Thai food seems to be everywhere these days. Everywhere, that is, except probably cooking on your stove. Getting those dishes from restaurant menus to your table is the thrust of Simple Thai Food (Ten Speed, $24.99) by Leela Punyaratabandhu.
Author of the Shesimmers.com blog, the Bangkok native has a deep understanding of the Thai cooking culture and knows how to translate it faithfully — and practically — into the ordinary North American home kitchen.
Punyaratabandhu explains every detail. Most of the recipes, she writes, are meant to be served alongside plain steamed rice and are seasoned, and portioned, accordingly. She offers do-ahead tips, possible substitutions for hard-to-get ingredients, and how to store or freeze finished dishes.
Her subtitle is “Classic Recipes From the Thai Home Kitchen.” All the usual restaurant suspects are here: green papaya salad, pad Thai with shrimp, pork satay, fish cakes and various curries. But there are other lesser-known but even more intriguing dishes to try, southern hot-and-sour turmeric-chicken soup, pork in spicy dressing with iced broccoli stems and son-in-law eggs.
— Bill Daley
Chicago Tribune