Thai Chef Takes You Grocery Shopping!

Sawaddee ka welcome to a special episode of hot  thai kitchen so today i am going to take you   shopping that's right because maybe this has  happened to you you want to cook a thai dish   so you go to the asian store and then you find  yourself staring cluelessly at 10 different fish   sauces and you have no idea what to buy and you  think gosh i wish i had a thai auntie right here   to help me well i am your thai auntie and today  i'm going to help you navigate the store for all   the major thai ingredients so that you can cook  some great thai food let's get started so i am   here at T&T which is a chain of asian supermarkets  all across canada now they're not specialized in   thai or southeast asian products or anything  so it's probably representative of what most   of you have access to which is exactly why i chose  this store for this tour so i'm just going to stop   briefly at the produce section because it's pretty  straightforward they either have it or they don't   right but there's something to talk about here  so lemongrass so some stores will have lemongrass   that's sold in whole stocks and then other stores  like them they have lemongrass cut in half the   important thing to know here is that the flavorful  part of the lemongrass is in the bottom half of   the stock so when you look at something like this  you don't want to just willingly use whatever   you want to find the one with the thicker base  that's the one from the bottom part and use   that the top part you can throw it in as a bonus  piece i usually just freeze it and save it for   stocks and things like that you definitely don't  want to just use the top part in your cooking   and also a cool thing to check out is these little  kits which i've seen in many different stores this   is a tom yum kit it comes complete with lemongrass  galangal kaffir lime leaves and thai chilies   for your tom yum soup so this is important  because for some stores they might not carry   fresh galangal separately but it'll come in a  kit like this so this is a really well stocked   produce section they got fresh galangal they got  fresh lime leaves but if you don't find them fresh   check the freezer a lot of times stores will  only have the frozen version and you know what   when i buy these i'm gonna go home and freeze them  anyway so totally okay to use i'm stopping here at   the frozen seafood section because i want to point  out that this is where you can find head on shell   on shrimp so when i first came to canada i went  to buy shrimp and i was like shrimp here have no   heads where are all the shrimp heads because  shrimp heads are so good in soups and stocks   so flavorful turns out you gotta go to an asian  store for that stuff and if you don't have fresh   you can always get frozen and also i wanted to  point out one cool little thing here see this tea   right here on this box this is called the thailand  trust mark which you can find on many different   thai products and what this means is that the  company has been government certified to be   environmentally friendly socially responsible  and employs fair labor practices so when you   see this tea on product that is a good thing  this is the juicy part this is when people's   eyes start to glaze over all the sauces now  i'm standing in front of fish sauce and you   might think that oh fish sauce is probably with  soy sauce and with oyster sauce all together   well maybe but in some stores that's not the case  so in here for example they have a dedicated aisle   for southeast asian products and that's where the  fish sauce is which is not where the chinese and   japanese soy sauces are which we'll get to that in  a bit but let's talk fish sauce for thai cooking   of course you want to use thai fish sauce and so  squid many of you know this is my go-to brand for   everyday thai cooking it's not premium by any  means but it's perfectly fine for everyday use   it's not expensive and it's widely available this  is a big bottle if you're not going to cook thai   food that often i recommend you look for smaller  bottles which is usually hidden on the top shelf   this is a smaller bottle much more suitable for  occasional thai food cooks and fish sauce doesn't   last forever in a sense that once you open it  the flavor gets worse and worse over time so   if you're not gonna use it up quickly smaller  bottle is the way to go now if you don't have   thai fish sauce vietnamese fish sauce is totally  totally fine for thai cooking for example three   crabs is a really good one that you can use  however it tends to be a little bit on the   lighter side less salty side compared to thai  fish sauce but regardless of whatever kind of   fish sauce you use what you want to look for is  the ingredient list you want to look at the label   and there should be as few ingredients as possible  anchovy extracts or anchovies salt sugar water and   nothing else there should be no flavor added no  color added because if they're adding those things   you better believe they're making up for the  fact that there isn't that much fish in there   in the southeast asian aisle is where you might  also find sweet soy sauce so if you're looking   for sweet soy sauce and you're at the soy sauces  and you don't see it check to see if there's a   southeast asian spot because indonesian sweet soy  sauce is the main kind of sweet soy sauce that   is available and it is also okay to use for thai  cooking although we don't use it very often when   thai people are not eating rice you better believe  we are eating rice noodle so let's take a brief   stop here two things you need to be concerned  about one you want to make sure it's a product of   thailand and that it's made only from rice and no  tapioca added because some vietnamese rice noodles   will have tapioca added and so it's a little bit  of a different texture the thai ones will only   have rice now sizing tends to vary from brand to  brand normally i have like a small medium large   the tnt house brands name their sizes a little bit  differently so this one they call it thin and this   is good for noodle soups and it's also good for  pad thai actually if you want to use that for pad   thai but the thinner ones are better for soups  in general and then these these ones which they   call medium is a little bit thicker than i would  go for pad thai but in general this is totally   fine for stir fries as well and then there's  the large ones or what they call the thick one   this is definitely for stir fries and this is  meant to be sort of a replacement for the fresh   rice noodles the whole fun noodles that are you  know so popular in patsy you and things like that   if you don't have fresh this is the dry one that  you would use instead and then there are these   tiny tiny little ones which are called rice  vermicelli these are great for soup stir fries   just about anything and they're really quick to  cook for perfect if you're in a hurry so the rule   of thumb for dry noodles is the smaller ones are  better for soups and all sizes are okay for stir   fries so i'm at curry paste section which is a  bit of a trickier one because it's hard to tell   which one is good just by the packaging but  there are two things you can look for one you   absolutely need to make sure it is a product of  thailand because yes i've seen thai curry paste   not made in thailand and they are not very good so  once you've got that down then you want to look at   the ingredient list and you want to go with one  with only just herbs and spices and salt no oil   or sugar or other seasoning no extraneous stuff i  want my curry paste to be as pure as possible and   then i will take it from there ready is a great  brand that i've used before and maepley is another   one that i use again and again but they don't have  that here but this is a really big tub this will   last you a very long time if you're an occasional  thai cook so maybe look for something in sort of   single-use packet like this and i also have a  video that goes really deep into curry paste 101   and i go into much further detail about how to  choose the right curry paste for you and i will   link to that in the description below tamarind  cooking tamarind so if you're not at a southeast   asian specific store your choices for tamarind is  going to be pretty slim so here i have exactly one   to choose from and it's way back over here on  the top shelf which i can barely reach and by   the way it says tamarind concentrate in my recipes  i call it tamarind paste it's the same thing it's   not really a concentrate but that's just what the  label says this is the product of thailand it's   totally fine to use however my preference is for  making tamarind paste myself using the block of   tamarind pulp i have a video all about that i'll  link to below but if you don't have the block or   you don't want to you know spend the time this  is totally fine we are at soy sauce which is a   beast this whole aisle behind me that is all soy  sauce not including the southeast asian soy sauces   which we already looked at there this is only just  chinese and japanese soy sauce but not to worry   this is why i'm here so soy sauces are organized  in stores generally in two different ways   one is by country of origin chinese soy sauces are  together japanese soy sauces are together filipino   soy sauces etc etc thai soy sauce usually are not  available at stores such as this if you want thai   soy sauce which i totally recommend you get if you  can find it you've got to go to stores that are   specifically catering towards southeast asian  okay but that's okay if you don't have it the   chinese the japanese the korean those will work  totally fine as a substitute so whichever kind   you're gonna you know whatever whichever cuisine  you will cook more of like if you also want to   cook japanese food just get the japanese soy sauce  and use that for thai food as well now once you've   located the country of origin of choice then  the soy sauces are divided by tight regular   dark et cetera et cetera let's say you've decided  that chinese soy sauce is what you want so you   go to the chinese section and if you're looking  for just soy sauce with no further modification   then what you want to look for on the label is  exactly that something that just says soy sauce   maybe it's got a generic modifier like premium soy  sauce or organic soy sauce but the gist of it is   just soy sauce and usually here's a pro tip it's  gonna be stuff at your eye level because the stuff   at eye level here and here that's gonna be where  the most popular products are up top down below   they're going to be something less frequently  bought for example what you don't want is seafood   flavored soy sauce that's very specific not the  regular soy sauce or this says brown cooking soy   sauce i don't know what that is but it's not  regular soy sauce so just don't worry about it   within the category of regular soy sauce you  also have gluten free soy sauce and low sodium   soy sauce or reduced sodium different labels but  those are totally fine substitutes for the regular   soy sauce if those things are of concern for you  if you have narrowed it down to what you want   and you still have like four different brands  to choose from price price is generally a very   good indicator of quality if you're on a budget  the cheap one is fine but if you're willing to   spend a little bit more you're probably going  to get a better product real quick i want to   talk about light soy sauce what is light soy sauce  it's a it's a cause of confusion they think it's   low sodium or low calories or low something it  is not low in anything some brands just use the   term light soy sauce to distinguish it from dark  soy sauce in other words this is just regular soy   sauce okay so for example this brand has light  soy sauce and has dark soy sauce they don't have   anything that just says soy sauce for thai brands  for healthy boy brand which is the one that i use   it'll say thin soy sauce which just means  regular soy sauce so don't let that confuse you   we've moved a little bit down the aisle we're now  standing in front of the dark soy sauce section   so dark soy sauce is used to add a darker color  to food so it looks more appetizing it's used   usually in very small amounts and it's not as  salty as regular soy sauce for thai recipes for   my recipes we call it black soy sauce they don't  have thai soy sauce here so dark soy sauce chinese   dark soy sauce is a perfect substitute for that  but it does tend to be a little more salty than   thai black soy sauce so just keep that in mind  when you're cooking oyster sauce now i just did a   deep dive video all about oyster sauce along with  a blind taste test and everything so definitely   check that out but briefly the one thing you  need to know about oyster sauce is that there are   grates there's a premium one and there's the basic  one the premium ones are more expensive and they   are better the basic one is cheaper they're not  as good but you know what for everyday cooking   budget cooking it is totally fine one giveaway  is the price if it's more expensive it's likely   better the other giveaway is also the protein  content the higher protein the more oysters   and the better quality it is now the most  important part of your meal rice and there's   only one type of rice appropriate for your thai  meal and that is thai jasmine rice but how do   you know that it's thai jasmine rice because let  me tell you right now just because the bag says   jasmine rice doesn't mean it's the one that  you want okay so what you need to look for is this big baby right here first thai  jasmine rice you want to look for the word   hom malik homily is the  thai name of the good stuff   that you are looking for the other  thing that you want to look for is this green logo right here this green logo is a  thai government certification that what's   inside this bag is actually genuine  thai homily rice and that's important   because the word jasmine rice is not regulated  so if the bag says jasmine rice inside the bag   could be any number of varieties and you don't  know whether it's the good one that thailand   is famous for or not so that's the secret right  there coconut milk when you are at the coconut   milk section the first thing i want you to do  is look past all the cans and then look for   the paper cartons because yes the stuff in the  paper carton is better than canned coconut milk   in paper cartons are processed differently from  canned and i talk more about this in my short   documentary about how coconut milk is made so i  definitely recommend you checking that one out   but basically the heat is more intense for the  cans and it destroys more of that good coconut   flavor that we want if you can't find it it's fine  you can use the can but if you have the option   always go for the uhd carton this is the brand  that i've used for years it's still my favorite   till this day whether you're looking at can  or cartons you want to look at the ingredient   list the fewer the better you're gonna get an  emulsifier or preservative you really can't avoid   that but you don't want six different things on  a label it should be a very straightforward list   and i wanna talk quickly about coconut cream  because this confuses many people coconut cream is   basically a higher fat version of coconut milk in  the same way that cream is a higher fat version of   milk i never use it for anything in thai cooking  we usually just use coconut milk but if there's a   reason why you might want it to be fattier this is  what you would use it would make a good non-dairy   substitute if you're baking for example with cream  after you've got all the ingredients that you need   you never leave an asian grocery store without  some fun stuff let me show you some fun stuff   the freezer section is full of fun stuff like  this durian mochi ice cream frozen durian if   you've not joined the durian club yet it's time  to do that and the frozen one is great this is the   stuff of my childhood it is a classic i love it  chicken flavored coated peanuts sounds weird but   so good crispy shrimp cheeks you know think of a  shrimp head and those little legs under the heads   they take that deep fried it's so addictive more  crispy shrimp things this is thai shrimp chips   the koreans have theirs the japanese have theirs  this is the thai one and it's good this is another   childhood favorite this is thai iced tea in a  bottle but it's made from soy milk mama this is   thailand's number one brand of instant noodles  the best instant noodles you've ever had you've   got to try it and by the way it's in the south  east asian aisle separate from the other instant   noodle aisle and that is it i hope you found  that helpful if you want to deep dive into any   one ingredient check out my thai ingredient 101  playlist which i'll link to below a special thanks   to the thai trade center and t&t for making this  video possible and of course our patreon members   for supporting the show as well thank you as  always for watching and i will see you next time

Channel: Pailin's Kitchen

Views: 1,308,378

Keywords: Hot Thai Kitchen, Thai food, Thai cuisine, Thai cooking, Thai, Thailand, Bangkok, street food, Southeast Asia, Asian cooking, Asian food, Asian cuisine, Asian recipe, Thai recipe, Cooking, cooking show, how to cook thai food, how to cook

Id: 5odVRW9ldzU

Length: 16min 53sec (1013 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 15 2022