Your local Asia shop might seem intimidating, but there are many bargains to be found. Certain articles are of much higher quality and much lower price than our western supermarkets. Off the top of my head these are:
- Rice
- Soy Sauces
- Noodles
The only issue is that sometimes the quantities are geared for ‘we cook this every day’ rather than the ‘I fancy something Thai tonight’. In particular, I only ever need one or two teaspoons of fresh chilies at any one time, and the smallest quantity you can buy is something like a handful.
So here’s the secret: Wash your chilies, deseed them and chop them into small cubes, fill in ice cube holder. Tip: I use latex gloves because that chilli oil stays a long time on fingers, even after washing with soap, and I always end up rubbing my eyes…
After that you have some perfectly portioned chilli-cubes
I lucked out with the ice-cube holder, it makes small cubes and it’s about a single chilli per portion…