Thai Cuisine and Cookbooks
—Thai food combines many disparate elements with an emphasis on aromatic and spicy components to produce complex flavors that work in harmony. A typical Thai dish will be spicy, sour, salty, sweet, chewy, crunchy and slippery all at once. Like most Asian cuisines, rice is a staple—in fact the word khao is used to define both food and rice.
Sides: jok mu sap, khao kha mu, khao phat, khanom chin sao nam, khao soi, kuai-tiao nam, chin hum, tom kha kai, tom yum, koi pla, kung chae nampla, mu nam tok, yam khai dao, khaep mu, ho mok pla, mamuang nam pla wan, miang kham.
Main Dishes: khao mok gai, khao na pet, bami haeng pet, phat si-io, chim chum, mu kratha, suki, kaeng pa, kaeng pli, kai phat khing, khai yat sai, phat kaphrao, phat phrik khing, pla thot, kai yang, sai ua, pla nueng manao.
Desserts: dara thong, foi thong, khanom chan, khanom khrok, khanom tan, khao tom mat, mamuang dong, sangkhaya fak thong.
Beverages: cha dam yen, cha manao, cha yen, kafae boran, lao khao, nam phran, satho.
THAI CUISINE COOKBOOKS
Leela Punyaratabandhu. Simple Thai Food: Classic Recipes from the Thai Home Kitchen.
100 Recipes ranging from beloved family recipes to popular street foods to iconic Thai restaurant favorites. In addition to the recipes, this cookbook has chapters on key ingredients, tools, base recipes, one-plate meals, rice accompaniments and Thai sweets.
Pailin Chongchitnant. Hot Thai Kitchen: Demystifying Thai Cuisine with Authentic Recipes to Make at Home.
Pailin grew up in Thailand and later became a Cordon Bleu-educated chef in San Francisco. This book explores key ingredients, flavors, equipment and techniques behind authentic Thai cuisines. Recipes cover curries, soups, salads, stir-fries, vegan, dips, sauces and desserts. QR codes to video tutorials are placed throughout the book.
Hong Thaimee. True Thai: Real Flavors for Every Table.
Chef Hong Thaimee shares her favorite Thai recipes from comfort food, favorite family dishes, classic Thai food, and Thai-American inspirations from her New York restaurant. Recipes include street-food snacks, salads, stir-fries, curries, seafood, grilled foods and desserts.
Nongkran Daks and Alexandra Greeley. Nong’s Thai Kitchen: 84 Classic Recipes that are Quick, Healthy and Delicious.
Master chef and owner of Thai Basil restaurant, Nongkran Daks book of 84 Thai recipes uses ingredients that can be found in most grocery stores. Daks is the only chef to beat Bobby Flay in the Food Network’s Pad Thai Throwdown Challenge.
