The sauce files, episode 3: Sweet chilli sauce

What: Thai Taste's Sweet Chilli Sauce Cost: Inexpensive and readily available from any major grocery store Main ingredients: Sugar, chilli, vinegar, garlic Appearance: Shiny, translucent orange sauce with a corn-starched thickness. Flavour: This is a decent example of a standard sauce. It's very sweet, has a little touch of chilli kick, with a nice preliminary taste of vinegar and a hint of garlic in the finish. It's pretty nice. Would go well with: Spring rolls, prawn wontons Marks out of 10: 7.5

Nam Ngiaw (Northern Thai noodle soup)

Nam ngiaw (sometimes written nam ngiao or nam ngeow) is a popular and porky noodle soup from Northern Thailand. It's easy to find in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, but not so easy to find recipes for online, probably because several of the ingredients are quite hard to come by outside of the region. But it's so delicious, even a non-authentic version (made with ingredients available in the West) is worth making.

Thai mushroom soup

This is a simple but tasty recipe which you can tailor to your favourite mushrooms, or indeed whichever mushrooms you happen to have to hand. Vary the amount of chili to fit your own taste buds - I like mine quite hot, to open up the sinus on a dreary, damp winter's day. You can also use dried mushrooms in this dish - pour over hot water, bring to a simmer for 5 minutes, then steep for an hour. Reserve the liquid (strained through a fine sieve) and use in the soup.

Jungle curry

	Jungle curry is known for it's fiery taste and vegetables sourced from the "jungle" - the spices are broadly similar to those used in Thai red curry, but omitting the coconut milk. Add as much chili as you like and serve on rice for a healthy meal.

Pad See ew

This is a pretty common quick lunch food on the streets of Thai cities. It's basically stir fried noodles in soy sauce. Smokey wok essence and caramalised sugar is the heart of this dish - get your wok as hot as you can, and work in small batches to avoid swamping the wok (don't try and make more than 2 servings at a time). Note: naam see ew (spelling varies) is the Thai name for soy sauce, and pad means stir fry. The literal name for this dish is stir fry in soy (sauce). Simple, right?

Thai curried pumpkin

This is a very nice, simple recipe adapted from Appon's Thai food website. She uses pre-made yellow curry paste as a key ingredient; for purists and those who like to adjust the heat of their dishes, I've listed a basic recipe for yellow curry paste below. Feel free to play with the proportions to get the degree of heat required. I've also increased her amounts of pumpkin and pork, as I'm a greedy guts, and reduced her amounts of salty ingredients (because nobody's got time for high blood pressure). Enjoy!

Red curry meatballs with longan

Juicy meatballs, luscious coconut milk, warming chilies... not even vaguely healthy, but I don't care. Making your own Thai red curry paste is dead easy, and allows you to easily adjust the amount of chilli to suit your own palate (plus you know exactly what you're eating).

Pan-fried paneer and mushrooms with kaffir-lime, garlic and chilli sauce

	Bear with me here: this one has a lot of steps to juggle, and requires a touch of advance prep., but each step is actually quite simple. I'd recommend getting your mise-en-place done before you start cooking. Once you're ready to go, the whole thing comes together in less than 20 minutes.

Veggie massaman curry

Long-term readers of this blog will already know how much I love massaman curry (I shared one recipe for a traditional version back in January). Here I share a variation - a bit different (hotter and sourer) but equally nice. I've made this version stuffed with vegetables - add rice and you've got a balanced vegetarian meal. You could use chicken or beef in place of the quorn, if preferred.

Chiang Mai curry (kaeng hangleh or gaeng hanglay)

The food of northern Thailand is quite different from that of the south. Instead of rich coconut-milk curries, you'll see a noticeable Burmese influence on the food, and a love of chilies and pork. Here I've offered both a traditional, slightly sour-tasting, pork curry recipe (kaeng hangleh muu) and a veggie variation as well, for those who don't eat pork or simply want a healthier option.

Thai red curry veggies

There are probably as many variations on Thai red curry as there are Thai grandmothers. And why not? Tasty, quick and easy... it's no surprise these dish has found world-wide popularity. My version is made with sweet potato, aubergine, and deep fried tofu, making it a healthy option, and one that can easily be adapted for vegetarians (I've included the veggie options below). I like my curry dryer than most, so add more coconut milk and water to thin out the sauce if you want it wetter.

Khao sawy AKA khao soi (Chiang Mai curried noodles)

Chiang Mai was my first experience of Thailand. I arrived at dinner-time, after 16 hours of travel, disoriented, exhausted and hungry. Half an hour later I was sitting amid the cacophony of a night market, slurping a bowl of noodle soup. Even now, years later, I still have such fond memories of Chiang Mai, and Chiang Mai street food.

Panaeng veggie curry

A delicious, warming curry for a drizzly winter evening: use your favourite vegetables if the ones below don't appeal, and serve with a mound of fluffy white rice. Perfect!

Tom yum

This popular hot and sour soup is just the thing when you're feeling a bit under the weather. There's nothing like a blast of chillies and lime juice to clear the cobwebs out. You'll find variations of Tom Yum (or Tom Yam) soup all over Thailand and Burma, and it's spread to Malaysia as well. This version with mixed seafood is called Tom Yum Thelah or Thaleh. If you don't like seafood, use fish or chicken instead, or leave it out entirely and make a veggie version of the soup.

Massaman curry

	Ever since CNNGo named it the most delicious food in the world in 2011, it seems everybody has their own version of massaman curry (although considering CNNGo also included both poutine and marmite on their list of deliciousness, they may have been drinking heavily at the time).
This most-aromatic of Thai curries seems to have originated with Arab traders, hence the name. Massaman curry is most commonly made with beef, although I like mine with lamb or tofu.