Intense Fragrance and Bright Camphorous Notes

Fresh spice pastes lay the foundations of South East Asian cookery, with the highly sought dried spices of the region playing a smaller role in local cooking.

In a crude way that neglects the nuances of a vast region’s gastronomies, one can divide South Asian from South East Asian cooking techniques by the use of spice: dried blends versus fresh pastes. A typical South Asian dish might start with a spluttering of mustard seeds followed by frying a duo of garlic and ginger, then a medley of dried spices and chillies to create the complex foundation on which to lay vegetables or protein. If a wet masala is used, it will likely still contain dried spices. Across much of South East Asia, a dish starts by grinding together a paste of garlic, shallot, galangal, ginger, chilli, turmeric and lemongrass. The aromatic base can be taken in many directions with small tweaks - perhaps to a Thai curry paste, green with coriander (cilantro) and lime zest; or an Indonesian bumbu, with a salty hit of shrimp paste and candlenuts for body; or maybe a Malay rempah, given a smoky edge by the addition of dried chillies.