Homemade Asian food

Believe it or not, you don't need a kitchen full of exotic, hard-to-find ingredients to make delicious Thai food at home. Most large supermarkets carry all of the Thai pantry staples - like fish sauce, coconut milk, sweet red chili sauce and curry paste - in the Asian foods aisle. Fresh ingredients commonly used in Thai cooking, like ginger, garlic, limes and fresh herbs are always available in the produce department. Stock up and enjoy these fresh, fast and flavorful Thai-style recipes!

These chicken skewers marinated in honey, lime juice and Sriracha are every bit as good as they look - and if you haven't tried Sriracha, the Asian hot sauce named after the coastal city of Si Racha in Thailand, this is the perfect recipe to taste just how delicious it is.

2. Thai Crunch Salad with Peanut Dressing

This recipe was inspired by the popular Thai Crunch Salad served at California Pizza Kitchen. It's made with crisp Napa cabbage, crunchy vegetables and edamame but it's the creamy peanut dressing that makes it so good; I guarantee you'll want to put it on everything! You can serve this salad as a light lunch or pair it with grilled chicken for a more substantial meal. (It's excellent with my Grilled Honey, Lime & Sriracha Chicken Skewers.)

I've had Coconut Shrimp at many restaurants, but this homemade version beats them all. It's remarkably easy to make, and the sauce comes straight out of a bottle.

Here's a quick weeknight recipe your family will love. Salmon fillets are quickly marinated in Thai sweet red chili sauce, soy sauce and ginger and then broiled until caramelized on top. Main courses simply do not get any easier, more delicious or elegant than this.

This vibrant and fresh Thai Quinoa Salad is adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks, by Catherine Walthers. It's a healthy eater's dream: flavorful, chock-full of protein and veggies, satisfying and low in fat. Feel free to add shrimp or crab meat to make it a more substantial meal.

This is a very authentic tasting Thai dish, yet it's easy to make and you can find all the ingredients at most large supermarkets. The flavor comes from lots of fresh ginger, garlic, and one of the best bottled sauces you can have in your kitchen - Thai Sweet Red Chili Sauce.

You'll love these fresh, crisp lettuce cups filled with Thai-style minced chicken. Boldly flavored with fresh ginger, lime, chili pepper, fish sauce and brown sugar, the dish is wildly addictive and, since it's so light, you'll find yourself eating a lot of it. In fact, whenever I make it for dinner, I have to force myself to put the leftovers in the fridge right away before starting the dishes, otherwise I'll finish them off while no one is watching.

This recipe - adapted from the blog and book, by Alice Currah - is a crowd pleaser for all ages. It's the sauce that makes it so good. If you're anything like me, you will be tempted to forget the chicken entirely and just have the sauce as soup!