Knives

Good knives will serve you well almost every time you cook Thai food. You need a well-made paring knife and either a big Chinese cleaver or a 10-inch chef’s knife. I have one of each, which is unnecessary but useful when I need a clean blade in the middle of cooking a dish. You also need several sturdy cutting boards. I like to keep one for meat and fish and two for vegetables and herbs, to avoid cross-contamination between meats and other foods. The classic Thai cutting board is a cross-section of a tamarind tree, thick, round, and plump, like a miniature wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Heavy cutting boards work best, and all of them stay put if you place a damp kitchen towel on your countertop and place the cutting board on top of the towel.