The idea behind CurrySimple started when Moran, 30, was bartending at Surin of Thailand in Buckhead. One of the managers, Nimitr (Lim) Harimtepathip, was toying around with the concept of importing Thai sauces for restaurants. Moran immediately saw an opportunity to sell these sauces to the many customers he'd heard complain about the difficulty of cooking Thai cuisine at home. Lim, who comes from a restaurant family in Bangkok, agreed to help him develop the products. Moran started out with an offering of red, green, yellow, and masaman curries and has since expanded the line to include coconut soup, Pad Thai sauce, and Thai iced tea concentrate. Next up: a sweet and spicy Thai barbecue sauce.

I opted to use some Kobe beef with the green curry, and the result was a meal full of all the rich complexities you'd expect in great Thai cuisine. The sauce tasted remarkably fresh thanks to the hi-tech pouches, which require that no preservatives be added. Moran says, "There are no hard and fast rules to using the sauces. I just want people to experiment and have fun." The products are available at currysimple.com, The Cook's Warehouse, and the Piedmont Park Green Market, which runs from May through October. Prices are $5.95 for a 12.3-ounce pouch (serves three) and $8.95 for a 32-ounce size (serves nine). - Jennifer Zyman

Jennifer Zyman is a trained chef and food writer who lives and works in Atlanta. You can also visit her website, blissfulglutton.com, where she chronicles her dining experiences.

Photography by Davis Hawk