Thai dishes normally have a peculiar balance of the hot, sour, sweet and at times bitter, too. But the end products are so tongue tickling and tasty, one can hardly put them aside.

Most thai food takes hardly any time to cook, once the ingredients have been prepared and set aside. Preparation of ingredients takes longer than to cook the actual dish in most cases.

Thai food, though having some ingredients so specific to thailand and the eastern regions, gives it its rare and qualifying flavours, these ingredients are now available in many stores for exotic foods and vegetables, the world over, due to the popularity of thai cuisine.

So, many such ingredients as kaffir lime leaves, tofu, lemon grass, coconut milk, coconut milk powder, etc. have become accessible. However, one may substitute of do without these ingredients where not available, because, let me tell you the method and psyche behind thai cuisine, makes a dish so crunchy, tasty and appealing to the palate with their curry pastes, fullness and freshness.

Thai food, unlike chinese dishes which are flavoured with sauces of various kinds, are flavoured by a variety of curry pastes, prepared and stored in bulk, like the green curry paste or red curry paste for example.

A heavy chopper is used for chopping veggies, which may also double as a crusher for garlic, ginger, etc. Though handpounding has its advantages, using a mixie to crush chillies, garlic, ginger, and to make pastes will be very handy for the busybees.

Following are some of the ingredients which are used lavishly in thai cuisine. Some may not be easily available in some other parts of the world too. But can always substitute or delete and at least make a dish very close to the original, scaling boundaries of region.