As regular readers will know, Thai food is amongst my favourites from around the world. The fiery, heady mix of spice, the soothing warmth of coconut milk, the crunch of tiny crisp anchovies and punchy fresh lime juice…just thinking about it gets me hungry. 

Thai food has several cornerstones. Some might argue a mire-poix (carrot, celery and onion) for the basis of much of French cookery, but Thai cuisine is more about the balance of hot, salty, sweet and sour accomplished most commonly sugar, lime juice, chillies and fish sauce which turn up in almost every dish.

Indeed, in good Thai restaurants you’ll be offered these to customise a dish to your particular taste. This includes nam prik pow (chillies in vinegar), naamtam (sugar), prik pon (chilli flakes) and nam plaa (fish sauce, often with chillies) – referred to as ‘The Four Flavours’.

It’s Thai New Year from the April 13-15 – known as Songkran or the Water Festival – which is an ideal time to start cooking Thai food at home.

Once you’ve got a few basics in your store cupboard you’ll be knocking out red and green curries, spicy salads and soups in no time.

Click here to read the recipes for

Vegetable pad Thai

Thai fishcakes

Thai beef salad

Salmon with sticky chilli sauce

Thai Green chicken curry