Easy Thai Cookbook recipes: From green mango salad to prawn and pineapple curry

After living and working abroad and writing 14 cookbooks Thai food became Sallie Morris's favourite cuisine. Here she shares three of her favourite dishes

Using green and red bird‘s eye chillies (deseeded) this curry isn’t for the faint-hearted (Photography by William Lingwood)

The development of Thai cuisine, with its historical and culinary influences from China, has been a long and subtle process. From Arab and Indian merchants, the Thais adopted the use of dry spices – coriander, cumin, nutmeg, cloves and turmeric – as used in the Thai mussaman curry.

Perhaps the most significant import was the chilli, which was brought east by the Portuguese. Its place in the cooking of Thailand is undisputed, but it is the clever way in which the different flavours are married together that makes Thai food unique. Threads of Indian cuisine are also revealed in the rich tapestry of Thai food.

The wet spice pastes bear a strong resemblance to the masalas of southern India, which invariably include the essential three Cs of oriental cookery: coconut, chilli and coriander.

The three overriding attractions of Thai food are the tastes, textures and aromas. The tastes include red and green hot bird’s eye chillies; creamy coconut; coriander (roots, stalks and leaves); basil leaves, with their aniseed aroma; heavenly lemon grass; pine-like galangal (kha); torn lime leaves (just smell that citrus fragrance); limes for their juice or as wedges to squeeze over prepared dishes; pungent kapi (fermented shrimp paste), which has no fishy taste but gives depth to dishes in which it is used; and salty, whisky-coloured fish sauce, nam pla – definitely the Thai condiment.

The textures are crunchy peanuts and toasted desiccated/dried shredded coconut, crisp green vegetables and unripe fruits for salads such as green mango, meltingly tender deep-fried fish and curried meats, and juicy, simply prepared oriental fruits, such as mangosteens and lychees. As for the aromas, just the fragrance of lemon grass and lime leaves or the aroma of a curry paste being stirred into coconut milk is enough to whet the appetite.

Prawn and pineapple curry – Gaeng khau goong

Prawns/shrimp take on a new identity when simmered in coconut milk and red curry paste, hot with chilli, sweet and juicy with pineapple, salty with dried prawns/shrimp and sharpened with tamarind juice – all the essential Thai flavours.

Prep: 12–15 minutes, plus 10 minutes soaking time
Cook: 12–15 minutes

Serves 4

1 tsp tamarind pulp
1 can coconut milk (400ml)
2 tbsp red curry paste
1 red and 1 green bird’s eye chilli, deseeded and sliced
1 tbsp dried prawns/shrimp, pounded to a powder using a pestle and mortar
2 tbsp fish sauce
400g shelled tiger prawns/shrimp or same weight white fish or salmon, skinned, boned and cut into bite-size pieces
6–8 cherry tomatoes, halved if liked
1 thick slice fresh or canned pineapple, cut into small pieces
1 basil sprig, leaves only

Soak the tamarind pulp in 3 tbsp warm water for 10 minutes, then strain. Heat a wok, then pour in one-third of the coconut milk and heat until bubbling. Add the curry paste and stir over a moderate heat to bring out the flavour.

Add the remaining coconut milk plus 150ml/5fl oz/⅔ cup warm water, chillies, powdered prawns/shrimp, fish sauce and strained tamarind juice. Bring slowly to the boil, then simmer for 8–10 minutes. Add the fresh prawns/shrimp, or fish if using, tomatoes and pineapple. Cook gently for 3–4 minutes, then add most of the basil leaves at the last moment. Transfer to a warmed bowl and scatter with the remaining basil.

Thai beef salad – Yum neau

Beef fillet/filet mignon, perfectly cooked to a delicate pink, then cut into wafer-thin slices, tossed with matchsticks of carrot and cucumber, red onion, spring onions/scallions and a tangy yet fiery dressing, garnished with mint and coriander/cilantro.

Prep: 15–20 minutes
Cook: 4–6 minutes

Serves 4

225g beef fillet salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp fish sauce
Juice of 1 large lime or lemon
1 tbsp sugar
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
​4 shallots or 1 small red onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 lemon grass stems, lower 5cm finely sliced
⅓ cucumber, cut into matchsticks or coarsely grated
2 carrots, cut into matchsticks or coarsely grated
2–3 spring onions/scallions, finely shredded
1 small handful each coriander/cilantro and mint leaves

Season the beef, then place it under a hot grill/broiler. Cook to medium-rare (about 4–6 minutes, depending on thickness), turning twice during cooking. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing thinly.

Blend the fish sauce with the lime or lemon juice, sugar, chilli and half the shallots or onion to make the dressing. Toss the beef slices with the garlic, lemon grass slices, remaining shallots or onion, cucumber, carrots, some of the spring onions/scallions and some of the coriander/cilantro and torn mint leaves. Add the dressing.

Pile onto a deep serving dish and garnish with the remaining spring onion, coriander and mint leaves. (If this salad is to be eaten as part of a picnic, dress with just a third of the dressing and take the remainder with you to pour over at the last minute.)

Green mango salad – Yum ma-maung

A stunning layered salad of tart green mangoes, dried prawns/shrimp, toasted coconut and finely sliced red onion, on a lettuce-lined dish, drizzled with a spicy sweet and sour dressing and garnished with mint or coriander/cilantro leaves.

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 1–2 minutes

Serves 4

2 large green mangoes or hard unripe yellow mangoes (these will give a sweeter result) or 1 pomelo or grapefruit
55g desiccated/dried shredded coconut
soft lettuce
55g dried prawns/shrimp, pounded to a powder using a pestle and mortar
1 red onion, finely sliced
mint leaves, torn, or coriander/cilantro leaves

For the dressing

juice of 1 large lime or ½ lemon
3 tbsp fish sauce
1–2 bird’s eye chillies (or more), deseeded and finely sliced
2 tbsp dark brown sugar

Peel the mangoes with a potato peeler. Holding one in the palm of your hand, use a sharp knife to make lots of close cuts in the flesh of the mango. Now slice through the close cuts to make fine shards of flesh and repeat on the other side. Repeat with the second mango. If using a pomelo or grapefruit, remove the skin, divide into segments and remove the membranes, then chop lightly.

Warm a frying pan, then dry-fry the coconut for 1–2 minutes until golden, keeping it on the move to prevent it catching. Blend together the dressing ingredients in a small jug/pitcher. Line a serving dish with lettuce leaves, then layer up the mango, powdered prawns/shrimp, coconut and onion and some of the coriander/ cilantro or torn mint leaves.

Pour the dressing over the salad and garnish with the remaining coriander or torn mint. Toss before each person takes their helping.

Extracted from 'Easy Thai Cookbook' by Sallie Morris. Published by Nourish books (£14.99)