Thai Mastery

Inspired by the terrific meals I’ve been getting at Albuquerque’s Thai Tip restaurant, I’ve been trying to learn to cook Thai food. (I’d eat at Thai Tip every day, but it’s a 75-mile round trip.)

Thai cuisine is nourishing, flavorful, healthy, and (if you stay away from the coconut milk) low in fat. It has a wide variety of flavors, and (if you cook it right) has a brilliant fresh taste and what the wine snobs call a “long finish,” meaning that after time the taste doesn’t turn sour or unpleasant in your mouth after time. (At least I think that’s what “long finish” means.)

Also, the cooking is dead easy.

My favorite Thai soup (thank you, Terry Boren) is tom yum, which has a wonderful balance of sweet, heat, bright, and sour. Tonight I tried making it using this recipe from Tyler Florence. I was a little worried because my lemon grass was old and dry. I threw in more than the recipe called for. My kaffir lime leaves were getting a little long in the tooth as well, so I chucked in a couple extra.

I needn’t have worried. Walking into the kitchen and inhaling the cooking smells convinced me this one was going to turn out all right.

It was fantastic! Thai Master Walter strikes again!

I would throw in a graphic of the soup, or a graphic of a cartoon animal looking smug, but I’ve just had a great meal and I’m too lazy.