KITCHEN EQUIPMENT

There are some crazy tools used for very specific purposes in Southeast Asian cooking; you’ll find you can only use a particular mould for making one kind of kueh, or a special hand-cranked machine for shaving ice. Don’t worry, I’m not asking you to track any of these down. I’ve listed the key equipment I find myself using often. That said, nothing is an essential really. The recipes in this book can be created using regular kitchen equipment, and I’ve given alternatives below and throughout the book. I highly recommend getting the following tools if you can; they’re not expensive and will make your time in the kitchen a lot easier.

Wok

You don’t need a whole rack of pots and pans in different shapes and sizes to cook Southeast Asian food well. A frying pan and a large stockpot aside, a wok will be the only thing you really need, as it is incredibly versatile. The traditionally round, sloped shape of a wok allows heat to distribute evenly, meaning it is great for stir-fries. It also means that for deep-frying, you can use a smaller amount of oil to create the depth needed. The shape of a wok also allows you to fit a steamer basket or steaming rack over it easily. With a wok lid, you can also braise food.

That said, the Western stovetop (both gas and electric) doesn’t support a round-bottomed wok. A 35cm flat-bottomed tapered wok is a better choice. It will sit properly on the stove and conduct heat much better by coming into direct contact with the burner.

In terms of material, I prefer a well-seasoned carbon steel wok over a non-stick wok, but if you do opt for a non-stick one, make sure the non-stick coating is strong enough to withstand the constant stirring and high-heat cooking.

To season a new carbon steel wok, scrub it hard with detergent to remove the factory oil, then rinse with hot water and let it dry over low heat for a minute or two. Turn the heat up, and when the wok is very hot, pour in a small splash of groundnut oil, swirling to coat the whole wok, before removing from the heat and letting it cool. Wipe with kitchen paper and repeat; you will see its colour change from silver to a mottled brown or even black. From then on, follow these steps every time you do a stir-fry, except for the detergent bit. To clean after use, you only need to pour hot water in, bring to the boil, pour away and do a little scrub. It is the easiest clean-up one can ask for! After regular use, it will develop its own natural shiny black non-stick patina.

If don’t have a wok yet, or just can’t get one, you can always use a large 35cm frying pan for stir-fries, a smaller 20cm one for fried eggs and deep-frying shallots and garlic (see here), and a deep-fat fryer or deep pot for deep-frying everything else.

Chopsticks

Chopsticks are good not only for eating with. I beat eggs, fluff rice and flip grilled meat with them. I also use a pair of long wooden chopsticks to fish out deep-fried food, and to toss food around in the wok during stir-fries, especially when noodles are involved.

You can of course use a fork, tongs and spatula. To be fair, in Indonesia, the Philippines and Burma, chopsticks are hardly used, as forks, spoons and fingers are the default cutlery; while in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, only Chinese-influenced noodle dishes call for chopsticks. I find them incredibly useful myself anyhow and high recommend having a few pairs in the kitchen.

Rice cooker

Every Asian owns a rice cooker. We eat rice so much that the 20 quid is more than justified for the convenience of simply pouring rice and water into a machine and pushing a button. If you don’t have the space or budget for a rice cooker, or the capacity to eat that much rice regularly, I have included a recipe for cooking rice on the stove (see here).

Mortar & pestle

Traditional Thai and Malay curry pastes, chilli pastes and spice pastes are made in a mortar and pestle. Pounding the herbs and spices bruises them and allows them to release their flavour better than a food processor can by mincing them. A mortar and pestle also allows you to make a small amount of paste quite quickly; the food processor, on the other hand, will need a bit of oil or diluting with water for the blades to work on small amounts of ingredients.

When using a mortar and pestle, always start by bashing the toasted whole spices first if there are any, followed by the tougher fibrous ingredients, and finally, the softer, wetter ingredients. Chopping the ingredients up into small pieces beforehand is a good way to shorten your workout time.

Opt for a large granite pestle, at least 15cm across and 15cm tall. The depth of the mortar is more important here, as a shallow one will only result in your ingredients flying everywhere except in the mortar. Thai cooks will also often have a clay one for making som tum papaya salad (see here), but it’s not really necessary; just don’t be as aggressive when you’re handling the pestle.

Of course, I understand that many people nowadays don’t want to be rolling up their sleeves and getting sweaty for the next 10–30 minutes just to make a curry, and I don’t pretend I never turn to the food processor. If you choose to use a food processor, my tip is to prepare the ingredients and add them in the same order as you would for a mortar and pestle anyway; the blades often need a bit more time on the tough fibres to give a smooth paste.

Steamer baskets & steaming rack

Bamboo steamer baskets make steaming food very convenient, and as a bonus, look pretty on the dinner table. All you have to do is to sit the steamer in a few centimetres of boiling water at the bottom of the wok. You can also stack them and cook multiple things at once. The hot steam passes through the baskets and cooks the food inside.

I also like having a steaming rack for larger steamed dishes, such as whole steamed fish. It’s basically a metal circle with perforated holes, which fits snugly inside your wok. Like with steamer baskets, you pour a few centimetres of boiling water into the bottom of the wok, and then place the dish with your food on top of it and cover the wok with a lid.

If you don’t want to get either, I’ve seen some pretty creative methods of crushing aluminium foil into little balls for your dish to rest on above the boiling water. You can also set a metal colander or fine-meshed strainer over your pot to steam glutinous rice (see here).

Claypot

A claypot is great for making one-pot meals, and, like bamboo steamer baskets, is pretty enough to be served straight to the dinner table. It retains its heat beautifully, so that the ingredients steam in the covered pot while absorbing the flavours from the aromatics and sauces. The claypot is traditionally used over glowing charcoal, so you also get a smoky aroma. For the Western home cook, it’s more practical to use it on the hob, or in the oven. You can use a small cast-iron casserole pot as a substitute.