Thai cuisine

Thai cooking balances four tastes at once — hot, sour, sweet and salty — and is adjusted as it goes.

Thai cooking has few fixed proportions: fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar go in at the end and get tasted until the balance lands. The recipe sets a direction rather than a dose.

The aromatics are their own thing too: lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime leaves are lifted out before serving — they give scent, not something to chew.