Notes about Recipes in this book

• Pad Thai

  • katmagdunn on October 19, 2023

    I make this recipe all the time now -- in fact, don't think I've ordered pad thai in since finding it. Unlike most pad thai recipes it genuinely is minimalist and hard to screw up, and yet it totally does the job. I've put many other people onto it, too. Only thing to be wary of is not using too many noodles for the sauce, you want it to be quite punchy.

  • SheilaS on June 06, 2024

    This a great, streamlined Pad Thai. It calls for 2 sub-recipes: Seasoned Fried Peanuts p 309 and Roasted Chile Powder p 304 and in my opinion, they bring the dish to the next level. The peanuts, seasoned with fried makrut lime leaves, chiles and lemongrass are genius!

• Pad see ew

  • Emily Hope on April 12, 2022

    Did a head-to-head comparison with the recipe from The Wok; We all agreed that the sauce was better from this one, but the technique was better from The Wok. Stir-frying everything together left me with a mushy pile of noodle scraps (I had soaked the fresh, refrigerated noodles in boiling water per instructions in both recipes and they were soft to begin with). Next time, will use this sauce with that technique.

  • bernalgirl on June 14, 2024

    What a great recipe. I got beautiful wok char following his directions. If it weren’t for the tedious process of separating the rice noodles, I’d never need to order this from a restaurant again.

  • SheilaS on June 26, 2024

    I loved the flavor and got a nice char on everything but I also got noodles sticking to the wok so I need to work on seasoning it and on my technique. I will check out the method that Emily mentioned from The Wok.

• Grapow chicken

  • wcassity on November 04, 2023

    Great, classic flavor. Used thai and holy basil.

  • bernalgirl on June 21, 2024

    I knew the moment I tasted the Prik Tum that this was going to be a spicy dish, even with 3/4 of the prik tum it’s spicy and funky and keeping the ratio at 3/4 of the sugar balances everything beautifully without creating a sweet dish. I can feel my spice tolerance rebuilding from years of cooking for children and I look forward to repeating this one.

  • SheilaS on June 26, 2024

    I thought this was amazing and the Prik Tum really makes the dish. It's 100% worth the time to make it ahead. After that, it's an easy peasy quick dish but with that mellow, slow cooked heat from the Prik Tum. I doubled (tripled?) the green beans and would do that again.

  • Timprota on September 13, 2024

    Made recipe with ground Turkey meat and it turned out great! Didn’t have Prik Tum so substituted minced garlic and chili pepper. Will definitely make again.

  • jenburkholder on April 22, 2026

    Never met a version of this recipe I didn't like, so enjoyed this one as well. I subbed in pork because it's more delicious to me, green beans looked terrible at the store so used sugar snaps chopped up instead. Too lazy to make Prik Tum so just chopped up (generous) amounts of Thai chiles and garlic. As such, not sure that I really made THIS version but was good anyway!

• Cashew chicken

  • rhb on January 11, 2023

    I liked this and my husband loved it. Pretty easy to make. It is on the sweet side; it has sugar plus black soy and teriyaki sauce (I used homemade teriyaki sauce so maybe it was sweeter than commercial). We added some roasted bell pepper strips and used 1/2 cup+ of cashews...could have added a bit more! I used 1/4 cup oil to shallow fry the cashews and did not have to remove any oil from the pan. I did use the roasted chile powder (p. 304) and it was worth making.

  • pattyatbryce on June 05, 2024

    Make a double batch and add extra cashews per rhb's comments. Add extra chili powder if you like spice. Very enjoyable dinner.

• Prakas's rib eye

  • SheilaS on June 11, 2024

    The combination of a hot sear to develop a hard crust and then a stir-fry with flavorful ingredients makes for a very appealing result. I'm not a big meat eater but I loved this. I served it over steamed jasmine rice with the stir-fried greens with garlic and chile from the same book but any simple green veg would work well.

• Panang beef curry

  • bernalgirl on May 01, 2026

    we enjoyed it. I cooked it in the instant pot when my afternoon changed, and adjusted the fish sauce, lime zest, and sugar after adding the peanut butter. I appreciate his curry paste approach, with a base that can be adapted to specific styles without having multiple pastes in my refrigerator or freezer.

• Pork and morning glory curry (Gaeng khua pak boong)

  • Jojobuch on July 01, 2018

    Really good curry; I ended up adding more of the all-purpose curry paste, as I needed to use it up, and it benefited from the extra flavor. The pork took an extra 15 minutes for me to soften but don't worry, it'll get there; you may have to add some of blanching water earlier on.

  • bernalgirl on June 03, 2024

    This is a mild curry that worked well paired with more pungent dishes. It was also a huge hit with the family, my tween devoured two portions, and didn’t even ask what the ong choy was.

  • rmardel on June 18, 2024

    A simple mild curry packed with flavor. Very family and a big hit. Leftovers (if you are lucky enough to have any) are also excellent, the sharp brightness of the ginger mellowing into the sauce and adding complexity.

  • SheilaS on July 12, 2024

    I used Mae Ploy red curry paste instead of making the one from the book and I though it worked well. Next time, I'll double the amount of morning glory or add another green veg.

• Fish curry noodles (Nam ya)

  • Jojobuch on July 01, 2018

    I was a bit disappointed with this; maybe it's because I needed to substitute with anchovies and regular ginger but all in all the flavors were lacking.

• Five-spice pork hock (Kar moo parlow)

  • sir_ken_g on December 19, 2017

    Yummy. I would do it next time with a cut that has some meat. Maybe hock or shank.

• Green papaya salad (Som tum)

  • Emily Hope on April 12, 2022

    This papaya salad was quite good -- better than most of what we can get from takeout nearby -- and relatively easy to make. I didn't end up needing all of the fish sauce/sugar syrup (I could see just making a big jar of this to keep around). 4 super-smashed bird's eye chilis made it pretty spicy, perfect for me (also hard to come by via takeout!) Used the shredder on the food processor for the papaya, which makes shreds smaller than usual, but faster than a mandoline or purpose-built shredder would be.

  • bernalgirl on June 15, 2024

    This is an outstanding recipe, even with a few changes: I cut the palm sugar by 1/3, and used sugar snap peas instead of green beans and store-bought Filipino garlic peanuts based on what I had available. I also used a traditional shredder instead of the food processor, which is time-consuming but yields perfect threads, and a mallet designed for refried beans that worked very well for crushing the ingredients — except the peanuts, next time I’d crush them before adding. The balance of flavors and textures is excellent.

  • abifrancesca on January 02, 2025

    Used a combination of white cabbage and green apple to substitute for green papaya, as suggested in the recipe, and still turned out fantastic.

• Startled pig (Moo sadoong)

  • bernalgirl on June 20, 2024

    Full of strong flavors and a variety of textures, this dish is fantastic. It is quite spicy, which I enjoyed more than my daughter did.

• Burmese pork belly curry (Gaeng hanglay)

  • sir_ken_g on December 19, 2017

    Very rich, not something for every day - but delicious.

• Bangkok Mall pasta (Sapa-get-ee pla khem)

  • bernalgirl on June 07, 2024

    This recipe totally resonates with the author’s description of his restaurant vision. This is just the kind of thing I could see making for friends after a night out back in the day — it’s quick and full of salty, spicy umami goodness. Surprisingly, both my kids liked this so I could see making it again with a very crisp green salad or sliced cucumbers to balance the strong flavors.

• Thai boxing chicken (Gai yang sanam muay)

  • bernalgirl on June 06, 2024

    I really didn’t like this marinade, the combination of the funk from the white pepper and seasoning sauce plus the palm sugar was borderline revolting. But wow, it is absolutely amazing on chicken. I went with skinless boneless thighs since I had them in the freezer. Definitely going on repeat.

  • pattyatbryce on June 20, 2024

    We really liked this chicken. Very moist (bone in, skin on thighs) with a mild flavor after 2 hours of marinade. Next time I want to have it soak overnight.

  • abifrancesca on January 02, 2025

    Chicken that resulted from this was incredible--makes a huge quantity of marinade though, could probably halve the volume and still fully coat the chicken with plenty spare.

• Chicken larb (Larb gai)

  • meggan on June 30, 2022

    I think the boiling in water process removed some of the juiciness and this seemed dry.

  • katmagdunn on October 19, 2023

    I love this and have made it several times now -- though ground chicken is (for whatever reason) really hard to find where I am in London, even in large supermarkets. So I tend to make it with beef or even with Beyond Meat burgers, which i just break up in the pan; this may mean I don't have dryness issues. It's also very adaptable to leftover veg, and everyone loves it.

  • bernalgirl on June 03, 2024

    This is a great introduction to larb, I particularly appreciate his direction on the order to add ingredients, the red onion was perfectly marinated while the cilantro and mint remained beautifully fresh. I tossed this with coarsely chopped cabbage and had sliced cucumber on the side to make serving easier.

• Duck larb in the style of Phen Administrative District (Larb ped umphoe Phen)

  • katmagdunn on January 25, 2026

    I used this as a template for beef larb. Great and ridiculously easy and fast

• Grilled prawns

  • bernalgirl on January 30, 2025

    This recipe is simplicity itself. The prawns are rubbed with fish sauce and white pepper, skewered and grilled. This treatment perfectly compliments fresh shrimp and I can see returning to it all summer long.

• Nam jim seafood

  • bernalgirl on September 07, 2025

    This is an amazing intense condiment, funky with fish sauce and pungently garlicky, with a chile kick. I made a half recipe to go with the uni fried rice and immediately wanted to make another batch to eat with rice and jammy eggs.

• Concensed milk pork with cucumber salad (Moo yang nom khon)

  • pattyatbryce on June 11, 2024

    Very easy with nice flavor. We enjoyed, but probably make the pork again. The salad had great flavor and would be good with other grilled meats from the book.

  • rmardel on June 16, 2024

    This note is just for the salad, which is fabulous and both similar to while at the same time different from every other cucumber salad in every Thai cookbook I own. Sweet, bright, crispy and complex. Worth using pure palm sugar. Addictive.

  • bernalgirl on July 27, 2024

    The pork is outrageously good, and straightforward to prepare with no subrecipes. I used pork shoulder, followed the curing step and marinated for four hours and the shoulder was significantly more tender than I expected. The marinade is addictive. I boiled it down and added peanut powder and served it as a sauce. The cucumber salad is nicely balanced and not nearly as sweet as in most local Thai restaurants. We enjoyed the cucumbers, grilled pork, and sauce in lettuce wraps.

• Roasted green chile dip

  • SheilaS on June 29, 2024

    I made this to use as a base for the Nam Prik Khee Ga used in the crispy catfish tacos but had lots leftover so I made a quick meal from the suggestion list at the end of the Nam Prik Noom recipe: sticky rice, raw cabbage, steamed cauliflower and zucchini and an egg. Simple and satisfying and I still have lots more to use up!

• Stir-fried greens with garlic and chiles

  • bernalgirl on June 14, 2024

    A classic greens recipe, I loved the balance of flavors with the stir fry sauce and anchovies. This will be in regular rotation and I’d also try this with collards.

• Garlic green beans

  • pattyatbryce on June 05, 2024

    Good, but messy.

  • bernalgirl on August 26, 2024

    This recipe is fantastic. I made it to the recipe except I blanched the beans first because we like them less crisp. Next time I might pan-char them in a cast iron skillet to avoid frying — even after drying the beans the oil sizzled everywhere. But this recipe is a nice variation on garlicky green beans that I plan to repeat.

  • fred_twbdh5 on February 22, 2026

    Fun to make. Good result.

• Grilled sweet corn with coconut glaze (Khao pote ping ping)

  • pattyatbryce on June 11, 2024

    Good, but not sure I'd make again.

  • SheilaS on June 14, 2024

    If you've got perfect summer corn on the cob from a local farm, it doesn't need to be grilled for 20 minutes with coconut glaze but this is a delicious way to sweeten up grocery store corn. Between the sweet coconut milk and turmeric, you will end up with sticky yellow fingers! I served this with the Thai steak salad, also from this book, and thought it made a great meal.

  • bernalgirl on June 15, 2024

    We enjoyed this, but ultimately the glaze adds richness that I didn’t find that complementary to the corn

• Crab and avocado spring rolls

  • patioweather on April 22, 2018

    We used half the crab meat recommended and it was still plenty. We fed five people with this recipe and each portion was still larger than an appetizer portion.

• Roasted chile powder

  • rhb on January 11, 2023

    Roasting makes a difference - love this.

  • SheilaS on June 06, 2024

    The book suggests arbol or pulla chiles as a sub for Thai bird's eye chiles. I used a mix of arbol, pulla and piquin chiles and love the toasty, fruity flavor of this chile powder.

  • rmardel on June 11, 2024

    I used a mixture of arbol (hot) and bird's eye chiles (even hotter) for this, so the result was a rather hot Chile powder. The roasting however enhanced the nutty flavors that exist in both chiles and rounded out the combination of the flavors.

  • bernalgirl on June 16, 2024

    I used a combination of arbol, sanaam, and piquin chiles, which offers a nutty, fruity combination that is not too hot for my family to handle. I love ve that this recipe makes exactly enough to fill a typical spice jar.

• Garlic-cilantro paste

  • bernalgirl on June 06, 2024

    This paste includes white pepper for a pleasant funk and I loved it in the Thai Boxing Chicken marinade. It is easy to make and I can’t wait to see how it works in other dishes in the book.

• Microwave sticky rice

  • bernalgirl on June 06, 2024

    This recipe is a miracle, suddenly sticky rice is in reach on a weeknight with no previous planning! I had to add a bit more water at the five minute mark and it seemed dull and unpromising but at 10 minutes it was shiny and perfectly sticky - what a win!

  • SheilaS on June 29, 2024

    I started with 1 cup of rice instead of 2 + 3/4 cup water, soaked 1 hour and microwaved for 5 min, then 3 min, then 1 min and it was perfect, even in my feeble microwave!

• Thai-style Korean short ribs

  • pattyatbryce on June 06, 2024

    Very easy and great flavor. A definite one to make again.

  • bernalgirl on June 07, 2024

    I used this marinade with thinly sliced chuck steak and it was a popular family dinner. I look forward to making this with short ribs.

  • fred_twbdh5 on March 29, 2026

    Easy. Taste is amazing.

• Seasoned fried peanuts

  • SheilaS on June 06, 2024

    These peanuts, seasoned with fried makrut lime leaves, chiles and lemongrass are genius and will elevate any dish you sprinkle them on!

• "Thai" steak salad

  • SheilaS on June 14, 2024

    I served this over arugula instead of rice. The dressing made the steak flavorful and juicy and all the different herbs looked and tasted delicious. I served this with the grilled sweet corn with coconut glaze also from this book and thought it made a great summer meal.

• Prik nam pla

  • bernalgirl on June 15, 2024

    I love this staple Thai condiment, I found I needed to add slightly more lime to my preference.

• Toasted rice powder

  • bernalgirl on June 16, 2024

    I’ve made plain toasted rice powder, which is easy enough and far superior to the stale package I found at my local SE Asian market. This is next-level with the galangal, Thai lime, and lemongrass notes. Well worth 30 minutes of my time to toast and grind — I sped up cooling in the fridge.

• Chile oil

  • rmardel on June 18, 2024

    This Chile oil is functional in terms of providing sharp oily heat, but it is heat without flavor. That may be the point. I have other Chile oil recipes I prefer.

• Stir-fry sauce

  • rmardel on June 18, 2024

    This is a good, simple, basic and I suspect having it on hand means it will be used.

  • Happykikkers on September 10, 2025

    The hardest part was getting the cap off the seasoning sauce. Taste was good. Looking forward to use!

  • fred_twbdh5 on February 22, 2026

    Good. Simple. A third of a recipe makes a lot.

• Thai puffy omelet (Khai jiew)

  • katmagdunn on June 20, 2024

    I love this, it's greasier than your average omelette but really hits the spot. I generally make it plain, sans crabmeat

• Tamarind water

  • bernalgirl on June 20, 2024

    Easy enough. I made it for the Startled Pig recipe and will probably freeze the rest in an ice cube tray for future use

• Prik tum

  • bernalgirl on June 21, 2024

    This is an easy spin in the food processor although you won’t be able to touch your eyes for a day. This paste is super hot and super funky, and I can’t imagine a replacement for it in the Chicken Grapow.

  • SheilaS on June 26, 2024

    Don't skip this one. It's absolutely worth the time to make. The flavor is hot but also very mellow from the slow cook. I agree with @bernalgirl that it absolutely makes the Grapow Chicken.

• Seasonal creamy yellow vegetable curry

  • bernalgirl on June 24, 2024

    This is a perfectly nice curry, the kind I could get at a local restaurant — which is a bit of a letdown after the rollicking flavors of the last few dishes and very similar to my standard weeknight curry with a can of pre-made paste. I added sliced Thai lime leaves and galangal as it simmered. My vegetables were zucchini, purple carrots, turnips, sugar snap peas, and baby corn, and I finished it with lime juice and Thai basil.

• Crispy catfish tacos

  • SheilaS on June 29, 2024

    I breaded the fish with a mix of toasted rice powder from the book and cornmeal because I was too lazy to batter and fry but the result was still good. The Nam prik khee ga is great. I backed off on the Thai chiles a bit but might go back and add more.

• Nam prik khee ga

  • SheilaS on June 29, 2024

    The nam prik noom that I made to serve as the base for this was really hot so I backed off on the chiles in this one but the lime juice and fish sauce help mellow the heat level so I might go back and add more.

• Canned tuna (or other meat or fish) yum

  • SheilaS on July 12, 2024

    I had some swordfish that need to be used to I grilled it and used it in place of the canned tuna. Raw onions aren't my fave but the dressing nicely pickled them in a few minutes. I served this with jasmine rice and sliced cucumber per the recipe and sliced radish and snap peas for extra crunch. Quick, flavorful summer meal.

• Uni garlic fried rice

  • bernalgirl on September 07, 2025

    This is outstanding, the textures and flavors are subtly rich and the accompanying Nam jim seafood sauce adds incredible umami and intensity. This dish more than any other from this cookbook makes me want to get down to LA to eat at Night + Market.

• Orange chicken Night + Market

  • fred_twbdh5 on February 22, 2026

    This is a lot of work but the end result is good. The batter was not the best.

• Food52 by Jen Agg

  ...I fell into Kris’ universe, one that’s informed by the clearly massive influence of his paternal grandma and his having grown up in the family business of restaurants...

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• Food52

  I learned I can be as at home improvising with a wok as I am painting in my studio. The book is direct, but the experience of reading it is deep.

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• Food52 by Sarah Michelle Gellar

  ...a dance through a personalized version of Thai cuisine and the photos are authentic, warm, and inviting. The recipes absolutely delivered and...empowered me to step outside my comfort zone.

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