Thai is my favorite food, and I cook it all the time for DelSolGirl. The hardest part is finding "real" ingrediants, like kaffir lime leaves and fish sauce (GOOD fish sauce, not that Safeway BS), real fresh lemongrass, etc.

Here is a quick recipe for a good dish:
Beef with Basil

Get about 2 lbs of high-quality thin steak, and cut it into strips about half the size of your finger. Put the raw meat into a large-ish bowl. Marinate in soy sauce, freshly cut garlic (cut to whatever size you like best), pepper, a whole bunch of "hot sauce" (whatever you like best), and fresh basil. Optional: cut up one Habanero pepper, taking care to remove the seeds. These are HOT, so be cautious. Use enough soy sauce that approx. 1/2 the meat is covered by it - yes, it's going to be salty. Also - save about 20 leaves of basil for later.

Now slice and dice any 2 or 3 vegetables of your choice. Some options are green-beans, bell-peppers, onions, spring onions, etc.

Then prepare the rice. As the rice cooks, heat a large saucepan with some oil in it to medium heat, then add the meat marinade mixture. After the meat is about halfway cooked, add the vegetables. When everything is 9/10 cooked, add a VERY small amount of fish sauce - like 1 tsp. Finally, after everything has been cooked for a minute or two (the rice should be ready now), add all the fresh basil and let it cook (releasing its flavor) for about 30 seconds. Then dump everything into a large bowl and serve on top of the rice.


If I have time later I'll type out a curry recipe. Enjoy!