Spices, herbs and flavoring

Soy sauce or a sprinkling of spring onions, they add flavour, colour and texture.

Chinese five/ spice powder
Based on a mixture sweet, sour, bitter, hot and salty. This power is traditionally made up of star anis, cloves, fennel, seeds, cinnamon and Szechuan peppercorns.

Chillies
The chillies used are the small, fiery, red and green 'Thai bird' varieties.

Fish sauce
Fermented fish sauce is a principal ingredient particularly in soups, marinades and dipping sauces.

Galangal
Ginger family, galangal is aromatic and pungent. It is used in spicy pastes and marinades and in soups, curries.

Garlic
It is used in its raw from to flavour pickles, marinades, sauces and dips.

Root ginger
Fresh root ginger is used liberally in stirfries, stews, rice, pickles, steamed dishes.

Kaffir lime leaves
Which lend a bitter, flowery note to soups and stews.

Lemongrass
It is a woody, pale yellowish-green in colour. Lemongrass added to soups, stirfries, curries and marinades.

Palm sugar
It is golden to toffee-brown in colour. Extracted from the sap of various palm trees.

Pandanus leaf
The long, narrow leaves are tied together and bruised to released their unique flavour before being added to dishes.

Soy sauce
It is used extensively in stirfries, marinades and dipping sauces. Chinese hoisin sauce, prepared whit fermented soya beans, vinagar, sugar and garlic, or Indonesian sweet soy sauce ( used Palm sugar)

Star anise
The fruits are reddish-brown whit a seed in each of the eight prongs of the star.

Tiger lily buds
Also known as 'golden needles' as they are light golden in colour, they are regarded as both a vegetable and herb. Traditionally before cooking, the buds are knotted in the centre ans soaked in water for about 30 minutes.

Turmeric
Fresh turmeric is a knobbly root whit fingers, similar in appearance to ginger, although dark brown in colour whit a bright orange.