Thai Cooking Hamper

amyparr

Hi everyone,

I've just come back from travelling in Asia and had a great idea for a gift for my step sister - her and her boyfriend love cooking, and love Thai food, so I thought I'd put together a Thai cookery hamper. Having had a look online, this is how it adds up:

Thai green curry paste: £0.59
Thai red curry paste: £0.59
Coconut milk: £0.69
Creamed coconut: £0.55
Amoy soy sauce: £0.68
Sweet chilli dipping sauce: £0.97
Spring roll wrappers £1.89
Palm sugar paste: £0.99
Bean thread vermicelli: £0.85

Total: £7.80

The postage is a hefty £4.95, but I was planning on buying myself some stuff anyway so I'm not counting that towards my budget. All I need is some kaffir lime leaves which I'm going to try to pick up in Chinatown.

I'm going to try and package it up nicely and maybe buy a couple of cheap white rice bowls to throw in, and I'm going to include some Thai recipes I picked up in Thailand that use the ingredients.

xx

taketwo

fish sauce is a must, smells disgusting, but does add a certain something, hugely cheaper in the chinese supermarket than Sainsbury's

peaz

I did this for my OHs godfather- included Tiger beer for him. I agree with the fish sauce, and maybe some lemongrass too? Thai food is my fave- we did a cookery class in Chang Mai and it was fab!

xxx

roosterbean

How about some sesame oil too...

baby_fuzz

I have a few more suggestions:
galangal
thai prawn crackers?
tamarind
and I love that delicious vinegar with chilli, cucumber carrots etc. I believe that's just rice vinegar.
and for soy sauce, you're better off going for a thai brand like Healthy Boy:
http://shop.waiyeehong.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=118
They have thin, thick, and sweet. I would recommend thin AND thick, as they have different uses.
And to finish it off, a bag of Thai Hom Mali (Thai Jasmine/Fragrant Rice). My favourite type of rice - but these days, the price of rice has just gone crazy, so perhaps not!

more2lose

What a great idea! Any other suggestions?

Mme.Hibou

Search for Thai on here http://www.wingyipstore.co.uk/search.php there's a store in London or order online.

I've just done my brother a Chinese hamper, I just went in and asked someone in store for ideas and they were very helpful.

Jammygal

This place is attached to my most fav thai restaurant....I am not sure if you can buy in small quantities but is great for some ideas

http://www.thai-skymarket.biz/page.php

What about a small bunch of traditional thai orchids???

Furrball

My brother in law is quite hard to buy for. He likes cooking and when on honeymoon in Thailand done a cookery course there, so I thought a thai food hamper would be great for chrimbo. I'd seen one in a local shop - contained about 4 jars of ingredients and cost 23 quid!!

Thankfully this thread gave me some inspiration, and after a quick trip to a Wing Yip store, I've put together a hamper of noodles, rice, pastes, sauces, lemongrass, galangal, palm sugar and coconut milk - all thai produce - for a tenner. I've put it all in spare basket with a bright piece of fabric I had lingering around. It looks fantastic and cost so little! Thanks for the inspiration guys!

rainmac

Lovely idea! I've put together a Chinese cookery basket of goodies for my inlaws for Xmas. I think it makes a great present, may try a Thai basket next year for my brother.

NemoToad

Great idea! I'm making my brother a sushi kit/hamper for Christmas so along similar lines. It will include soy sauce, wasabi, pickled ginger, nori sheets, sushi rice, sushi vinegar, rolling mats, maybe some sake. I'm going to have sushi with my friends sometime before Christmas so I plan to make him a photo 'how to make sushi book' to go with it by taking photos as we go along! Just got to decide what to put it all in!