On a recent trip to Bangkok, I had a delicious dinner at the Blue Elephant,
a restaurant and cooking school on South Sathorn Road that specialises in
Royal Thai cuisine.

Almost everything was perfect -- the tom yam soup had a nuanced spiciness rather than a blow-your-head-off heat, the prawns in green had such oomph and I swooned over the tamarind ice cream and durian cheesecake for dessert.

It is good to know I can cook some of the restaurant's specialities here.
Blue Elephant's curry pastes and sauces are now available in some supermarkets.

The Tom Yam Chilli Paste ($3.50 a packet) is terrific.

Just add lemongrass, coriander roots, fish sauce, galangal, lemon juice, chilli and your favourite seafood to homemade chicken stock and you get a rich, spicy and tart soup perfect for one of these rainy days we keep having.

You can also use the paste to make a seafood pasta salad, with julienned carrots, bell peppers and lots of sprint onions and coriander. Just delicious

Also available are red, green and yellow curry pastes($3.50 a packet) and a range of sauces, including Fish
Sauce and Sweet Chilli Thai Dipping Sauce. These come in 200ml bottles and range in price from $2 to $2.50.