Thai and Indian are in my wheelhouse. My family has been enjoying my adventure into these goodies for years.
Thai:
Ingredients that make Thai food unique:
Coconut Milk ( I recommend Aroy-D and Chaokoh brand coconut milk) Don't buy coconut cream unless the recipe calls for it.
Curries (Red, Green, Yellow) Available in a canned paste
Lemongrass (available as fresh stalks)
Thai Basil (Holy Basil) Fresh produce.
Kaffir Lime leaves (very unique, hard to find. Even at Asian markets they just stare at you when you ask if they have any. I eventually bought my own tree so I could have them. The fruit is very bitter, but the leaf is wonderful)
Fresh Ginger
Fish Sauce
Tamarind (a fruit; you use mainly the juice. available as a concentrate) I use this for my Satay Chicken with Peanut Sauce.
Palm sugar
Most of these ingredients available at your local Asian markets. Actually all of them should, except the lime leaves.
Here is a great starter recipe for
Thai Red Curry Chicken with Sweet potatoes that everyone goes nuts over. It is very doable for someone new to Thai. The web page also explains some about Thai ingredients. Give it a try. I tweak it just a bit, depending on how I feel. Like, sometimes I use red/yellow and green peppers in it, sweet onions, and pineapple. You vary the heat by the amount of red curry paste you use. Be sure to use jasmine rice. I made this as one of the entrees at my daughter's wedding reception. People still talk about it.
I have used
http://importfood.com/ for when I could not find ingredients locally. They seem like nice people. They have lots of recipes there. I even bought kaffir lime leaves off of a guy on ebay before. They were fine and reasonable price. I freeze them.
I have a few cookbooks for Thai. I don't think any are in print anymore. One I bought while over in Indonesia. To be honest, nowadays, you are probably just as well off with what you can find on the interwebs, and saving your favorite recipes to a document on your computer. Makes it easy to share recipes with your family members, too. I have heard good things about
Terrific Pacific Cookbook, but I don't own it.... yet. Its kind of Asian Fusion I hear, which is pretty much what I do. Except, I'm more like Asian Confusion... haha.
Indian food I will get to later...