Garlic
Use with Nuoc Cham
From the family Alliaceae, garlic is a keystone ingredient across all oriental cuisines, delivering flavour and aroma that is hard to substitute or beat.
Select bulbs that are stout and hard and avoid those which look shrunken or are soft to touch.
Despite its strong flavour, garlic must be treated carefully when cooking, it can burn easily, delivering an unpleasant bitter flavour.
Garlic, ginger and chilli are a match made in heaven as a base for many stir fry dishes. Use equal amounts of each of these to ensure that the flavours are balanced.