Shortcuts make Thai food easy enough for everyday

Kimberly Coatney, a legal assistant who works in the Turtle Creek area, drifted toward Thai because she and her husband enjoy a lot of different ethnic foods. So far, she's made chicken satay, coconut chicken, coconut chicken soup and different noodle dishes.

"Thai flavors are more subtle, yet very distinct," she says. "In some foods, the spiciness gets in the way. With Thai, the spiciness enhances."

Product lines like Ka-Me and Thai Kitchen minimize the probability of overseasoning because sauces are ready to use. Or, you can make jasmine rice without rinsing and re-rinsing until the water is clear. Just simmer, cover and serve.

"Sometimes I use packaged seasonings," Ms. Coatney says, "or I'll use packages of Thai rice that has seasonings already in them - you know, like you use taco seasoning for Mexican foods?"

Make-your-own-Thai meal kits with condiments bypass a lot of mashing, mincing, chopping and mixing. Asian Home Gourmet makes a Thai stir-fry rice that includes a spice paste of lemon grass, shallots, pineapple juice, lime and coriander. Just add shrimp, tofu or veggies and voila! shrimp-fried rice for two in less than 20 minutes.

Most of the packaged products include simple recipe ideas. Thai Kitchen offers boxed Thai basil noodles that cook up into dinner for two, complete with suggestions for finishing the dish out with stir-fried shrimp, fresh basil and asparagus.

Asian Home Gourmet makes an extensive line of Thai products, including tom yum soup mix for four. Just add water or seafood stock, shrimp, mushrooms, coriander and fresh lime. The package suggests squid, fish and chicken alternatives and such gourmet touches as lemon grass.

Canned sauces from Satay let you make a hot green curry or a medium yellow one. One even includes how to make a Thai-style pizza.

For the family weary of meat and potatoes, Thai is a pleasant, colorful departure. Although an authentic Thai meal includes several dishes, you can start with one or two. Even without convenience products, many are very easy.

Take the dish called larb. (Kids will love just saying the word. Some not-quite-fully-developed adults have fun saying "larb," too.) It's just seasoned ground beef wrapped in lettuce leaves like a soft taco, and it's as much fun to eat as it is to say. Normally found among the appetizers, it can work as part of a meal with pad thai or shrimp-fried rice. Heavenly Chicken Wings is another easy dish to start with; it can be paired with jasmine rice.

"Thai food has become very popular," says Soon Chan, who has owned Thai Soon restaurant on Lower Greenville for 13 years. "And now it's easy to make it at home. They have lots of ingredients at Minyard and Tom Thumb, lots of places."

"Until recently, you found them only at small Vietnamese or Laotian markets or Hong Kong Market. "Now people can pretty much cook the same as we did where I came from in Bangkok."

But even those who grew up making the real thing, like Thai-born Sandy French, admit to taking shortcuts from time to time.

"Sometimes, when I'm just cooking for me, I buy some canned things," says the cashier at Thai Soon. "The big difference is that at home [in Thailand] we would go and pick the food from the garden, wash it and cook it. It's the same for the fish. We catch it, clean it and cook it. You can't do that here."

No, but we do the next best thing: buy it, drive home, cook it.

If you're cooking up a Thai meal after everybody's home from work, soccer, basketball, softball and dance class, take advantage of convenience to put something exciting and different on the table; help is only a grocery shelf away.