Cook Books – Spirit House

I don’t normally like buying too many cook books.  They are usually full of recipes in which I have no interest.  My only exceptions are Stephanie Alexander’s book which I have already blogged about on the 28th November and the cook books I recently got as a result of going to the Spirit House cooking school (also blogged about here).  I bought 2 books but having now looked at them in detail, just one of them would be fine.

The original one is called Spirit House Thai Cooking by Helen Brierty and Annette Fear(2004).  It looks like this.

The second one is called Essentially Thai – the only real difference is that they have simplified slightly some of the recipes. 

Either one would be a fine present to yourself or for someone interested in Thai food.  They are available online from Amazon and also in local bookshops.

Here is the recipe for green curry paste from the first one:

20 white peppercorns

2 tblsp coriander seeds, roasted

1 teasp cumin seeds, roasted

2 teasp salt

15 green chillies, seeded and chopped

2 small red onions (shallots), finely chopped

12 cloves garlic, chopped

4 tblsp lemon grass finely sliced,

2 teasp chopped galangal

4 teasp chopped coriander root

2 teasp chopped kaffir lime leaf

4 teasp shrimp paste, roasted

( for methods of “roasting” see my earlier blog re curry paste – here)

In a mortar, pound the pepper corns, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and salt together.  Add remaining ingredients one at a time, and pound to a smooth paste.