5 Vegetables Perfect for Cooking Thai Food

These pale green, golf ball-sized eggplants are quite different to their larger purple cousins. You can usually find these in Asian grocers. Although they're often eaten fresh in salads by Thai locals, they're perfect to throw into a Thai curry, where they'll soften after some cooking and absorb all the flavours of your dish.

To prepare them, remove the stem and slice or leave whole. If the seeds in the middle are dark (meaning your Thai eggplant is ripe), simple scoop them out with a spoon and discard them. They're good to go if the seeds are white.

Tip: Thai eggplants oxidise and discolour quickly after being cut and exposed to air. Prepare them just before you're ready to add them to a curry, or sit them in some salt water.

Bamboo shoots are the crisp, mild-flavoured, ivory-coloured shoots of the bamboo plant. This is a popular ingredient in Thai cooking and can be purchased from Asian grocers and markets. They are sold in various processed shapes, and are available in fresh, dried, and canned versions and can be used in stir-fries, soups, curries, as well as Thai salads. Bamboo shoots are not only, delicious but are also rich in nutrients.

Tip: If you don't want the hassle of peeling and boiling fresh bamboo shoots, just pick up a can of ready-to-cook sliced bamboo shoots in your local Asian grocer.

Also called banana blossoms, these are the tender hearts of unopened banana flowers, which have been stripped of their purple petals. They can be found fresh, canned or dried in some Asian markets and are used in northern Thailand to make a tasty soup. They are also a popular salad ingredient, tasting similar to artichokes. 

To prepare your banana flower, remove the red-purple leaves and discard or use them for plating. The small clusters of flowers are edible, but you have to remove the pistil (the matchstick-like stalk in the middle) and calyx (the scaly outer petal) from each one. The pale heart in the middle of the flower is delicious too. Just remove stem and the tough core before slicing it.

Tip: Prepare a bowl filled with water and lemon juice before you start cutting up your banana flower. Soaking all the parts in acidic water helps to to prevent them from discolouring when exposed to the air.

These delicate, sweet-flavoured mushrooms acquired their name due to the method of cultivation—on beds of straw. They are the most popular variety of mushroom in Thai cooking and are used extensively in soups, salads and curries, and taste particularly good with prawns and crab meat. Canned straw mushrooms are widely available in Asian stores and many supermarkets. They have neither the exquisite flavour nor the texture of the fresh mushrooms, but work well as a substitute.

Tip: Fresh straw mushrooms are highly perishable and so are not often available in Australia. If you do get a hold of some, use them soon after purchase.

Pea eggplants look like large green peas, but grow in bunches like grapes. Available in lots of Asian grocers and greengrocers, be sure to pick up a bunch of these next time you're making a Thai curry. The Thais also use this unique veggie to prepare nam prik (chilli sauce) or eat them fresh. The inner seeds adds a slight bitterness.

Tip: Be careful if you're eating them in a curry, because they might pop and burn your mouth!