Building a Thai Pantry: Seven Shelf Anchors

Thai cooking rewards a well-set pantry more than almost any cuisine. The fresh things — basil, lime, chilli, lemongrass — are bought the day you cook. Everything else keeps, and with these seven anchors on the shelf you are twenty minutes from most of the repertoire.

The seven

Fish sauce, for depth and salt. Oyster sauce, for gloss and savour. Light and dark soy, for seasoning and colour. Palm sugar, for a rounder sweetness than white sugar can offer. Coconut milk, the body of every curry. A curry paste you trust. And rice — jasmine for every day, glutinous for grilled things and dessert.

Notice what carries the meal: the rice appears in every single dish family. It is the anchor of the anchors, and the one place where a small premium changes every plate on the table.

Buy vegetables weekly, sauces monthly, and rice like you mean it.