Soy Sauces Explained.

STORAGE: Soy sauce will not spoil at room temp, but keeping it in the fridge once opened, will preserve the flavour for longer.

SUBSTITUTIONS: If you cannot find Thai soy sauce, you can use your favourite Japanese soy sauce. A 1:1 substitution will still result in a tasty dish.

GOLDEN MOUNTAIN SAUCE (Thai Seasoning Sauce) | SAUCE PROONG ROHT  | ซอสปรุงรส

Yes, these are all seasoning sauces technically, but there is a specific type of sauce that we literally call “seasoning sauce.” I commonly refer to this as Golden Mountain Sauce because it is the most common brand available outside of Thailand.

It is actually a type of soy sauce, but with a different character; it is a bit richer and darker than Thai soy sauce and has a very similar flavour to Maggi Seasoning. We usually use Golden Mountain in combination with soy sauce in order to create a more complex flavour than soy sauce alone. We also love to drizzle it on eggs!

STORAGE: Because this is a type of soy sauce, you can store it in the same way. It will not spoil at room temp, but keeping it in the fridge once opened, will preserve the flavour for longer.

SUBSTITUTIONS: This is not an essential ingredient to stock, and wherever it is called for you can use an equal amount of soy sauce instead. However, if you have Maggi Seasoning or Bragg Liquid Aminos, they do taste quite similar, and these will be your best option.

BLACK SOY SAUCE | SEE EW DUM | ซีอิ๊วดำ

Black soy sauce is a nice-to-have ingredient but not essential because it’s not usually integral to the dish. Think soy sauce mixed with molasses - it’s thick, mildly salty, a little sweet, and very dark. It’s used mainly to add a dark brown color and a touch of richer flavor. Whenever you see a Thai dish with a very dark color, such as some dark soup broths or stir-fries, it’s probably see ew dum in action. 

Black soy sauce brands vary significantly in terms of how dark they are, so in my recipes I always give a range and you should always start with the smaller amount. Healthy Boy brand and Dragonfly brand (my preference) are two popular Thai black soy sauces, but Healthy Boy is much darker and less is required for the same colour.

For a deeper dive, see Types of Soy Sauces Explained.

STORAGE: Though I haven't personally seen black soy sauce gone bad at room temp, because it is not as salty as fish sauce or soy sauce, I like to keep it in the fridge just in case it gets mold.

SUBSTITUTIONS: You can substitute Chinese dark soy sauce, which will give you the dark color, but it tends to be saltier; so if using more than ½ teaspoon or so in the recipe, you want to cut back on other salty ingredients you’re adding. 

FERMENTED SOYBEAN PASTE | TAO JIEW | เต้าเจี้ยว

Tao jiew is the Thai version of miso, but with a pourable consistency and some whole soybeans are still visible. It’s very salty, with an edge of acidity, and its aroma is slightly different from that of Japanese miso. It’s not used often, but when it is, it is important to the character of that dish. Healthy Boy soybean paste is the most popular brand of tao jiew outside Thailand.

STORAGE: Once open, keep in the fridge.

SUBSTITUTIONS: You can substitute Japanese miso or Korean doenjang in roughly equal amounts, then thin it out with a bit of water to achieve a similar consistency. Be prepared to taste and adjust for saltiness.

FERMENTED SHRIMP PASTE | GAPI | กะปิ

​This salty, purplish-gray paste made from fermented small shrimp (or sometimes krill) is the epitome of "funky" and is used all over Southeast Asia. It’s one of those things that tastes better than it smells. It has lovers and haters. I am a proud lover of shrimp paste.

You may have eaten shrimp paste without knowing it, because most Thai curry pastes contain it in small amounts. You can buy Thai shrimp paste in a plastic tub, or the Malaysian type in a plastic-wrapped brick called belacan. 

STORAGE: Refrigerate after opening, but keep it tightly sealed and maybe even in a bag to prevent the smell from "perfuming" your fridge!

SUBSTITUTIONS: Where shrimp paste is used in small amounts, such as in curry pastes, you can omit it and add extra fish sauce instead. If omitting because you are vegan, substitute an equal amount of miso paste.

Note: Do not confuse this with a product called "shrimp paste in soybean oil" which is an orange paste in a glass jar. That is made from shrimp tomalley cooked with herbs and seasonings. It’s delicious added to fried rice and stir-fries, but it is not fermented and cannot be used as a substitute for gapi. 

The Sour 

Sour is an extremely important component in Thai cuisine. Every cuisine uses acids in their cooking in some manner, but I can't think of any other cuisine that uses it to the extent that we do. Here are two main acidic ingredients of Thai cuisine.

Herbs & Spices 

Here's a list of some of our core herbs and spices, some of which you may not be familiar with. There are obviously more than I'm showing here, but these are the most important and most commonly used ones. 

GALANGAL | KHA | ข่า

The key ingredient of the iconic soup tom kha gai, galangal is a firm rhizome whose aroma is very much like that of a lush pine forest. It’s cooling, calming, and refreshing. Although it looks like ginger, and many people will say that you can use ginger as a substitute, I insist that you don’t do this. Not if you expect it to have a similar flavor, anyway! 

There are two common uses of galangal: pounded into curry pastes, and sliced into rounds for infusing into soups such as tom yum soup. While not done as often, it can also be finely chopped and added to salads or stir fries. 

Galangal freezes very well. Slice it into thin rounds and freeze in a single layer on a tray lined with plastic wrap before storing in a freezer bag. 

For a deeper dive see my ultimate guide to galangal.

SUBSTITUTIONS: If you can't find fresh galangal, try looking first for frozen which will work just as well. Your second choice would be dried pieces of galangal which can work in soups, but not ideal if you're trying to grind it into a curry paste as it's very tough. I don't suggest using powdered galangal.

LEMONGRASS | TAKRAI | ตะไคร้ 

Lemongrass has a citrusy aroma but without the sour taste. It’s as core to Thai cuisine as garlic is to Italian cuisine. Lemongrass can be bruised and infused into soups, like a cinnamon stick might be, or finely chopped and added to salads, dips, or stir-fries. It’s also a key ingredient in many curry pastes. 

I use only the bottom half of lemongrass because the flavor gets weaker at the top. I freeze the tops for making stock, or if making soup such as tom yum soup or tom kha gai where the lemongrass is added to infuse and is then discarded, there is no harm in also adding the tops as some bonus flavour. You don't want to cook only with the top half. For a deeper dive see my ultimate guide to lemongrass.

STORAGE: Lemongrass freezes well. I cut it into 2- to 3-inch long pieces before freezing for ease of use. You can also buy stalks of lemongrass already frozen.

SUBSTITUTIONS: If you can't find fresh lemongrass, try looking first for frozen. Your second choice would be dried pieces of lemongrass which can work in soups, but not ideal if you're trying to grind it into a curry paste as they're very tough. I don't suggest using powdered lemongrass.

MAKRUT LIME LEAVES | BAI MAGROOD | ใบมะกรูด

​Previously called kaffir lime leaves, these thick, sturdy leaves smell like the grassier sister of lime zest. It’s all aroma, though, as makrut lime leaves don’t impart any of the sour taste you might expect from something with such a citrusy fragrance. 

Makrut lime leaves are extremely versatile. They can be roughly torn and infused into soups and broths, or finely julienned and added to just about anything you can imagine. Make sure those juliennes are really fine though, as these leaves are tough, and too-big juliennes can leave you feeling like you’ve got a piece of hay stuck in your teeth. 

We do not generally use the juice of makrut limes, of which there isn’t much anyway, though the zest is often used in curry pastes. Look for frozen leaves if you can’t find fresh; if not available, look for dried. For a deeper dive, see my ultimate guide to makrut lime leaves.

STORAGE: Makrut lime leaves freeze like a dream. Simply put them into a freezer bag and press as much air out as possible. 

SUBSTITUTIONS: If you can't find fresh makrut lime leaves, try looking first for frozen which will work just as well. Your second choice would be dried whole leaves which can work in soups and curries where it'll have a chance to rehydrate in the dish.

THAI BASIL | HORAPA | โหระพา

Fragrant and floral, Thai basil adds so much complexity to stir-fries and curries. It is quite widely available these days in Asian markets; and if not, it is also quite easy to grow in N. America in the summertime.

STORAGE: I keep my basil stems in a glass of water, loosely covered with a plastic bag on the counter. Remove the bag to air out excess moisture and change out the water every day, ideally, or as often as you remember. If you find that your basil stems have rooted in the water, you can plant them once the roots are at least an inch long.

SUBSTITUTIONS: You can use Italian basil instead.

FRESH CHILIES | PRIK | พริก

To add spiciness in our dishes, we most often use small and super-spicy bird’s eye chilies, or prik kee noo. In North America, you can find these sold as “Thai chilies,” and they can be found red (ripe) or green (underripe). 

We also use larger, milder chilies to add color and chili flavor without heat, and for this we turn to spur chilies, or prik chee fa. These are not easy to find, but you can substitute any other mild red pepper you can find; even red bell pepper will do in a pinch. 

STORAGE: All chilies can be frozen and they'll last basically forever. Freeze them whole in a freezer bag and use them without thawing or they will turn mushy and become harder to chop.

SUBSTITUTIONS: You can use any kind of hot peppers that are available to you to replace the heat of Thai chilies. If large, mild fresh chilies are called for, you can also use any type that's available to you; worst case, red bell pepper will be fine.

DRIED CHILIES | PRIK HAENG | พริกแห้ง

We use two major types of dried chilies: small (spicy) and large (mild). Don’t get too hung up on which specific varieties you need, because fortunately most dried chilies have a similar-enough flavor that they can be substituted for one another in Thai recipes, but you do want to be aware of the heat levels, which vary greatly. 

Spicy, small dried chilies are used to add heat to curry pastes, and we also roast and grind them up into chili flakes, which can be added to just about anything. In Thailand we use dried bird's eye chilies. In the West, the generic no-name dried chilies you can usually find at Chinese grocery stores, as well as Mexican chiles de árbol, are great for this purpose, and they are not too hot.

Large, mild dried chilies are most often used in curry paste because we want to maximize the bright red color and chili flavor without making the curry too spicy. The Thai variety, prik chee fa, is essentially impossible to source, but dried guajillo or puya peppers are perfect substitutes. You can find them anywhere Latin American groceries are sold. You can also use Korean gochugaru pepper flakes instead.

STORAGE: Keep dried chilies in a cool dry place. If you live in a warm, humid place, I recommend freezing dried chilies to prevent mold.

PANDAN LEAF | BAI TOEY | ใบเตย

This aromatic, long, blade-shaped leaf is the star of Thai desserts because its floral aroma pairs fantastically with coconut. Most commonly, we simmer the leaf in liquid to infuse its fragrance, though it can be blended with water and strained when its natural green color is also desired. In stores, they can sometimes be labelled as screwpine leaves or lá dứa in Vietnamese.

STORAGE: I cut my pandan leaves into 5-6 inch pieces and freeze in a freezer bag.

SUBSTITUTIONS: Fresh pandan leaves are harder to find, though frozen ones are perfectly fine to use. In fact, if I buy them fresh, I end up freezing them anyway. Pandan extract, though not ideal, can be used instead - but be sure to add a little at a time as it can be intense and easy to overdo. 

Dry Goods

COCONUT MILK | GATI | กะทิ 

Coconut milk is our only source of creaminess because we do not traditionally use dairy in Thai cooking. And when it comes to Thai dessert, coconut milk is as essential to us as butter is to Western pastries. 

A caveat: Some modern cooks have started using evaporated milk in a few dishes such as creamy tom yum and curry crab, but it is not a traditional ingredient.

Coconut milk quality varies a great deal and it's important that you know how to choose a good one. In my ultimate guide to coconut milk I talk about how to choose a good one out of all the brands that line store shelves, and I highly recommend you check that out. But in short, my recommended brand is Aroy-D in the UHT paper carton. But Chaokoh in the paper carton is good too.

Do not use coconut cream when recipes call for coconut milk. Coconut cream is higher in fat than coconut milk, but different brands vary greatly in how much fat it actually contains. Traditional Thai cooking is based in the use of freshly squeezed coconut milk, which is not nearly as fatty as some commercial coconut cream can be, which is why I never call for it. Of course you can use coconut cream if your intention is to utilize the higher fat content, I just want to stress that it cannot be used interchangeably with coconut milk.

STORAGE: You can keep open coconut milk in the fridge for 1-2 weeks. It can also be frozen, however, when thawed it will be curdled, so you'll just need to heat it up until hot and it will be smooth again.

Want to know how coconut milk is made? Watch my short documentary! How Coconut Milk is Made: From Farm to Cans.

COOKING OIL | NAM MUN | น้ำมัน 

You can use any neutral-flavored, high-heat-resistant oil for Thai cooking. I personally use avocado oil because it is a healthier option, but because that’s pricey, I use canola when I deep-fry. 

You may think we use coconut oil a lot in Thai cuisine, but we actually mostly use coconut milk and rarely the oil. If you want to use coconut oil, choose refined coconut oil, which does not have the coconut flavor. Using virgin coconut oil will make everything taste like coconut!

DRIED SHRIMP | GOONG HANG | กุ้งแห้ง

Basically, goong hang are shrimp jerky. Little shrimp are salted and dried in the sun, and in that process they develop a robust, savory flavor. You can buy these in the refrigerated section at Asian grocery stores. I stick with medium-sized ones, which are most versatile. Freeze them and they will last indefinitely. 

SUBSTITUTION: Depending on the recipe, you may be able to just omit dried shrimp altogether, as in the case of pad thai. In salads however, I like to substitute Japanese bonito flakes.

RICE NOODLES | SEN GUAY TIEW | เส้นก๋วยเตี๋ยว

If you're not experienced with rice noodles, or if you find yourself often having trouble cooking them well, I highly recommend watching my video on How to Cook Rice Noodles Properly.

Dry rice noodles are a great thing to keep in your pantry because they are versatile and last seemingly forever. Choose brands from Thailand if possible, as Vietnamese ones can sometimes have tapioca starch mixed in and will have a slightly different texture.

They come in many sizes and shapes, but the thin ones are the most convenient for weeknight cooking because they don’t take long to soak and cook. 

What is tamarind?

Simply put, tamarind is a fruit. Its sticky brown flesh ranges from being very sweet to very sour, depending on the variety. The sweet ones are for eating fresh, and the sour ones are for turning into a paste for cooking.

Note: The tamarind liquid that is used for Thai cooking is sometimes referred to as "tamarind water," and some brands of premade ones are labeled "tamarind concentrate." I used to call it "tamarind juice," but I have switched to "tamarind paste" to avoid confusion with tamarind beverages. This is all very confusing, I know!

For everything you need to know about tamarind, check out my Ultimate Guide to Tamarind video. I also show you what tamarind looks like in its original pod!

How to Make Tamarind Paste

Here's an overview of the process, but be sure to read the recipe card and watch the video tutorial because this is one of those things that's much better understood once you see it in action. I also include more tips I didn't include here in the video!

1. Pull apart tamarind pulp into small chunks.
2. Place the tamarind into a large heatproof bowl and cover with hot off-the-boil water and let it sit until the water is cool enough to handle, at least 20 minutes.
3. Use your hand to squeeze and scrunch the tamarind pulp so that the flesh is released from the fibers and mixes into the water. If you feel like it's too thick, and more water is needed to loosen things up, go ahead and add it.
4. Once done, you should have a thick liquid in the bowl and the fibers should have barely any pulp left on them.

5. Strain the tamarind paste into a pot through a sieve that is not too fine, using your hand to stir and push the pulp to help it go through. Feel free to add more water if it's too thick to go through the sieve.
6. Once you're down to just the fibers, rinse the remaining fibers with a little more water to release more tamarind paste.
7. You can use this right away, or for storage, cook the tamarind paste in a pot until it bubbles, and let it bubble for about 5 minutes to ensure that it is thoroughly heated. Stir it constantly to avoid splattering!
8. Transfer the tamarind paste into small mason jars, close the let and let cool. Store in the fridge or freezer.

Storing Tamarind Paste

The tamarind paste you make is ready to use right away, but for the rest, you will want to cook it before storing to maximize its shelf life. When cooking tamarind, because it's thick, it'll bubble and look like it's boiling before the entire mixture has reached boiling temperature. So it's important to let it bubble for about 5 minutes to allow it to thoroughly heat through.

If you cook the paste and store it in a mason jar while hot as per my instructions, it will last up to 6 months, unopened in the fridge. Once it's opened, it has lasted me at least 2 months, but always use clean utensils to scoop from the jar.

Because of this, I recommend you putting it in small jars, no larger than 1 cup per jar, to maximize its shelf life. You can also water-bath can the tamarind, like you would with jam, to make it shelf-stable, though I have not personally done this.

You can also freeze tamarind paste. Many of my patreon members report freezing tamarind paste into ice cubes which make it easy to use. It'll also help for you to know the volume of the ice cube so you can take out the appropriate amount the recipe calls for.

Recipes with Tamarind

Now that you've got delicious homemade tamarind paste, try using it in these recipes!

But first, what is sticky rice?

Before you cook, let's make sure you buy the right rice to begin with! Sticky rice, also called sweet rice or glutinous rice, is much chewier and denser than your average white rice. It's an ultra satisfying texture, and we love to pair it with meats such as our grilled steak or BBQ chicken, and use it in desserts such as the famous mango sticky rice.

In Thailand, we use long grain sticky rice which we call khao niew. At the store, it can be labeled as "sweet rice" or "glutinous rice," but to make sure it's the right one, check that it is a product of Thailand. Short grain sticky rice is also available, but it is used in China and Japan, not in Southeast Asia. In this article, I'm discussing how to cook long grain sticky rice, and while in theory you can apply the same methods to short grain sticky rice, I have not personally tried them.

Note that sticky rice is NOT sushi rice. Yes, sushi rice is sticky, and some people confuse the two, but they are very different. When shopping, you should look for grains that are opaque, bright white, and not translucent.

Why Cooking Sticky Rice is (a bit) Tricky

Why are there so many ways to cook sticky rice, and why are none of them just...throwing rice into a pot of water like you do with any other kind of rice? Well, it's because Thai sticky rice is a little bit...sensitive.

Trust me, if you could cook it like regular rice the whole nation of Thailand wouldn't do it any other way. Sticky rice can't absorb much water, which is why it's so dense and chewy, and it is not forgiving at all if you add even a bit too much. So, cooking it in an amount of water that you just eyeballed will not yield good results.

So the wise people of the past discovered that if you soak the rice in water for at least 3 hours until it is completely saturated, and then steam it OUT of water, there is no chance that it can overcook. Brilliant, right?

But not all of us have the time or the equipment to do it traditionally, so here's my roundup of all the ways that I know of that you can cook sticky rice, along with the pros and cons of each method.

The 7 Ways to Cook Sticky Rice

The 7 methods can be divided into 2 categories: soak and steam, and no soak. And under the soak-and-steam methods, you can either do a cold soak or a hot soak. Usually, the results are better using the soak-and-steam methods for the reasons I described above, but if you're short on time, the no soak methods will do in a pinch, but some precision is required.

But first, you need to wash the rice.

Doesn't matter which method you're using, you need to wash the rice! This gets rid of excess loose starch leftover from the milling process, and it will prevent your rice from becoming gummy.

1. Swish the rice around vigorously in room temperature water, then pour off most of the cloudy water.
2. Repeat the washing a few more times until the water runs mostly clear.

Methods 1-4: Soak-and-Steam Sticky Rice

These first 4 methods all require 2 major steps: soaking the rice, and then steaming the rice. But each method requires different equipment, so there should be something for everyone here!

1. Bamboo Cone Steamer

This is THE traditional method. If you go to a rural village in northeastern Thailand, this is how they make sticky rice! It is absolutely fail proof, and yields perfect rice every time. It also works with a small or large amount of rice.

The tool we're using here is a bamboo cone steamer set called huad. It's comprised of 2 parts, the bottom pot for water, and the cone-shaped bamboo steamer that sits on top.

1. After washing the rice (see above), soak the rice in plenty of room temperature water for a minimum of 3 hours, preferably 4 and up to 12 hours, and then drain well.
2. Fill the pot with no more than 2 inches of water and bring to a boil over high heat, meanwhile soak the bamboo steamer in water otherwise the rice will stick to a dry steamer.
3. Place the drained rice inside the steamer. Handle soaked rice carefully as they are brittle.
4. Once the water is boiling, place the steamer on top of the pot and cover with any lid that will fit (any old pot lid is fine). Steam for 15 minutes.
5. After 15 minutes, flip the rice ball so the top is facing down by tossing the steamer (see the video tutorial for how to do this). Then continue to steam for another 10 minutes.

2. Steamer Rack

If you have a basic steamer rack that sits above a pot, such as a dim sum bamboo steamer, this method will work for you. This method is also popular with Thai people and yields great results.

1. After washing the rice (see above), soak the rice in plenty of room temperature water for a minimum of 3 hours, preferably 4 and up to 12 hours, and then drain well.
2. Wet a muslin or thin tea towel and squeeze out as much water from it as possible. You want it damp, not wet. Line your steamer rack with the muslin.
3. Place the soaked rice in the steamer and clear a hole in the middle. This eliminates any "thick part" and the rice will cook faster.
4. Fold the edges of the muslin up to cover the rice, making sure there is space around the rice for the steam to come up.
5. Cover and steam over boiling water for 20-30 minutes until cooked through (longer time if making a large batch).

3. Metal Sieve

I learned this method from my cousin who lived in Alabama where she didn't have access to much Asian cooking supplies. It's such a useful method because it doesn't require any special equipment, and the result is nearly as good as a bamboo steamer!

You do need to have a METAL sieve that has a similar diameter to a pot so you can set it on top of the pot. Make sure there's enough space at the bottom so the water will not touch the bottom of the rice.

1. After washing the rice (see above), soak the rice in plenty of room temperature water for a minimum of 3 hours, preferably 4 and up to 12 hours, and then drain well.
2. Place the sieve on top of the pot, then fill it with 1-2 inches of water, making sure there is at least 1 inch of space between the water and the bottom of the sieve. Remove the sieve and bring the water to a boil.
3. Place the soaked rice into the sieve but do not fill it completely or you will block the steam! You need some space at the top so steam can come up and surround the rice. Use your finger to clear a hole or an indentation in the middle of the rice to eliminate the "thick part" so the rice will cook faster.
4. Once the water is boiling, place the sieve over the pot and cover with a lid. Steam for 20-30 minutes until cooked through (longer time if making a large batch).

Tip: You can use this set up to steam vegetables or anything else as well!

4. The Hot Soak

This is officially my favourite method because it's fast, and it yields a great result. The rice made using the hot soak method will be slightly softer than the cold soak BUT this is actually an asset because the extra moisture will keep it soft after it's cooled down to room temp, unlike cold soak sticky rice which quickly turns dry and hard once it's cooled down.

There are some minor cons to this method, most importantly you do need to be precise with soaking time, and adjustments may be needed if making a large batch. I write more about this method in detail in this post: hot soak sticky rice.

1. After washing the rice, place it into a heatproof bowl. Cover it with hot-off-the-boil water so the water comes up ½-1 inch above the rice. Give the rice a stir to break up any lumps and let it soak for 20 minutes and NO MORE.
2. Meanwhile, get your steamer setup ready. You can use any of the steaming set up from methods 1-3 above: the cone steamer, regular steamer rack, or the sieve.
3. Drain the rice, and rinse it with cold tap water to remove excess starch that has come out during the soaking.
4. Now the rice is ready to be steamed using any of the methods above.

Methods 5-7: No-Soak Sticky Rice

I'm going to be frank here, no-soak methods are shortcuts for when you need sticky rice but didn't plan ahead. They are not the ideal ways to cook sticky rice because the resulting rice texture is generally not as good (except for method #6, maybe) and because you have to be very precise with the amount of water. But, it's still better than NO sticky rice, so I'll take it :).

*As with all other methods, you will need to wash the rice as mentioned above.

5. Steam The Bowl

With this method, you put the rice and the water together in a bowl, then steam the bowl in any kind of steamer set up you have. This allows the rice to cook gently, and with no risk of burning the bottom so you do not have to be precise with timing.

1. Drain the washed rice very well, making sure there is absolutely no water left. Place it into a heatproof bowl.
2. Add water at a ratio of 1 part rice to ⅔ parts water. So for every 1 cup of rice, add ⅔ cups of water OR for 1 ½ cups of rice add 1 cup of water. Measure this, do not eyeball. Stir to break up any clusters of rice.
3. Cover the bowl with a plate or foil to prevent condensation from dripping into the rice, and steam the bowl over rapidly boiling water for about 30 minutes. You will need more time if making a larger amount.
4. Remove the rice from the steamer, check that all water has been absorbed, if not, put it back and steam longer.

Tips: If you find that the rice came out too soft, add less water next time. Different brands of rice may require slightly different amount of water.

6. Rice Cooker (maybe)

This method is a "maybe" because it doesn't work with all rice cookers, but when it works, it is awesome, and the result can be almost as good as rice cooked the traditional way. What you need your rice cooker to do is cook the sticky rice gently and slowly. So if your rice cooker normally boils the heck out of your rice, it'll likely not work for sticky rice.

If you've got a multi-function rice cooker, such as the Zojirushi, with a "sweet" rice function. That is the function made specifically for sticky rice. Congratulations!

I've also had success with a cheap, simple 1-button rice cooker that is super weak, so it cooks rice slowly and gently, which is perfect for sticky rice! If you have a "brown rice" function, it may be worth a try as brown rice function tends to cook more slowly too.

1. Wash the rice as per usual and drain very well. Place the rice into the rice cooker pot.
2. Add water at a ratio of 1 part rice to ⅔ parts water. So for every 1 cup of rice, add ⅔ cups of water OR for 1½ cups of rice add 1 cup of water. Measure this, do not eyeball. Stir to break up any clusters of rice. (If you're using the measuring cup that comes with the rice cooker, you can try using the line for "sweet rice" in the pot which follows roughly the same ratio, and adjust as needed next time.)
3. Cook the rice using the "sweet" mode and let the rice cooker do its thing!

NOTE: I have found that for the Zojirushi rice cooker, this function does not work as well with larger amounts of sticky rice (3+ cups). The result was a little more uneven than when I made 1-2 cups of rice, but it was still okay.

7. Microwave

Yes you CAN do it in the microwave, though it wouldn't be my go-to if I have other options available to me. It is the most finicky and the least hands-off of all the methods. But when you're in a dorm room and desperate for sticky rice, it'll do the trick!

After a few practice batches and fine-tuning to match your microwave and the amount of rice you typically cook, the result can be surprisingly decent.

IMPORTANT: As every microwave is different, treat the instructions below as a guideline. Also, the more rice you make, the longer it will take to cook. The timing below is based on 1 cup (240 ml) of sticky rice. You may need to adjust the timing, but the idea is that you want to microwave it in bursts, gradually decreasing in duration, and stir it in between for even cooking.

1. Place the washed and drained rice into a heatproof bowl.
2. Pour hot off-the-boil water over the rice so it comes up about ½ inch over the rice. Give it a stir to break up any lumps and soak for 15 minutes.
3. Drain off the soaking water and rinse off excess starch with cold tap water. Drain the rice very, very well, then place it into a round glass or ceramic bowl. 
4. Add cold water to the rice at the ratio of 1 part rice to ½ parts water, the water should come up approximately to the level of the rice.
5. Cover the bowl with a glass or ceramic plate and microwave on full power for 3 minutes. Take it out (carefully), stir the rice by flipping the bottom up to the top and the edges into the middle to evenly distribute the heating.
6. Cover and microwave again for another 2 minutes, then repeat the stirring. Then microwave for another 2 minutes and, at this point, all the water should be absorbed and the rice is should be mostly cooked with perhaps some grains still slightly undercooked (uncooked sticky rice will be opaque white in the middle). Give it a final stir then cover and rest for at least 5 minutes, and it should all be cooked through and ready to serve.*If after resting the rice is still undercooked, stir in 1-2 tablespoon (15-30 ml) water and microwave again for another minute or so and repeat the resting process.

*The instructions here are slightly different from one in the video as I have made some adjustments.

How to Store and Reheat Sticky Rice

Short term storage in the fridge: Cooked sticky rice will last in the fridge for 1-2 days, but beyond that the texture will be compromised even when reheated. Be sure to store it in a tightly sealed container as it dries out quickly. For longer storage, freeze the rice.

How to Freeze Sticky Rice

Sticky rice can be frozen for about a month before it starts to dry out to the point where it doesn't reheat well. It won't spoil beyond that, you can still eat it, but it won't have as good of a texture.

Separate the rice into portions before freezing as it's impossible to separate the rice when frozen. Wrap each portion in plastic wrap or foil (foil will prevent freezer burn for longer), then consolidate them into a freezer bag, squeezing as much air out of the bag as possible.

How to Reheat Sticky Rice

To reheat with a microwave: Cover the sticky rice in moist paper towel and microwave until steaming hot. It needs to be fully reheated until piping hot or it will not regain its soft texture. If the rice is really dry, you may want to spray or drizzle a bit of water directly on the rice.

To reheat by steaming: Preheat the steamer so the water is boiling. Wrap the sticky rice in a clean damp muslin, damp tea towel, or damp paper towel, then steam until the rice is until piping hot all the way through.

Recipes Using Sticky Rice

Generally, we love to eat sticky rice with meats. Here are a few classic meat dishes that are often paired with sticky rice:

• BBQ Chicken or Thai Fried chicken
• BBQ pork skewers
• Northeastern Thai food such as laab or green papaya salad are always served with sticky rice.
• Or try it with northern Thai food, which is commonly eaten with sticky rice. You can dip it into the thick sauce of Hung Lay curry; or if you like carb-on-carb, it's fantastic with spicy curry glass noodle stir-fry.

We also feature sticky rice prominently in desserts:

• A popular classic that's a must-try during mango season: mango sticky rice
• For fellow durian lovers, durian sticky rice is absolutely divine.
• We eat sticky rice with ice cream! Any ice cream will work, but the classic pairing is this street-style coconut ice cream.

Video: Makrut Lime Leaves 101

If you prefer to watch, everything that's covered in this article is covered in this video, plus you will get to see me demonstrate how to prepare and store them.

Is it Makrut Lime or Kaffir Lime?

First and most importantly, we need to clarify the name of this herb. Makrut and kaffir limes refer to the same plant. Previously, "kaffir lime" was the most common English name, but because the word "kaffir" happens to sound the same as a racially derogatory term in South Africa, its use has been discouraged in favour of its Thai name makrut. (Note that the plant was not named after the derogatory term; they have different roots. You can read more about in this National Geographic article.) 

In my recipe writing, I have switched over to using makrut in the past few years, but older recipes on the website may still have the old name which I try to update as I come across them. But because I am an educator of Thai cooking, it's important for me to educate people on both these names because in most Asian grocery stores today, the leaves and fruits are still being labeled as kaffir, which can cause confusion when people are shopping if they're not aware.

What is a Makrut Lime?

Makrut lime is a type of citrus fruits native to Thailand. It has fruits that are green, about the size of a golf ball, and has bumps on the skin which make them look a bit like a cartoon brain!

The leaves and the zest have very similar aroma to each other, so for Thai cooking, we mostly use just the leaves because they're so much more abundant and easier to use. We do use the zest in situations where we want to incorporate it into a fine paste, such as in red curry paste, because the leaves are tough and much harder to grind down. 

Makrut lime juice, on the other hand, is not used much as makrut limes do not have much juice to offer, have lots of seeds (see pic above), and the juice tends to be bitter.

How to Cook with Makrut Lime Leaves

Lime leaves are incredibly versatile, and can be used in just about anything from soups, salads, curries, stir fries, even infused into drinks! Here are a few ways to use makrut lime leaves. 

1. Infuse into liquids.

The easiest way to use makrut lime leaves is to simply let them infuse into liquid such as soups, stews, or curreis, such as in tom yum goong in the pic above. Simply grab a few leaves with your hands, and then twist to bruise the leaves to release the aromatic oils, then roughly tear into big chunks and add to your dish. It only takes a few minutes for lime leaves aroma to come out, so this is not something you have to simmer for hours on end. 

*Important: In large pieces, makrut lime leaves are for infusion only and are not meant to be eaten as they are very tough. So think of them like bay leaves!

2. Finely julienne

If you do want to actually eat the lime leaves, you have to very finely julienne them, and I mean VERY finely because as I mentioned, the leaves are tough, if you have big ribbons it won't be comfortable to eat. In this form, you can add them to salads, stir fries, or use them as garnish as I do for panang curry and pad prik king. You may also want to remove the center stems if they're quite thick before julienning.

3. Toasting or Frying

Another way  you can use these is to toast or fry them until they're crispy. Sometimes I do this when I make toasted rice powder for laab; I add the makrut lime leaves in with the rice, and as the rice toasts, the leaves dry and become crispy. Then I grind the leaves and the rice up together, resulting in an aromatic toasted rice powder. 

Deep frying lime leaves is also something many Thai people do to get them crispy, but bewarned, they will splatter A LOT. So dry the leaves COMPLETELY, drop them into the hot oil and back up. They will take just a few seconds, once they stop splattering, they're crispy and can be used as garnishes on anything you wish. 

Is that one leaf or 2 leaves?

Makrut lime leaves are what I call "double leaves" (I'm sure there's a botanical term for it), meaning each whole leaf is made of up two smaller leaves connected end to end. So when a recipe called for "1 leaf" people may understandably be confused whether that means the whole double leaf or just the single. I don't know about other recipes, but for my recipes, 1 leaf means 1 single leaf, NOT the double. 

I decided on this because often times when people buy lime leaves, the two sections will have already detached from each other and your bag will be full of single loose leaves, especially if they're older or frozen. So it wouldn't make sense if by "1 leaf" I meant that you had to pick up 2 leaves in your package. Not to mention, there is no such thing as too much lime leaves so I'd rather err on the side of you putting double the amount than only half the amount!  

Buying Makrut Lime Leaves - Fresh, Frozen, and Dried

Try to find fresh makrut lime leaves whenever possible, and I recommend first looking wherever you get your other Thai ingredients. You'll have better luck at stores that carry a lot of Southeast Asian products like Vietnamese and Thai, than stores that are primarily Chinese, Japanese or Korean. If you cannot find fresh lime leaves, look in the freezer section as they're often sold frozen which work perfectly well. When I buy fresh, I freeze them at home anyway!

Worst case, you may be able to find dried makrut lime leaves which are fine, but not ideal. Dried lime leaves can work in soups and curries where they'll have time to rehydrate and infuse in the liquid, but obviously you can't julienne them and toss them into salads and they're completely crunchy. If you're using dried, add a few more leaves than the recipe calls for and give them a few extra minutes to simmer and infuse. Or try powderizing them in a coffee grinder, then add to dishes.

How to store makrut lime leaves

If you buy fresh lime leaves, they will last at least a week in your fridge's crisper because they're quite sturdy. But if you don't have any plans for them within the next few days, I recommend freezing them to prolong their freshness.

To freeze makrut lime leaves, wash them first, then lay them out on a towel and let them dry completely. Once dry, gather them into a freezer bag and press out as much air as possible before you seal. If you've got a lot and you think it'll last you a long time, you may want to first wrap them in aluminum foil before putting them into a freezer bag as the foil will prevent freezer burn for longer.

Substitutes for Makrut Lime Leaves 

If you cannot find any form of makrut lime leaves (remember to look for frozen and dried first!), regular lime zest is your best substitute. They do not have the same aroma, but at least you'll get the same citrusy feel. You cannot use regular lime leaves or any other kinds of citrus leaves instead as they are not aromatic. 

Video: Soy Sauces Explained

If you prefer to watch rather than read, most of what's covered in this article is also covered in this video!

4 Main Types of Soy Sauces

The best way to attack this beast of a subject is to look at soy sauces by their main function. (FYI This is a system that I came up with to help people understand the different types of soy sauces. It is not an official categorization system).

The easiest way to understand the hundreds of bottles of soy sauce is to divide them into 4 main categories based on their main function:

• Regular soy sauce
• Dark soy sauce
• Sweet soy sauce
• Specialty soy sauces

Within these categories, there are various subtypes of course, and this guide will cover everything you need to know to get you cooking, without getting into all the obscure details that you likely won't need. At the end we will also cover soy sauce storage and soy sauce substitutes at the end.

But first, what is soy sauce?

At the basic level, soy sauce is made from 5 main ingredients: soybeans, wheat, salt, water and koji. Koji is a special mold that does the fermentation and is responsible for a few other food products such as miso paste.

Each manufacturer will have their own recipe and processes, and they often also add other ingredients such as MSG and/or other flavours.

Regular Soy Sauce 

What it's for: 

This is the stuff you'll need when a recipe calls simply for "soy sauce." And by "regular" soy sauce I mean soy sauces whose main function is to add saltiness, umami, and of course soy sauce flavour. By contrast, the main functions of dark and sweet soy sauces are added for colour and sweetness, respectively.

What to buy: 

First, decide which cuisine you're cooking, and buy the soy sauce that is from that cuisine. If you're cooking Thai food, try to get Thai soy sauce, if you're cooking Japanese food, get Japanese soy sauce, etc. If you don't want to stock 3 different soy sauces, that's fine and understandable! For the most part you can use the "wrong" country's soy sauce and you will still have a fine-tasting dish, albeit slightly different.

Once you've narrowed down the cuisine, you want to go for the bottles that are simply labeled as soy sauce, light soy sauce (explained below), or in the case of the Thai ones, thin soy sauce. All of these are considered regular soy sauce. Of course if there are generic descriptors such as "premium" or "organic," that doesn't really count.

Low sodium and gluten-free soy sauce: 

These are considered variations of regular soy sauce. If sodium and gluten are issues of concern, you can use these in place of regular soy sauce in the same amount. Note: The Japanese tamari is usually gluten free, but always double check as tamari can technically contain gluten. 

Soy sauce for Thai cooking: 

Since this is a Thai cooking site, let's go deeper on Thai soy sauce! The only brand of Thai soy sauce that I've seen overseas is Healthy Boy Brand, which is great cuz it's my favourite anyway. There are TWO types of Thai regular soy sauces, the "thin soy sauce" which is the original formula with a yellow label. And the "mushroom soy sauce" which is simply a mushroom flavoured version. Both are interchangeable in all recipes, it's just a matter of preference. Because I know you will ask, I use Healthy Boy Brand Mushroom Soy Sauce when I can get it. 

*Thai mushroom soy sauce is not to be confused with Chinese mushroom soy sauce, which is much darker and is a different thing altogether. 

Dark Soy Sauce/Black Soy Sauce

What it's for: 

The main function of dark soy sauce, or black soy sauce as Thais call it, is to give your dish a dark rich brown colour, and also a deeper, molasses-y flavour.

A little bit of this stuff goes a long way so you never need much, so while it is salty, it would not be the main source of saltiness in your dish. In fact, if you put too much it tends to taste a bit bitter because of that molasses flavour. 

Most commonly you will find dark soy sauce called for in Chinese and Southeast Asian recipes.

What to buy: 

Again, it's always best practice to match your ingredients to the cuisine, but because it is not usually used in large amount, you can be pretty relaxed about cross-country use of dark soy sauce.

Chinese dark soy sauce can be used in place of Thai black soy sauce, though generally the Chinese variety tends to be saltier, so if more than a dash is called for it's wise to hold back on other salting agents a bit just in case.

Black soy sauce for Thai cooking: 

Things actually get a little confusing because for reasons beyond my understanding, there are so many formulas for black soy sauce in Thailand. Some are darker, some are lighter, some are sweeter, some are saltier. It's totally unnecessary IMO, but here we are.

My preference is Dragonfly brand black soy sauce (orange lid), which is the classic old-school brand that I like, but it can be hard to find. My second choice is Healthy Boy Brand Black Soy Sauce (formula 1), but it is MUCH darker than Dragonfly, which means I have to use much less of it. Note that Healthy Boy makes multiple formulas of black soy sauce, they're all fine to use.

If you can't find these, not to worry. Because you never use too much of this stuff, and its main purpose is colour not flavour, it's not a big deal if what you're using is different from mine. But it does mean that you have to be cautious and add a little at a time to ensure you don't accidentally over do it.

Sweet Soy Sauce

What it's for: 

The main function of sweet soy sauce purpose is as you might expect...to add sweetness! It's a thick, syrupy soy sauce that is not very salty at all despite its name, and it has a deep molasses flavour and a dark colour. It is most commonly used in Indonesian and Malaysian cuisine, and in Thailand we use it very rarely, usually to make dipping sauces. 

What to buy: My go-to is the Indonesian ABC brand kecap manis (kecap manis mean sweet soy sauce in Indonesian). It also happens to be the most widely available. 

Specialty Soy Sauces

There are other soy sauce-like seasonings, made from fermented soybeans, but are not really considered soy sauce because their flavours are significantly different from soy sauce. For example, Golden Mountain Sauce (aka Thai Seasoning Sauce), Maggi Seasoning, or Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or liquid soy seasoning).

What it's for: 

These are usually comparable to regular soy sauce in terms of saltiness, and you can use them instead of soy sauce to change up the flavour. For me, I usually use them in combination with soy sauce to get a more complex flavour, or to add variety to different stir fries that might otherwise taste similar to each other.

What to buy: 

It's a cook's playground! These are rarely "core" to a dish's flavour, so buy whichever you're intrigued by and consider these opportunities to explore various soy based seasonings. I

In my recipes I use Golden Mountain Sauce, so if you want to do what I do, that's the one to get. Though Maggi Seasoning is a favourite of people around the world for boosting umami in all sorts of dishes, and in Thailand it's commonly drizzled over fried eggs!

Getting Deeper into Non-Thai Soy Sauces

I wanted this article to give you just enough info to work with without becoming overwhelming, and definitely enough to get you through Thai cooking. But if you're a food nerd and love deep dives into all sorts of minute details, here are some good resources.

Serious Eats has a great guide to soy sauces that go deeper into Japanese, Chinese and Korean soy sauces. I also did not talk much about Korean soy sauces as I know less about it.

How to Store Soy Sauce

Even though most soy sauces are so salty that they won't go bad in your cabinet, I recommend refrigerating all types of soy sauces because the flavour does deteriorate over time. Keeping it in the fridge where is cold and dark will help preserve the flavour of soy sauce longer.

In the fridge soy sauce will last indefinitely, meaning it won't go bad even after years. However, if you find a 4 year old open bottle in the back of your fridge...the flavour isn probably not as good as a fresh bottle.

Soy Sauce Substitutes

If you're looking to avoid soy sauce because you're on a gluten-free diet, there are now many brands of gluten free soy sauces on the market, though there isn't a Thai one that is readily available outside of Thailand yet. Bragg's Liquid Aminos is also gluten free.

If you are allergic to soy, however, it gets a little more complicated. Fish sauce works in many situations, especially in stir fries. Here's my guide to choosing fish sauce.

The other option is coconut aminos, which is made from coconut sap. This is much less salty than soy sauce so you may have to supplement with salt or fish sauce. I have not personally tried it, but people on the internet seems to be in favour of it.

The 3 Types of Rice Most Commonly Eaten in Asia

Let's go through the types of rice we're going to cover here.

First is what most people call "sushi rice." There are many varieties that fall into this category, some are considered short grain and others are considered medium grain. For this article I’ll call it "sushi rice" for simplicity, but know that in addition to Japan, this is also the type of rice that’s also eaten in Korea and parts of China. 

Then we have jasmine rice which is the staple rice of Southeast Asia. For our discussion jasmine rice will also represent other varieties of long grain rice that are similar but not technically jasmine. I’ll call these “jasmine adjacents,” which will also include the generic “long grain white rice” that you see in most Western grocery stores. 

Finally basmati rice, the longest grain of them all, and this is the rice eaten in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. Like the other two this also represents the many other subtypes of basmati rice that also exist.

Aroma Comparison

There is also big a difference in the way these types of rice smell. Most known for its fragrance is Thai jasmine rice. The reason it is called jasmine rice is because of its beautiful floral aroma similar to jasmine flower. In Thai jasmine rice is called "hom mali" rice which means "fragrant of jasmine flowers." You can smell this scent even before you cook the rice!

Basmati rice is also fragrant, though the aroma is different from jasmine rice. I’d describe it as having a grassier aroma, whereas jasmine is more floral.

Sushi rice is not as fragrant as the other two. It does have that smell you associate with rice in general, but it isn't distinctly aromatic. That was one thing I immediately noticed the first time I cooked sushi rice after a lifetime of cooking jasmine!

What About Brown Rice?

So where does brown rice fit into all this? Brown rice is not another type of rice, it's just processed differently. All white rice has a brown version because white rice is simply brown rice with the bran removed.

So brown rice is going to be more fibrous, and chewier than their white counterpart, but the chew is coming from the brown bran on the outside, and not the rice on the inside. You can cook brown rice using the same method as white rice, but you’ll need a little more water and a little more time because it takes more time for the water to penetrate through the bran. 

Here’s my hot tip: If you don’t like brown rice because you think it tastes like chewy twigs, try brown Thai jasmine rice; meaning real hom mali rice. It is the best tasting, softest brown rice I’ve had, and the jasmine aroma will counteract any twiggy flavour from the bran.

How to Cook Different Types of Rice

The good news is that even though they are very different, you can actually cook all 3 types of rice using this standard method of cooking rice most common in Asia. It's the simplest, it's the same method that electric rice cookers use, and I think it yields the best results.

BUT you will need different amounts of water to match the rice you're cooking, as outlined below. There are other factors that can affect how much water you need, and we’ll talk more about that in a bit, but the type of rice is by far the biggest determinant.

If you're using a rice cooker, you still need to add the correct amount of water. The rice cooker is not magic, all it's doing is stopping the cooking when all the water has been absorbed, it cannot fix dry or mushy rice. So here is a guideline for how much water you need for each type of rice.

How Much Water Do You Need To Cook Different Types of Rice?

If you're using the standard stovetop method, OR if you're using a rice cooker, here's the amount of water you need:

For sushi rice (Japanese short grain and medium grain, including US grown brands)

• You need a ratio of 1 part rice to 1 part water, by volume.

So 1 cup of rice, 1 cup of water. Whatever kind of cup, coffee cup, rice cup, measuring cup, it doesn't matter, it's all about the ratio. This ratio also seems to be quite stable between brands in my experience, but you can adjust according to your preference.

If you have a Japanese rice cooker like a Zojirushi, and you’re using the rice cup that comes with the cooker to measure your rice, you’ll notice that this ratio of water corresponds to the “white rice” line in the rice cooker, so you can go with that line to simplify. By extension, if you're cooking jasmine or basmati rice in a Japanese rice cooker, you cannot use those water lines. 

For jasmine rice and its adjacents.

• You need a ratio of 1 part rice to 1¼ to 1½ parts water, depending on the variety, brand, and your preference.

If your rice cooker comes from a country that eats primarily jasmine and long grain white rice, including Thailand, Hong Kong, even US and Canada, AND if you’re using the measuring cup that came with the rice cooker to measure, you’ll notice that the water lines in these rice cooker corresponds to a ratio of 1 part rice to 1 ½ parts water.

For basmati rice

• You need a ratio of 1 part rice to 1 ¾ - 2 parts water, again depending on the variety, brand and your preference.

Other factors affecting the amount of water needed to cook rice

The ratio of water I provided is just a guideline, as there are other factors that can affect the amount of water needed, beyond the type of rice.  

1. The brand of rice. Even though you’re cooking the same type of rice, the specific plant varieties can be different between brands. AND the processing can most certainly be different. Rice has to be dried before it’s milled and packaged, and how LONG the rice was dried will affect how much water is required to rehydrate it in the cooking process.
   So if you’re working with a new brand of rice, be aware that it may require a different amount of water than you're used to.
2. Evaporation during cooking. How much water you add is one thing, but how much is lost during cooking is another. This depends on how high your heat is, how wide or narrow your pot is, how tight fitting your lid is, etc. Some people leave the pot uncovered in the beginning in order to see if the rice is boiling, so they’ll lose more water that way. All these things are slightly different for everyone.
3. Your preference. Some people like rice that is firmer and dryer, others prefer it softer. I always find the rice at my parents' house too soft, but that’s how they like it, and that's okay! Also, if you're going to use the rice for fried rice, you may want to add slightly less water.

Does the 1-Knuckle Rule Work?

Some of you might have been taught to cook rice by adding enough water so that it is “1 knuckle” above the rice, specifically the first knuckle of your index finger. Does this method work? 

Well, it CAN work, but not always.

If you use the 1-knuckle rule, the rice to water ratio will be roughly equivalent to 1 : 1 ½ IF you're cooking at least 2 rice-cups of rice (1.5 measuring cups). So this is why it generally works for jasmine rice and its long grain white rice adjacents. And if you talk to people who follow the 1-knuckle rule, you’ll find that they are usually cooking this type of rice and cooking enough to feed a family. (I'm looking at you, my East Asian friends.)

And because jasmine rice is generally quite forgiving, meaning you can add a little more or a little less water and still have decent rice, the 1-knuckle rule seems to work for a lot of people despite different finger lengths.

But there are a few situations where the 1-knuckle rule does not work:

1. If you’re using Japanese short/medium grain rice, basmati rice, or another kind of rice that takes a different ratio of water, it won't work.
2. Your rice pot is not straight sided. If the pot has sloped or curved sides, like the pot of my Zojirushi rice cooker, it won't work.
3. If your rice happens to be new crop, the 1-knuckle rule might produce slightly too-wet rice.
4. If you're cooking a tiny bit of rice, i.e. 1 rice-cup (¾ measuring cup) or less, it will not work. These days I often cook only half a rice-cup at a time because it's the perfect amount for my son's lunch box, and using 1-knuckle would mean way too much water.
5. This is obvious but it must be said: if you have unusually long or short knuckle!

Which Type of Rice Should You Use For Which Dish?

This is a important aspect of cooking with rice. You could cook the perfect rice, but if it's the wrong rice for the job, it won't be a perfect meal. We now know that there are huge differences between types of rice, so it should go without saying that they are NOT interchangeable.

Here’s my rule of thumb: You should always serve the rice that matches the cuisine. If you’re making japanese food, use Japanese rice. If you’re cooking Thai food, use jasmine rice. Indian food, basmati rice, etc.

Each country’s cuisine has been designed to pair with the rice that is local to their country. The food was not developed independent of the rice.

So if you mix and match, sometimes it might be okay, but other times it’s not. The extreme example is if you try to make sushi using basmati rice. Basmati rice will not hold together. But a more subtle example is if you try to eat a Thai green curry with basmati rice. Thai green curry, and most other Thai curries, are very thin and soupy, and if you poured it over basmati rice which doesn’t stick together at all, the rice will just turn into a soupy mess. But Thai rice with stick together enough.

What's Covered In This Article?

Watch The Video: Palm Sugar 101

If you prefer to watch rather than read, most of the information covered in this article is also covered in this video. The one part I encourage you to watch is when I show you the 3 different brands of palm sugar of varying quality, so you can see what to look out for when shopping:

What exactly is palm sugar and coconut sugar?

Palm sugar is sugar that's made from the nectar of the flowers of *either* the coconut tree or the toddy palm tree (sometimes called sugar palm tree, pic below). If it's made from the coconut tree, then it's also called coconut sugar. In other words, coconut sugar is a type of palm sugar. So all coconut sugar is palm sugar, but not all palm sugar is coconut sugar, makes sense? 🙂

And in Thai, the generic term for all types of palm sugar is nam taan peep น้ำตาลปี๊ป or nam taan peuk น้ำตาลปึก. Coconut sugar is called nam taan maprao น้ำตาลมะพร้าว and sugar made from toddy palm is called nam taan tanoad น้ำตาลโตนด.

While the two sugars come from different plants, the flavor, however, are very, very similar. The one time I tasted them side by side I could tell that they were slightly different, but I couldn't identify which was which. So in Thai cooking palm sugar can be used interchangeably with coconut sugar, with some caveats. More on these caveats in the discussion around choosing the right palm sugar below.

Is Palm Sugar, Jaggery and Gula Melaka The Same Thing?

Jaggery is a term that's used to refer to any unrefined chunk of sugar. So yes, palm sugar is a type of jaggery, but you can also have jaggery made from cane juice that's been cooked down. In everyday speak however, we don't refer to Thai palm sugar as jaggery.

Gula melaka is the Malaysian term for palm sugar that is made from coconut nectar. Though the raw material is the same as Thai coconut palm sugar, gula melaka is reduced and caramelized further, as you can see in the pic below, so it is darker and has a different flavour. So the two are generally not interchangeable in recipes, especially if the sugar is added in large enough quantities that the flavour difference will be perceptible. So, you should use Thai palm sugar in Thai recipes, and gula melaka where it is called for specifically.

And to further clarify, palm sugar is also not the same as piloncillo or panela, which is made from sugar cane.

How is Palm Sugar Made?

Palm sugar is quite a labour intensive process. It's done in 4 major steps.

Step 1: Collecting the nectar.

The palm sugar farmer first climbs up to the top of the tree to reach the flowers. They then cut the flowers and tie a bucket to it to collect the nectar that drips out. Now, you have to imagine that these are not short trees. Toddy palm trees can be anywhere from 25 to 40 meters tal (see pic above)l!! Coconut trees are not as tall, and this is why toddy palm sugar is less common - because it is much harder and more dangerous to collect their nectar.

The palm nectar starts out as a watery liquid that is aromatic, sweet and insanely delicious. You can get the nectar actually as a drink In Thailand, and it's one of my absolute favourite things to drink ice cold. I always seek out whenever I'm in Thailand.

Step 2: Reducing the sugar.

The nectar gets transferred to a large wok, and it is reduced over flame to evaporate the water so that you're left with is just the thick, caramelly, tasty syrup. It's a very similar idea to making maple syrup! At this point, non-artisanal makers will also add various amounts of granulated sugar as a filler. More on this below.

During the boiling process, a woven bamboo "cage" is placed in the wok (pic above) to prevent the syrup from boiling over.

Step 3: Whipping the sugar.

The hot syrup is then whipped using a springy whisk, or a machine (think a boat propeller attached to a stick blender). The aeration is so that the sugar will cool down quickly AND evenly. If they let the sugar cool without whipping it, it will cool from the outside in, causing the exterior to harden while the inside is still liquid.

Step 4: Placing the sugar into molds.

Once the sugar is cool enough that it is a thick paste, it'll either be packed into containers such as tubs or jars, or if they are to be sold as hard pucks, they will be placed into molds. The molds are usually round and can be small or large. The molds are lined with cloth to prevent sticking, and once the pucks are cool and hard they are packaged for sale.

Are all palm sugars created equal?

Nope. Not even close. As mentioned in Step 2 above, most producers of palm sugar add in some amount of granulated sugar as a filler, and I saw it with my own eyes during my visit to the palm sugar factory in Thailand.

As you saw, palm sugar is a labour intensive process and fewer and fewer Thai people are choosing this line of work, so there is way more demand for it than there is supply. There would never be enough palm sugar for everyone if it were all pure, and we'd probably all pay a very high price for it!

So the quality is determined by how much white granulated sugar is mixed in. When I spoke to the palm sugar maker during my visit, she said that it could be anywhere from 25% to 75% depending on the brand (the factory made palm sugar for many different brands, many of which are exported).

Essentially ALL Thai palm sugar available on the market, even in Thailand, is not pure. Yes, even if it says 100% palm sugar on the package, that is 100% a lie. Unfortunately there is no palm sugar police that makes sure the packaging is honest.

There is an opportunity to taste pure palm sugar, however, and that is if you visit a place that demonstrates how palm sugar is made traditionally in Thailand. These are usually open to visitors, and are more of an educational/touristy place than an actual sugar producer. What they do produce is a small amount that's sold mostly locally.

How to Choose Good Quality Palm Sugar?

If you're just looking at the sugar, it is quite hard to tell, but there are some signs. I encourage you to watch the video where I taste 3 different qualities of palm sugar so you'll see the differences more clearly that way.

But here's the bottom line: Looks can be deceiving, so the only real way to tell is to taste them side by side. The more palm necar it contains, the more flavourful and aromatic it will be. It will taste like a floral, butterscotch candy, not merely sugar.

Even though looks can be deceiving, it can tell you something. Most importantly, look for palm sugar with a smooth texture. It should not look crystalized, and it should not be very pale. The worst one I've seen is Cock Brand. It's so pale, and you can even see the granulated texture! It has a very faint palm sugar flavour with a crunchy texture that palm sugar should not have. This sugar has a TON of white sugar added. Of course it's the one that says 100% palm sugar on the packaging, which is obviously not true.

While you don't want super pale palm sugar, darker doesn't always mean better. A dark colour can also be imitated by adding brown sugar rather than white sugar. This is not a practice I've seen in palm sugar from Thailand, but I have seen it in palm sugar produced in Vietnam. While I think brown sugar is better than white sugar, cuz at least it has some flavour, colour alone should not be used as an indicator of purity.

Choose the more expensive one. If you have a few brands to choose from, I encourage you to choose the one with a higher price tag. Stores usually price items according to their cost, and if one palm sugar costs more than the other, you've got a higher chance that it is more pure. This is no guarantee of course, but since the difference in price is usually just a few bucks, I think it's worth the gamble.

Choosing Between Hard vs Soft Palm Sugar

Palm sugar is sold in stores in two major forms, hard solid pucks and a soft paste in a tub or jar. Neither one indicates a better quality, but here's what you need to know:

Palm sugar can be reduced to various degrees, so if they leave enough moisture in the syrup, it will not completely harden once cool. This palm sugar is then packed into tubs, jars or even plastic bags, designed to be spooned out. This is the most common type in Thailand because we use palm sugar a lot, and the soft paste is more convenient to use, and it dissolves more easily.

But in the export market I more often see palm sugar in hard pucks, which is better if you don't cook with palm sugar often. Why? Because like brown sugar, palm sugar dries out over time. And if you've store palm sugar in a tub for a long time, it can completely solidify in the tub, making it a total pain to use. If this happens, check out the "how to use" section below.

So here I always buy the pucks of palm sugar, which can be chopped and then measured in a tablespoon (more on this below).

What Palm Sugar or Coconut Sugar NOT To Buy for Thai Cooking

In recent years we've started to see granulated "coconut sugar" in non-Asian stores. Can those be used for Thai cooking? Well yes and no. Generally I encourage you to buy Thai palm sugar because that's how you ensure the right flavour profile, especially when making desserts. But let's go through some other products on the market that may cause confusion.

Some granulated coconut sugar is very dark and has an entirely different flavour, like the Roger's one above. It looks almost like dark brown sugar. And while it is made from the same stuff - coconut nectar - the processing is different resulting in a different tasting product. It's very toasty, almost a little smoky, burnt toast-ish. So this is not a good one to use in Thai recipes that call for palm sugar because the flavour difference is too much.

Some granulated coconut sugar is very light and has a much milder flavour. It CAN be used in Thai recipes because it won't introduce any off flavours like the dark one, but seeing as it is not caramelized at all, it has a lighter flavour than Thai palm sugar. The Bob's Red Mill coconut sugar looks like it's medium-dark, though I haven't personally tasted it so I can't comment on how well it'll work as a Thai palm sugar substitute.

Worth noting that Red Boat sells palm sugar from Cambodia that they claim is pure (and FWIW I believe it). But the processing must be quite different because it is so much darker and more acidic than Thai palm sugar. A little bit in savoury applications would be fine, but I would not to use it in Thai desserts where the intense flavours will be quite prominent.

How to Use Palm Sugar

If your palm sugar comes in a puck, simply chop it with a chef's knife, shaving it thinly with each stroke like you would a block of chocolate. Some people like to use a box grater, but I find it easier to chop.

Important: if your palm sugar is really old, it will have dried out and it will become so hard that chopping it will be nearly impossible without ruining the edge of your knife! So, if you know that you will have the sugar for a long time (say, a year) I would chop it all in advance to prevent such a situation.

If you end up with rock hard pucks of palm sugar, try whacking it in a heavy duty stone mortar and pestle and it'll break into bits.

If you have soft palm sugar from a tub and it's soft enough to spoon, great, spoon away. But if it has hardened, you'll need to heat it up in the microwave, then use a spoon to scoop it out while it is still warm. Work quickly because once it cools down, it'll harden again.

How to store palm sugar

Palm sugar can be stored at room temp indefinitely. It's sugar and it won't go bad, BUT it can dry out. Make sure it's well sealed in an airtight container, and again, if you won't use it often, consider chopping it all in bulk while it's still soft.

Recipes with Palm Sugar

Want to start cooking with palm sugar? Here are a couple of recipes that really showcase the flavour of palm sugar:

• Classic Pad Thai
• Thai Coconut Bananas Foster
• Durian and Sticky Rice

Watch The Video

If you prefer to watch rather than read, most of the information I include in this blog post is also covered in the video, and the technique section will be more easily understood visually via the video!

The Structure of Stir Fries

This is the important mindset shift: once you start thinking about stir fries in terms of its structure instead of seeing different stir fries as different recipes, you can stir fry anything. There are 3 major components to any stir fries:

1. The Nuggets: Proteins and Veggies

"The nuggets" is my term for all the chunky pieces in your stir fry; basically the proteins and the vegetables. Most people are stuck thinking that they need a mix of protein and veggies to make a stir fry, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be an all veggie stir fry like my cabbage fish sauce stir fry, or gailan oyster sauce stir fry - or it can be an all-meat stir fry like my grandma’s garlic shrimp stir fry, or garlic pepper chicken.

For proteins: Chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, fish, tofu, you name it, it’s all stir-fryable. Leftover proteins are great and make it easy cuz it’s already cooked, such as in my black pepper beef recipe where I use leftover cut-up steak.

For veggies, absolutely anything works. ANYTHING is stir-fryable. Even things you don’t associate with stir fries, like cucumber - which is great in stir fries - and also romaine lettuce!

Important Tips for Preparing Proteins for Stir Frying

• The chewier the protein, the thinner the pieces should be. Pork and beef should always be sliced between ⅛ - ¼ inch (3-5 mm) thick. Chicken can be cut around ½ -inch (1.25 cm) thick. And fish should be kept in big 1-inch chunks at minimum.
• Always slice pork and beef against the grain. If you're starting from steaks where the meat grain runs up and down, cut the steak into 1-inch-wide pieces, then turn it on its side so the grain now runs left-to-right - and you can now slice thinly against the grain.
• Preventing fish from falling apart. Choose fish that is firmer and thicker, such as salmon and halibut, and cut them into big chunks; at least 1-inch thick. Pre-sear the fish pieces so they are about 80% done, or even 60% if using fish that can be eaten medium such as salmon. Then briefly toss them in at the end just to coat them in the sauce. You can also dredge fish chunks in flour and deep fry them before tossing into stir fries at the end - this is a restaurant trick for preventing fish from falling apart.
• Tofu. Use firm, extra firm, or pressed tofu for stir frying. If using pressed tofu, such as the one I used in pad thai, you don't need to fry it as it is very sturdy. If using firm or extra firm, it should be fried or air-fried to prevent crumbling and to create chewiness. You can also use frozen tofu which is sturdy and can absorb sauce better. See this post all about the science of frozen tofu and how to use them in dishes.

1. The Sauce

Once you’ve decided on the big stuff (the nuggets), now we think about the sauce. The main job of the sauce is to bring taste elements into the dish. Note I said taste not flavour. The 5 tastes are: sweet, salty, sour, umami and bitter; although bitter is not really a part of most stir fries so we will leave that out for this discussion. Let’s break these down:

Salty - An element every dish needs

This is non-negotiable. You NEED something salty in your stir fry (or any dish, really). Some common options are: soy sauces of all kinds, fish sauce, oyster sauce, fermented soybean pastes (Thai taojiew) or miso, shrimp paste, salt, or anything else salty you can think of. You can use just one, like in my cabbage fish sauce stir fry, or a combination of a few which is more common in Asian stir fries.

Sweet - The salt balancer, or the star

Sometimes you'll want the sweetness to be the star of the dish, like in sweet and sour stir fry, but more commonly you want just a liiiiiitttle bit of sweetness to balance the salt, such as the little bit of sugar in my mixed veggies stir fry. Or maybe something in between. It depends on the flavour profile of the dish - and is something you, the chef, have to decide upon.

In terms of ingredients, white sugar is great if you’re using just a small amount, but if sweet is a prominent flavour, then palm sugar, brown sugar, sweet soy sauce, maple syrup, honey, etc. will bring in more complexity. Note that Thai chili paste aka chili jam would also fall into the sweet category, but it’s also bringing in a lot of other great flavours as well, such as in my cashew chicken recipe.

Sour - Maybe you want it, maybe not.

Unlike salty, sour is not a taste that every stir fry needs. Like sweet, it depends on what you’re going for, though it is used much less frequently than sweet.

If you do want an element of sour, you can use vinegar, like in my sweet and sour stir fry, or tamarind paste, like in my tamarind shrimp recipe, or even vinegary hot sauce such as sriracha as in my cucumber chicken stir fry recipe.

Lime juice and lemon juice are less common in stir fries, but if you're gonna add them it’s best to add them at the end as they taste better when they’re not cooked in high heat.

Other Sauce Ingredients

There are other sauce ingredients that don't offer any taste but bring on lots of flavour (remember taste and flavour are not the same thing). Things like sesame oil, coconut milk, or even chicken stock.

Pro Tip: Make sauce in bulk

If you’ve got a favourite stir fry, say cashew chicken, you can make 10x of the cashew chicken sauce and now you won't have to make it from scratch every time. Most stir fry sauces will last indefinitely in the fridge.

Also check out my Universal Stir Fry Sauce that you can make in bulk and use to stir fry anything including fried rice and noodles. This is something I learned working at Thai restaurants where they'd have a vat of this sauce and it goes into almost every stir fry that they make!

3. Aromatics

You could make a stir fry with just the nuggets and the sauce, but every good stir fry has aromatics. They're what give complexity to the dish. Aromatics include anything you’d call a herb or a spice. This can be as simple as chopped garlic, but you can also add shallots, chilies, black or white pepper, onions, lemongrass, basil, cilantro, or even curry paste. The possibilities here are endless.

The Technique - 5 Steps to Great Stir Fries

Now that we have the structure, let's talk technique. While everything will be written down, this part is better understood visually, so I highly recommend you watch the video tutorial where I show you two different stir fries using recipes that require slightly different treatment.

These steps are not Thai cuisine specific; you can use these techniques with any ingredients from any cuisine. But there are a few other techniques that are unique to other cuisines, or more common to restaurant cooking, that we won’t get into here.

Okay, my basic stir frying technique is done in 5 steps:

Step 1: Cook the meat separately.

I first sear the meat in a hot wok until browning develops on the underside. Then I toss and stir the meat until it's cooked through, then remove from the pan. If your meat is already cooked, like leftover proteins, you can obviously skip this step.

Why cook the meat separately? You don't have to, but I like to do it because it gives me control over meat "doneness". If you add the meat in raw with everything else, how long the meat spends in the pan is tied up with how long other things take to cook, and you might then overcook the meat. You also won't get any browning if you don't sear it separately, and browning is flavour! 

Tip: I always ensure the meat is marinated so that the seasoning isn’t just in the sauce around the meat but IN the meat as well. A simple fish sauce or soy sauce marinade is fine.

Step 2: Sauté Non-Delicate Aromatics

In the same pan you used to sear the meat, add more oil if needed, then sauté any aromatics that are not leafy and don't "wilt". That's your garlic, onions, shallots, chilies, curry pastes, etc. Use medium heat at this stage as aromatics can burn easily.

Give the aromatics a couple of minutes to cook and infuse their flavour into the oil, and then the oil will carry the flavour of the aromatics into the rest of the dish. This is why we don’t just throw garlic in midway; the flavour wouldn't have a chance to permeate the whole dish. 

If using garlic, once the smallest bits of garlic turn golden, that's your cue for Step 3.

Step 3: Stagger-add vegetables and sauce

The longest-cooking veggie goes in now, and give them a good toss in the heat and the oil, then add the sauce (which I always have mixed up in advance so that I only have to add 1 thing). In this example I'm using the sauce from my Chili Paste Stir Fry recipe.

If you’re using different types of vegetables that take different amounts of time to cook, stagger-add them accordingly. For example, if you like bell pepper crisp, add them after the beans are almost done.

If a certain vegetable takes a long time to cook, add a splash of water then cover the pan and let it steam. Come back a minute before it's done. If you're not sure how long it takes, keep poking it with a fork every minute or so to check. In this example I'm making the kabocha squash stir fry recipe.

Okay once your veggies are done, we go to Step 4

Step 4: Add the protein back in

Your pre-cooked protein goes back into the pan to be tossed in the sauce. If your protein is fully cooked and is still hot, it just needs to be tossed for a few seconds. If you are using cold leftover protein from the fridge, be sure to give it enough time to heat through.

If using eggs, they can go in at this step; and let them set a bit before scrambling so that they remain in chunks (best to see this technique in the video).

Step 5: Off the heat and ddd delicate aromatics

Now is the time for any leafy aromatics like basil and green onions to go in, and which I add off-heat so they don't wilt too much. For suuuuper delicate herbs that wilt very easily in heat like cilantro, you can even add them after plating. I always add them off-heat because the residual heat is more than enough to wilt the herbs without over-cooking everything else. 

And that is how you stir fry anything!

What about fried rice?

Fried rice is also a kind of stir fry, or what Thai people call a pad. Generally, the same steps still apply, with a few modifications:

• Treat rice like vegetables. Add them in at step 3, after aromatics but before the sauce. The sauce should be drizzled over the rice as the liquid from the sauce will help the rice grains separate.
• If adding eggs to fried rice, add the eggs in after the aromatics and before the rice. Scramble the eggs and then add the rice.
• Allow the rice to toast. For good fried rice, you want the rice to toast and brown slightly to develop a deeper flavour. After the rice is well mixed with the sauce, let it sit undisturbed over high heat for 15-20 seconds to allow the rice to brown, then flip and repeat a few more times. Timing for how long to let the rice sit each time will depend on the strength of your stove, so a bit of trial and error is required.

What about noodle stir fries?

Noodle stir fries are harder to generalize because different kinds of noodles require different techniques. Step 1 (meat) and Step 2 (aromatics) are gonna be consistent, but from that point onward it kind of depends which noodles you're using.

My advice is to learn how to work with each kind of noodle separately. So if you want to learn how to stir fry fresh rice noodles, start by learning a pad see ew recipe, or for dry rice noodles learn an easy pad thai recipe, or for egg noodles, learn my mie goreng recipe.

Once you’ve mastered that, you can start generalizing the technique and change out ingredients. Keeping in mind of course that different ingredients may require different treatments, so you gotta use some critical thinking here. 

FAQ: The Best Cookware for Stir Frying

If you want to stir fry with any regularity at all, I suggest you get a wok, and it'll change your stir frying life.

Why wok? Because with a wok you can actually STIR and toss to your heart's content without worrying about things jumping out. Yes, you can stir fry with a large skillet, but it's so much more difficult to try to toss, flip, and stir without having things escape the pan.

If you need to use a skillet, make sure it is LARGE (12-inch at least) and I recommend you practice the "pan toss" - i.e. flipping things in a skillet without utensils - because that will allow you to toss and mix things more quickly and efficiently.

But...what kind of wok?

The best kind of wok is a whole other discussion, and it really depends on your specific needs. If you are a casual stir-fryer who just wants to stir fry with ease and convenience, Korean, flat-bottom, nonstick woks are a great, low-maintenance option. They also come in a few sizes to match your storage needs. That's what I use at home often where convenience is a priority. You can get them at most large Asian grocery stores, and definitely at H-Mart.

If you want to get serious with stir fries, and you want to get that smoky wok char and use max-high heat, you'll want to get yourself a carbon steel wok. It comes with some special maintenance however and are generally pretty big if you only have limited space.

For further discussion:

WATCH: My video about the best wok to buy

WATCH: My video about how to care for a carbon steel wok.

How I Chose the Brands for Review

There are a large variety of brands out there, and it’s impossible for me to taste test them all, so I had to narrow it down to five which is a manageable number. To qualify for my test, the criteria was:

• The brand is commonly available outside of Thailand. So nothing obscure, local, or specific to a region.
• The brand has to have been around for a long time and have a good reputation; so they’re all coming in with a certain amount of cred. New brands are popping up all the time, but I wanted ones that have at least passed the test of time.
• The brand has to have all the expected ingredients for a green curry paste. I also checked that they don't have any chemical additives, because a good curry paste should just be a mix of real food ingredients.

Our 5 Green Curry Paste Contestants

With the above criteria, I arrived at these 5:

• Maeploy - my current go-to brand and the winner from our red curry paste test. It does contain shrimp paste, which is traditional, but if you’re vegan, this one is out by default.
• Aroy-D - another brand that I use quite often cuz it’s widely available; and if Mae Ploy isn't available this is the one I get. They also make my go-to coconut milk.
• Maesri - the only brand that comes in a can, and also the only one with sugar in the ingredient list. It also contains "Chinese ginger" aka fingerroot or grachai, and I could definitely smell it upon opening.
• Namjai - another one in our lineup that contains shrimp paste, and it did very well in the red curry paste taste test. It's a brand that's become increasingly popular in Thailand.
• Thai Kitchen - not a brand I see at Asian grocery stores, but by far the most common one available in the “international aisle” at non-Asian grocery stores, so it's safe to say this is marketed to non-Asian customers. It's also probably the one that the largest number of people have access to. (Sidenote: It is a McKormick brand, but is made in Thailand.)

Where to buy these curry pastes in your city? Your local Asian grocer will surely have at least one of these, check out our map of Asian grocery stores to locate one near you!

But what is a Thai curry paste anyway?

Thai curry pastes are basically a mix of ground up fresh herbs and spices. The most common curry paste ingredients are: chiles, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, galangal, cilantro root (coriander root), makrut lime zest (kaffir lime zest), and white peppercorns. Shrimp paste is always added to curry pastes in Thailand, though many exported brands omit this to make it vegan and allergy friendly.

The above ingredients are included in most curry pastes, and then other ingredients are added depending on the type of curry. Green curry paste is uniquely green because it's the only paste that uses fresh green chiles, while most others use dried red chilies.

If you want to learn more about curry pastes in general, I highly suggest watching my curry paste 101 video where I go more in depth into what it is, and how to use, store, etc. Also, to explore other ways to use curry paste here are 5 ways to use curry paste beside making a curry.

Green Curry Paste Tasting Video - Live Reaction!

The results are written out below, but for the full experience watch the video for my live reaction and detailed review!

How I Did the Taste Test - The 2 Tests

Our first test involves making my popular green curry chicken recipe. The process is shown in the video above, but I weighed every single ingredient down to the gram and timed each step of the cooking process to control for any differences.

I first tasted the curry straight up so I can really taste the differences. Then I tasted them all again with rice, which is arguably the most relevant test because Thai curries are not meant to be eaten on their own but are always served with rice.

Then I picked my top 2 (which were very close) and got 4 of my friends and family to taste the top 2 to find out which was preferred by most!

And the best Thai green curry paste is...

Here's the official ranking:

1. Mae Ploy: Though this wasn't my initial pick when I tasted in-studio, when I later blind-tasted it against Aroy-D at home, this was the one I preferred. It has the strongest flavour, good level of spice, and has the most umami due to the shrimp paste. "There's more going on," was the comment from a taster.
2. Aroy-D: By far the best of all 3 vegan options. Also a very close runner up and was my initial favourite before I had a change of mind! *The Aroy-D curry paste I get contains no shrimp paste, however, a viewer has commented that he has seen a version that lists "shrimp powder" on the ingredient list. I don't know if that's an old formula, but it's worth double checking before buying if you don't eat shrimp.
3. Maesri: Maesri green curry paste performed much better than it did as a red curry paste; which is very interesting to me. It had a prominent flavour of grachai (fingerroot) which was nice, but it had a slightly weaker flavour than the top 2. It was also very slightly sweeter, which is not surprising as it's the only brand with added sugar.
4. Namjai: I was very surprised it didn't do better because its red curry paste performed so well! Overall it was weaker in flavour, and looking back it's not surprising because the paste was also on the moister side. And higher moisture content means less concentrated flavours. It also had a flavour that was the most unique compared to other brands (not in a bad way at all). If using this Namjai, I would use more of it than the 3 above.
5. Thai Kitchen: The worst! It was the weakest flavour in the group by a long shot. It is not spicy at all (so kid friendly) and the resulting dish didn't even taste like green curry. If this is all you have to work with, I'd use the whole jar for a 4-serving batch of curry. If serving people who cannot tolerate any heat, such as children, this is the one to use.

My Final Recommendations

For most people, I recommend going with one of the top 2: Mae Ploy and Aroy-D. Maeploy is preferred if it's available, but Aroy-D was also good. You can also add your own shrimp paste to Aroy-D for that extra umami.

If you're vegan or allergic to shrimp, then Aroy-D or Maesri would be 2 great options. But always check the ingredient list because it's common for there to be multiple formulas of the same Thai product on the market.

Important notes on packaging: Over the years I have seen that the same brand would come out with different packaging for the same product. For example, I have seen pictures of Aroy-D in little cans à la Maesri. You should not assume that the product inside is the same if the packaging is different!

Different types of packaging may also require the food inside to be processed differently, and sometimes moisture content, acidity, and other things have to vary due to the different processing requirement. Companies also sometimes have different formulas for different markets, for example domestic vs export markets.

The Bigger Takeaway

The main takeaway is that there is a huge range between brands of store-bought curry paste. When following recipes, unless you are using the brand that was used by the recipe writer, you cannot assume that you will get a result that is even close to what they got. So you have to use your judgment and be prepared to adjust as needed (which is something you should do whenever you cook anything anyway).

For my recipes, I'm either using Mae Ploy or Aroy-D in my tests, both of which are very similar. But it is always safe to be prepared to adjust and add more paste if needed.

How to "taste and adjust" when using a brand of curry paste for the first time

If you're working with a brand of curry paste for the first time, after all the liquid has been added, taste the sauce. At this point it should taste slightly too strong because you have not added the proteins and veggies.

If you feel like it needs to be stronger, you'll need to saute the extra curry paste for a few minutes in some oil, and then stir it into the curry sauce and allow the curry to simmer for 5 minutes so the additional paste has time to infuse into the liquid.

Do not wait until the curry is done before you taste, because if you need to simmer the curry longer to infuse the added paste, you will overcook the veg/protein.

Recipes That Use Green Curry Pastes

Now that you know which curry paste to use, here are some recipes to try!

Watch The Video

If you want to get all the cool visuals, (and frozen tofu is very cool), everything I cover in this post is covered in this video as well. Enjoy!

What Types of Tofu Can You Freeze?

You can freeze any kind of tofu; anything from silken all the way to extra firm, depending on the texture you want at the end. The soft tofu will remain soft, and the firm tofu will remain firm, but everything will be a little firmer and less fragile than it originally was. 

How to Freeze Tofu

There is ZERO trick to freezing tofu and don't believe anyone who tries to get you to do any kind of "prep work." The easiest way is the best way - stick them in the freezer in the packaging, just like my husband did. Once frozen, it’s gonna look completely wrong; the colour will become dark yellow and translucent as per the pic above.

The tofu doesn't need to be frozen for any particular amount of time; you can thaw it as soon as it's completely frozen or leave it there until you want to use it. Let it thaw in its packaging either in the fridge over a few days or in a bowl of room temp water (which will take 3-4 hours) - though of course timing will depend on the size of the tofu. If thawing in water, keep changing the water once it becomes ice cold so it will thaw faster.

*Once thawed, the tofu will still last at least a week in the fridge (unless it is almost expired) so you can thaw it well in advance.

How NOT to Freeze Tofu

Some people will tell you to cut the tofu into pieces, dry them with a towel, then freeze them on a tray as individual pieces. If you just want to store the tofu long term, that's fine, but if you want to reap the benefits of frozen tofu's transformation, this is actually the OPPOSITE of what you want to do!

Yes, freezing tofu in small pieces make them quicker to thaw and easier to use, but for the most dramatic physical changes, you want as much water in the tofu as possible while it is freezing AND for the freezing to happen slowly (i.e. freeze the whole block of tofu). So just stick it in the freezer as is. I will explain the reason for this further in "the science" section below. 

What Happens After Tofu is Frozen?

For the tube silken tofu, you can cut the tube right through, (careful of any water squirting on you), and slide it out. And behold the crazy texture, holes, and layers in the pic below! And BECAUSE of all these holes, you'll also notice a ton of water just pouring right out of the tofu.  

For tofu packed in a tub, you can just take it out as usual after it's thawed. With firmer tofu it is not as obvious that anything has changed, but if you look closely, you can see the little, tiny holes inside that weren’t there before. And if you press down on it (gently please, it's still tofu) you'll see a ton of water gushing out of those tiny holes.

Both soft and firm tofu basically became a sponge. The holes are much smaller in firm tofu because it had much less water to begin with as I will explain in "the science" below. But the takeaway here is: the softer the tofu, the more dramatic the effect.

The Science Behind Frozen Tofu's Transformation

Now let me explain why this happened with a rough analogy. Imagine that tofu is made up of millions of tiny water balloons. Each balloon is the soy protein, and each soy balloon is filled with water. This is how the water was able to stay suspended INSIDE the tofu in the first place.

But as anyone who’s ever forgotten a can of coke in the freezer knows, water expands when it freezes, and if the container is too full, it explodes. That’s what happened to our soy balloons; and the ice crystals are sharp, so they damaged the balloons as well. And once the tofu thaws, the water leaks out from the damaged balloons, leaving a bunch of saggy empty balloons behind, hence all the holes.

As evidence of this, if you freeze a whole tube of silken tofu, you'll notice that the holes at the ends of the tofu are not nearly as big (see the difference in the pic below). This is because the faster things freeze, the smaller the ice crystals. And smaller ice crystals cause less damage to the protein structure, hence the less pronounced holes. The middle of the tofu will have the largest, most obvious holes because it was the place that took the longest to freeze. And as I mentioned above, this is why you want to freeze the whole block of tofu and not freeze them in small pieces!

Why would you want to freeze tofu anyway?

Other than triggering trypophobia, this holey texture can be a good thing because one of the most challenging parts about cooking with tofu is getting it to absorb any flavour. You can coat the outside with sauce, but the inside usually just tastes like plain tofu. But with all these holes, sauce and broth and now penetrate INSIDE the tofu, making it much more flavourful. 

The other advantage is that because the tofu now has less water, it is a bit stronger and less likely to fall apart, which is why many people like to use frozen tofu in hot pot where things are constantly being agitated. And for firmer tofu, once we fry them, they’re gonna be chewier as well. 

Does frozen tofu taste like chicken? 

This is such a pet peeve of mine. If you go searching on the internet for frozen tofu you’re going to see people claiming that freezing is a "tofu hack" that makes tofu taste like chicken! As a chicken eater, I can tell you with 100% confidence that it does NOT. And if someone actually thinks that it does…well, maybe they haven’t had chicken for a while. 

Yes, if you freeze firm or extra firm tofu and then fry it, it is gonna develop a chewier texture, but you’re definitely not going to fool anyone that this is a meat product. What I CAN say is that  depending on what you do with it, it can tastes less like tofu because now more of the sauce is able to penetrate the inside, so the tofu flavour is drowned out a little bit more.

How to Cook With Frozen Tofu

However you currently cook unfrozen tofu, you can still do the same with frozen tofu. But the difference is that now the holey tofu will be able to absorb flavour and will be firmer. So here are a few suggestions I have that will allow you to take advantage of this new feature.

For Frozen Soft Tofu

1. Cut it into pieces and let it simmer in a soup, stew, or anything saucy to let it soak up the flavour. I used it in this Thai sukiyaki soup recipe and it was delicious. Just add them at the end and let it simmer for just a few minutes so the tofu can heat through and absorb that flavour. 
2. Hot pots! Frozen tofu is popular in hot pots because they are sturdier and less likely to fall apart with all the people constantly agitating the pot. Try this Thai hot pot recipe here!

For Frozen Firm or Extra Firm tofu

You can certainly just throw these into any soups, curries or stews. But if you pan-fry or air-fry them first, you'll also get a lovely chewiness AND this will help prevent them from falling apart when you cook with them, making them much more versatile. Here's how to fry them:

1. Press out as much excess water from the tofu as possible (don't be too aggressive, it is still tofu). Cut it into pieces that are slightly bigger than you want them to be at the end because they will shrink. 
2. Lay them on a thick kitchen towel, put another towel on top and gently press to dry them out further. The dryer they are the better they will brown. 
3. Option 1: You can pan fry them in some oil over high heat. Sear them on all 4 sides for a few minutes each side. Be sure not to crowd the pan for best browning.
4. Option 2: For a less fiddly method, brush them with oil and air-fry them at 400°F (200°C) for about 12 minutes, turning them over half way through. Be sure to place them in a single layer and try not to let them touch.

*People have asked whether it is okay to deep fry frozen tofu. I have not done this, but my concern is that because of all the holes, the frozen tofu may absorb too much frying oil.

3 Recipe Ideas for Pan- or Air-Fried Frozen Tofu

Whether you pan fried the tofu or cooked them in the air fryer, here's what you can do with your golden nuggets of chewy tofu. 

1. Toss them in a sauce. Here I'm using my Hot Thai Chicken sauce recipe. Simply toss the freshly fried tofu until it is well coated, but don’t overdo it cuz the sauce is intense. In a pinch, you can also just toss them in any store-bought sweet chili sauce.

2. Stir fry them. I recommend my pad prik king recipe which is a slightly sweet red curry paste stir fry with makrut lime leaves. Just throw the tofu in towards the end and toss until they're well coated by the sauce; giving them a minute to heat through and absorb the sauce.

3. Simmer them in a stew and take advantage of those holes that can now suck up all that flavour. Try my five spice stew with eggs and pork belly (kai palo) which is a classic. 

Added Sugar in Fish Sauce - Is it bad?

All “regular," non-first press fish sauce has sugar added. Sugar is added to help balance the saltiness in fish sauce to make it a little smoother. In the same way that I add sugar to many of my dishes to balance the salt.

The amount of sugar added in fish sauce is so small that it doesn’t even register on the nutritional label - it will show as zero grams of sugar per 15 ml. And if you taste it, you will realize how little sugar there is!

The Results #1 - Straight up Taste Test

Tasting the fish sauces straight up, my favourite one was Abalone. It has a smell that's pleasant and not too strong, the least amount of sodium and added sugar make it go down very smoothly, and it has a rich, long lasting umami in the mouth.

The Royal Squid was a runner up as it was saltier and less smooth than abalone.

The Results #2 - Condiment Taste Test

Now the test that matters: let’s put these to use. First I’m gonna use it in a raw form, by making a sauce called prik nam pla, aka the condiment that can improve all foods! It’s simply a mixture of fish sauce, lime juice, chilies, and garlic, and I’m going to to be drizzling this on fried egg over rice which is one of the most common uses for prik nam pla.

The Surprising Results #3 - Cooked Dish Taste Test

The final test is to actually cook with these. I’m gonna make my favourite veg side dish: garlicky cabbage fish sauce stir fry because it uses only fish sauce as the seasoning, and has very few other ingredients. So it will have the highest likelihood of the differences being detectable. And of course we’re going to be serving this with rice. 

Watch The Video Tutorial

If you prefer to watch rather than read, here's a video where I talk you through all the information in this post!

What can you use a mortar and pestle for?

Obviously you can use it for crushing anything, but let’s get more specific. Here are all the things I use it for ... 

Peeling and “chopping” garlic

Peeling and chopping garlic is kind of the bane of my existence because I use garlic all the time, but it is way less painful with a mortar and pestle.

To peel garlic: A quick smash of the cloves and the peel slips off effortlessly, and if the bottom is hard and woody, I use the edge of the mortar as a cutting board to slice it off.

To "chop" garlic: After peeling, I just pound the garlic to the extent that I need. For a “rough chop” I leave it chunky, and if I need it “minced” I keep going until I have kind of a paste. This whole process takes less than a minute!

And because this bruises the garlic rather than just cutting it, more cells are broken and more garlic flavour will be released into the dish! This is why pesto aficionados will agree that THIS is the best way to make pesto.

And FYI any thin pieces of chili skin left after pounding aren't gonna cause a problem because that’s not where the heat is. The goal is to break down the pith and flesh and disperse all the seeds.

Alternatively, if you’re making soups you can also lightly crush to break and bruise the chilies so they can gently infuse the heat; and then since it’s still in one big piece, you can easily remove or avoid it after. 

Making Sauces, Dressings, Marinades, and Curry Pastes

Next is a big category of making marinades, sauces, dressings, and curry pastes. Let’s just call them “sauces” for simplicity.

Many sauces, Thai or otherwise, require that you add aromatics like garlic, ginger, or shallots. To get the flavour out of these aromatics, they need to be finely minced or grated…OR better yet…pounded!

This is one of my favourite uses of the M&P because I can pound all of the herbs at once; so it’s faster than mincing or grating herbs one at a time, and again we bruise and mash all the cells to extract maximum flavour in a way that chopping won’t do.

THEN the mortar doubles as a mixing bowl so I can finish the whole sauce in here without using more dishes.

Grind spices fresh every time

We all know that when it comes to spices the best flavour comes from grinding whole spices fresh, because pre-ground spices lose their flavour quickly. But many of us use pre-ground spices anyway because it is just more convenient than having to pull out a spice grinder for just half a teaspoon of cumin.

But if you keep your mortar and pestle on the counter, the process takes just seconds. In fact, in the video above I showed you how I ground up 1 teaspoon of cumin in just 18 seconds!

Chopping Nuts

If you need roughly chopped nuts, you could chase them around a cutting board with a knife, which I hate doing; OR you can just give them a couple of pounds in a M&P and you’ve got it ready to go, all contained within a bowl.

Getting more aroma out of sesame seeds

People often put toasted sesame seeds on things, but usually the seeds don’t make any difference at all because they’re kept intact. When sesame seeds are intact, the aroma is trapped INSIDE. But giving them a 3 second grind in a mortar, just until they break but still look whole, will release the nutty aromat you should be getting!

How to Use a Mortar & Pestle - The Techniques

There are 2 main techniques when it comes to using a mortar and pestle: Pounding and grinding. 

Pounding is a simple up and down motion that we use for moist ingredients like fresh herbs. If there is enough volume, stuff will eventually ride up the sides, so you also want be sliding the pestle off the side back down towards the center. If you’re doing extensive pounding like a curry paste, it’s a good idea to use a spatula and give it a flip every once in a while to redistribute and make sure you don’t miss anything. 

Grinding is a circular motion where you don’t lift the pestle. This is good for dry ingredients such as spices and rice for making toasted rice powder. But before you grind, you wanna give it a couple of pounds first to break them into smaller pieces as too-big pieces of spices will just roll around under the pestle. Breaking them first creates the traction needed for the grinding to work. 

Usually when I grind dry things, it's combination of pounding and grinding, but don’t overthink it - most of the time it will be very intuitive what motion is best for the thing you’re working with.  

So when you’re looking to do small jobs - like a few cloves of garlic, a handful of nuts, or a few teaspoons of spices - the mortar and pestle does not have a minimum limit, even a big one can grind ONE peppercorn if you wanted to!

Sometimes, however, I prefer to use a coffee grinder for dry ingredients if it’s either a larger amount, or if it’s dried chilies, which are quite tough to break down manually.

First, let me say that as you use the M&P over the years, you’re grinding stone on stone year in year out, there is going to be wear and tear on it. Teeny tiny amounts of granite particles are going to come off over time. Case in point: if you look at old mortar and pestles, they are gonna be smoother than brand new ones.

But granite particles are not toxic, so it is not a problem you need to worry about. In the same way that when you cook food in cast iron cookware, some iron will come out into your food, and that’s totally fine. 

With that out of the way, I personally do not do anything to my new M&P aside from giving it a good scrub with dish soap and water.  A good quality, granite mortar and pestle should already be well-finished and smooth on the inside, with a very slight texture that's natural to granite. Grinding rice in it one time is probably not gonna do much to further "polish" the stone.

However, if it’s not a good quality set, the inside might feel a little too rough, THEN there might be good reason to smooth it out with an initial grind in some way. You can certainly try rice, but I’ve seen people just grind it empty with a bit of water until it feels smoother (probably more effective than adding rice which will add a cushion).

BUT if you keep finding visible amounts of rock dust coming off even after using it many times, THAT is the sign of a low-quality mortar and pestle that may not even be granite. The material is not strong enough to be made into a mortar and pestle, and you should definitely get a better one. (Yes, these awful products are out there.)

But in either case, you don’t need to “season” it like a cast iron pan or a carbon steel wok; in the sense that you do not need to coat it with anything. You just want the bare stone.

How do I care for and clean my mortar and pestle?

Just hand wash it with soap and water like regular dishes and air dry, that’s it. Nothing special needs to be done to it at all; it is a basic, low maintenance tool. But I would not put it in the dishwasher because the chemicals in dishwasher detergent can be quite harsh and it might wear out the stone faster, so handwash to be safe.

Choosing the right mortar and pestle for me

There are a few factors to consider when it comes to choosing the right set for you, but the most important thing is probably size. In theory, the bigger the better, because the bigger it is the more versatile it is and the more power it has due to the bigger pestle.

The obvious problem here is that big ones are heavy and a pain to move around; and speaking from experience, the more of a pain it is to move around the LESS likely you are to use it. So there’s a balance to strike here. 

So in the ideal world you’d be over the top like me and have one of every size, but if you’re gonna have just one, then here’s what I recommend: 

• 1 cup capacity is the smallest I would go, because any smaller than this and it’s not gonna be very useful. This is gonna be good for light duty things like garlic, chilies, and spices. But because it's light, you will use this all the time.

• 2-cup capacity is probably a good all-purpose size for most people. You can tackle tougher things like lemongrass, you have more room for a larger amount of food, but it is heavy enough that I start to think twice before picking it up.
• 3-cup capacity is great if you want maximum versatility, you often cook for a crowd so you need to volume, and/or you wanna hand pound pesto and curry pastes. A 3-cup capacity will do it all, and for most people, I don’t see a reason for going any bigger. (It IS heavy though.)

Bottom line is, consider what do you want to use it for AND what is the weight threshold that will not deter you from using it. The last thing we want is for this to become a beautiful doorstop.

VIDEO: Rice Noodles Explained

Everything discussed in this article is covered in this explainer video below. It really helps to see in action how to properly cook rice noodles!

Dry Rice Noodles

Dry rice noodles are made from ground up rice (a.k.a. rice flour) and water. The mixture can be steamed into a big sheet, dried, and cut into "rice sticks," or they can be extruded into round noodles. To see a Thai rice noodle factory in action, check out my short documentary here!

As there are different types of pasta, there different types of dry rice noodles:

• Thai Rice vermicelli or Sen Mee in Thai. These thread-thin rice noodles and are the smallest ones and they can be used in soups or stir fries, like this pad see ew vermicelli. These are not this is not to be confused with Vietnamese rice vermicelli which are very different and are discussed below.
• Size small (2 mm wide) or sen lek. These are my preference for Southeast Asian noodle soups such as Vietnamese pho and Thai boat noodles, but you can also stir fry them.

• Size medium (3 mm wide) is what we use as pad thai noodles and indeed in Thai we call them sen pad thai. They can also be used in noodle soups.
• Size large (4 mm wide) isn’t actually a size that exists in Thailand and so it might be for export only, but some people use these for pad thai. These are too large for noodle soups and I recommend using these only in stir fries.

• Size extra large (9 mm wide) or sen yai, which also doesn’t exist in Thailand in dried form because these are made to be a shelf stable version of fresh rice noodles (pictured at the bottom) that you associate with pad see ew, rad na, and drunken noodles. These are best used in stir fries.
• Vietnamese rice vermicelli or sen kanom jeen. Despite the similar name to the one above, it's an entirely different type of noodle. Vietnamese rice vermicelli  are thick and round, similar to spaghetti. They are cooked by boiling in hot water just like pasta (timing varies depending on the size) then rinsed in cold water to remove excess starch. They are a little different in that they are not served hot but there are many things you can do with them! You can make a cold rice noodle salad, a healthy lettuce wrap, or make kanom jeen which is basically the Thai version of pasta!

Fresh Rice Noodles 

Fresh rice noodles are found in the refrigerated section at Asian grocery stores, usually next to all the tofu. There are two main types:

Best Rice Noodles for Stir Frying 

The good news is that any of these are good for stir fries and it really comes down to your preference for which type of texture. 

Soak them in room temperature water using the following timing as a guide, keeping in mind that they vary between brands. 

• Rice vermicelli: 5-15 minutes, depending on the brand. Wai wai brand is smaller and takes only 5 minutes, Erawant takes up to 15 minutes.
• Small size: 20-30 minutes. 
• Medium size: 50-60 minutes
• Large size: 90 minutes to 2 hours
• The XL size is a bit of an exception because they’re usually used as a substitute for fresh rice noodles: use hot off the boil water and soak them for 15 mins, then drain and rinse under cold water. These are gonna be partially cooked by this point, and are ready to go into the pan.

#1: Emergency Noodle Soak

I use room temperature water as a default because it takes so long for them to over soak that I don’t even have to set a timer. But if you're short on time, warm water will make the soaking go faster. However, the warmer the water, the faster they over-soak, which results in too-soft noodles, so check them often.

If you totally forgot to soak but need the noodles NOW, there is an emergency solution. Use hot water, and I mean off-the-boil, and soak the large size for 4 minutes, the medium size for 3 minutes, and the small size for 2, and immediately drain and rinse them in cold water to stop the cooking. I wouldn’t risk this method with the vermicelli, but they don’t take long anyway.

#2: Do not trust package instructions on Asian products. 

Not saying they’re always wrong, but they often are. The package instructions on Erawan brand noodles for sizes S, M and L all tell you to boil them for 6-8 minutes. You can probably guess that different sizes of noodles should not have the same cooking time! And I’ve seen many other Asian products with instructions that just don’t work, so I never assume they’re right.

#3: Soak noodles in advance

If you can plan ahead, soak the noodles, drain them, and keep them in an airtight container in the fridge. Make sure there is no pooling water in the container which will over soak the noodles at the bottom. I recommend putting them on a tea towel before storing them to dab off excess water. Soaked noodles will last in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Some Rice Noodle Recipes to Try

Now that you know everything there is to know about rice noodles, you're ready to get cooking! Try one of these popular classics!