Using a Blender with Hot Ingredients
Hot (as in temperature, not spiciness) ingredients in a blender can expand causing its lid to blow off. Instead of the lid, use a kitchen towel as a cover.
There are three very common ingredients in Thai cooking that can be rather difficult to find in the United States. Luckily they have very inexpensive and common substitutions. In this book I have always used brown sugar in place of palm sugar, ginger in place of galangal, and vegetable oil in place of peanut oil. Substitutions for some common Thai ingredients are found in the following chart.
| THAI INGREDIENT | SUBSTITUTION |
|---|---|
| Fish sauce | Soy sauce |
| Cilantro | Parsley |
| Kaffir lime leaves | Lime peel |
| Lemongrass | Lemon peel |
| Rice vinegar | Dry sherry or white vinegar |
| Long beans | Green beans |
| Thai eggplant | Green peas |
| Shallots | Small onions |
| Homemade curry paste | Store-bought curry paste |