Taste, To Go: Thai

Menu: Chicken Satays with Spicy Peanut Sauce • Papaya Salad • Shrimp Pad Thai

The bold flavours of Thai street cooking — sweet, salty, spicy and sour — can all be found at your favourite Thai restaurant. Many of the key ingredients are common ones, such as garlic, basil, dried chilies, cilantro and soy sauce. But when they’re combined with the exotic — lemongrass, fish sauce (nam pla) and coconut milk — it results in one of Asian’s most vibrant cuisines.

Thai restaurants offer a large variety of takeout options that travel well: soups; red, green or yellow curries; steamed or fried entrees; rice noodles; salads; and always an abundance of rice. In Thailand, all the dishes are served at the same time, and there is always enough food to accommodate unexpected guests.

How To Order: An ample supply of steamed jasmine rice is always the centrepiece of a Thai meal, so order extra servings. Add a curry to this menu and serve a mango sorbet for dessert.

TIP: Knives are used rarely, and chopsticks are only used when noodles are included. Thais eat with a fork and a dessert-sized spoon. The fork (in your right hand) pushes food onto the spoon, which then goes into your mouth. (The fork never does.)

How to make it your own

Chicken Satays with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Serve lightly charred skewers of chicken with your homemade spicy peanut sauce.

Spicy Peanut Sauce

• 1/2 cup natural-style creamy peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp. light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 Tbsp. Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
• 1 tsp. chili-garlic sauce
• 1/2 cup water

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together all the ingredients until smooth. Refrigerate for up to 2 days before serving.

Papaya Salad (Som Tum Thai)

For each four servings, add 1/2 pound of thinly sliced rare beef to the salad, toss gently and serve.

Shrimp Pad Thai

Sprinkle pad Thai with 2 tablespoons of chopped dry-roasted salted peanuts and serve with lime wedges.

When to serve it

For a weekend dinner with a mix of teens and adults — satays please everyone.

How to serve it

Use bright, colourful runners, bamboo placemats and exotic flowers in individual glass vases. Place food in earthenware, wooden or copper serving pieces.

What to serve with it

Singha beer or Thai iced tea.

Wine matches to try

St. Hallett 2008 Poacher's Sémillon Sauvignon Blanc, Barossa Valley, South Australia

Thirty Bench 2008 Riesling, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Ca nada