Bangkok: Recipes and Stories from the Heart of Thailand by Leela Punyaratabandhu

    • Categories: Rice dishes; Thai; Vegan; Vegetarian
    • Ingredients: jasmine rice; pandan leaves
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Notes about this book

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Notes about Recipes in this book

  • Beef green curry (Kaeng khiao wan nuea)

    • TrishaCP on April 06, 2018

      This made a lush and satisfying curry. I subbed a mix of cayenne chiles (12), small jalapeños (2), and serrano chiles (1) since I did not have any Thai chiles on hand. I also subbed fish sauce for the shrimp paste. Next time I would add the makrut lime leaves whole as the cut up leaves made the curry hard to eat.

  • Spicy corn salad (Som tam khao phot)

    • wcassity on May 30, 2025

      Tasty. Made with four leftover ears of roasted corn, didn’t have the beans. 1 chopped Serrano - on the edge of too much heat.

  • Pork chops, cook shop style (Si khrong mu op)

    • lkgrover on May 01, 2023

      Terrific pork chops with a tomato & onion sauce. The marinade and seasonings have a Chinese/Thai flavor. I doubled the tomato sauce, did not use peas (my least favorite vegetable). Served with jasmine rice.

  • Black pepper roasted chicken (Kai op phrik Thai dam)

    • rhughes24 on December 29, 2021

      This was pretty straightforward to make and very good, especially served with sticky rice and dipped in sweet chili dipping sauce (confusingly, the book references a recipe for this on page 318, but the recipe on that page is for roasted pork belly). I might try roasting it more slowly on a lower temperature next time, as some of the dark meat got a bit dried out, but it's very flavorful. Will make again.

    • jenburkholder on May 25, 2025

      This was good. My husband quite liked it (loves black pepper I think). Next time I'd skip rubbing under the skin as that part didn't appeal as much when cooked. I served with her alternate suggestion for sauce, the tamarind one from an earlier chapter, and would not do so again - I think the sweet chili sauce is a better accompaniment. The honey in the marinade made it burnish beautifully when roasted but I am not sure I loved the sweetness it brought. I needed to roast longer than the recipe said though I used nice small chickens.

    • mary_xo214q on February 18, 2026

      Super flavorful chicken with crispy skin. The only modifications I made to the recipe were to use cilantro stems instead of roots, and to lower the oven temp to 350 after 30 minutes (cooking to 165 internal breast temp, rather than the recipe doneness indicator). This was very simple and I plan to make it again!

  • Shrimp and glass noodles in clay pot (Kung op wun sen)

    • lkgrover on March 18, 2024

      Good Thai noodle & shrimp recipe. This is much easier to make than the ingredients list implies -- most of the ingredients are a sauce & an aromatic paste. I substituted bacon for salt pork, parsley for the Chinese celery; omitted the cilantro roots. Also mixed the shrimp, parsley, and green onions into the noodles instead of keeping them separate (as indicated in the book photo).

  • Rice vermicelli with chopped chicken curry and yellow chile–coconut sauce (Khanom jin kai khua)

    • meggan on January 04, 2018

      This was yummy. I only used 2 serranos and that was plenty spicy. My only complaint is that the amount of liquids called for takes much longer to reduce into a thick ragu than 8 minutes. I would eliminate the last 1/2 a cup of coconut cream and plan on cooking for at least 15 minutes. Handy shortcut: I just used ground chicken.

  • Chicken and rice, Thai Muslim style (Khao mok kai)

    • pluralcow on September 26, 2017

      This is excellent, I made this with no modifications and it produced a very satisfying dinner and plenty of leftovers for lunches. The cucumber sauce is perfect--hot, herbal and a little bit sweet. I have been dipping veggies in it to finish it off.

  • Rice noodles with five-spice pork-tofu sauce (Kuai tiao lot)

    • meggan on January 28, 2025

      I find the fresh wide noodles difficult to cook without making them mushy. I like the idea of this recipe but my execution wasn't great. It is easy to overcook the pork and I did not have the preserved radishes and pork cracklings. The flavor is ok but probably could have used these extra ingredients.

  • Stir-fried angel hair rice noodles with water mimosa and shrimp (Sen mi phat phak krachet sai kung)

    • lkgrover on August 27, 2019

      Excellent Thai stir fry. I substituted asparagus for water mimosa, and jalapeno chiles for Thai chiles. No shrimp tomalley. It was flavorful but not spicy-hot.

  • Crispy angel hair rice noodles with beef and Chinese broccoli stalks (Sen mi krop rat na nuea)

    • Stephenn31 on December 10, 2022

      The noodles should be broken into small pieces before frying, and they’ll be ready when puffed and golden. I didn’t break down the dry noodles enough because I was worried they would break into too small pieces and be a mess - so the noodles were too hard even after golden to eat, but the little shards that puffed up were delicious with the sauce

  • Cucumber relish (Ajat)

    • lkgrover on August 27, 2019

      Refreshing cucumber recipe with simple preparation. I would serve it is a salad or side dish. I substituted rice vinegar for distilled white vinegar, jalapeno chiles for Thai chiles, and parsley for cilantro.

    • kitchen_chick on October 22, 2019

      Refreshing relish, and a different preparation than many of the Thai cucumber salads I've made before. I used half the sugar and we thought it was too sweet (though still delicious), so I'm going to try just one tablespoon of sugar next time. Note: the recipe says to peel the cucumbers, but the photo in the cookbook shows them with their skins still on.

    • patioweather on October 03, 2022

      I've made both the Bangkok and Simple Thai Food versions. I don't have the recipes near by to compare side by side, but my photos of each look identical, so I suspect they are the same recipe. I doubled the cucumber and left all of the other ingredients the same. People devoured it, including a lifelong cucumber hater who is now questioning his reality. We ended up with a bunch of liquid leftover, so we threw in raw snap peas and then later ate those too.

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Reviews about this book

  • Food52

    ...her descriptions of life in that city are like paintings; she isn’t judging me; her recipes work and the food was totally slammin’.

    Full review
  • Food52

    ...recipes were very challenging to execute. I needed to source many ingredients that I don’t usually have on hand...

    Full review
  • Chicago Tribune

    What finally made the cut differs from what most people might associate with Bangkok...No matter what your level of comprehension of Thai cuisine is, you'll inevitably learn something new.

    Full review
  • ISBN 10 0399578315
  • ISBN 13 9780399578311
  • Linked ISBNs
  • Published May 09 2017
  • Format Hardcover
  • Page Count 368
  • Language English
  • Countries United States
  • Publisher Ten Speed Press

Publishers Text

From one of the most respected authorities on Thai cooking comes this beautiful and deeply personal ode to Bangkok, the top-ranked travel destination in the world.

Every year, more than 16 million visitors flock to Thailand’s capital city, and leave transfixed by the vibrant culture and unforgettable food they encounter along the way. Thai cuisine is more popular today than ever, yet there is no book that chronicles the real food that Thai people eat every day—until now.

 In Bangkok, award-winning author Leela Punyaratabandhu offers 120 recipes that capture the true spirit of the city—from heirloom family dishes to restaurant classics to everyday street eats to modern cosmopolitan fare. Beautiful food and location photography will make this a must-have keepsake for any reader who has fallen under Bangkok’s spell.



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