I know a big part of it is making sure to get authentic curry paste. What else would I need to make something like a nice tofu curry (6/5 spicy) that would taste like the stuff I could get as takeout?
I know a big part of it is making sure to get authentic curry paste. What else would I need to make something like a nice tofu curry (6/5 spicy) that would taste like the stuff I could get as takeout?
“Tastes like it’s from your local Thai restaurant” is different than “tastes like it’s from Thailand”
https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-surprising-reason-that-there-are-so-many-thai-restaurants-in-america/
The TL;DR is that the Thai government has sponsored many Thai restaurants around the world as a form of diplomacy. Menus and recipes have largely been standardized by the Thai government, but adapted to local tastes.
Personally, if I want takeout style Thai curry, I use maesri brand curry paste cans. They are cheap and don’t take up much space, and they have instructions on them like “add curry paste and 100 ml coconut milk to wok and cook till fragrant. Add 400 g protein …”. It’s easy to keep a selection on hand of the different flavors. Yeah, it won’t be the same as doing it 100% from scratch, but a lot of Thai restaurant food like pad Thai is notorious for requiring a lot of ingredients.
Thanks for this! I had no idea.
Excellent use of soft power.