challenging Thai Recipes

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These challenging Thai recipes are written for you to know how to cook the Thai food that Thais eat in Thailand every day. These recipes have successfully taught millions of westerners, expatriates and Thai students abroad how to cook Thai food so that it tastes like food from home.

While each of these Thai recipes originated from our families, the Bankgok restaurants or foodcarts we love and the Thai cooks we respect, we have put them through rigorous testing prior to publishing. Each recipe has been tested, not just by experienced Thai cooks, but by regular western people learning at home. Creating these recipes, we explored variations in preparation, cook's taste buds, food knowledge backgrounds, and western kitchens. Please let us know how they worked for you.

Enjoy great Thai food the way it's meant to be loved.

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Appetizer

Fried Wontons

Geow Grob

Spiced ground pork in crispy wonton wrap
Satay

Marinated and grilled pork served on skewers with peanut sauce. A simpler recipe.
Satay - Modern Thai Version

Satay

Marinaded and grilled pork served on skewers with peanut sauce
Tod Mun

Fried fish cake, spiced with Thai curry and kaffir lime leaves.

Sauce

Hot Yellow Bean Sauce

Nam Jim Kow Mun Gai

It's this spicy sauce that makes the dish!

One Dish Deal or Lunch

Chicken on Rice with Hot Yellow Bean Sauce

Kow Mun Gai

Chicken on rice cooked in chicken broth served with spicy soy bean sauce
Curried Noodles

Goew Tiew Kak

Rice noodles in beef curry sauce
Mussel Pancakes

Hoy Tod

Crispy mussel pancakes with bean sprouts
Noodles in Gravy

Rad Nah

Soft rice noodles and Chinese broccoli with pork and gravy
Noodles with Fish Curry Sauce

Kanom Jeen Nam Ya

Curry fish sauce over rice noodles with fresh and boiled vegetables
Oxtail Soup

Soop Hang Woa

Clear spicy and sour oxtail soup.
Pad Thai

Stir fried rice noodles with chives, bean sprouts and shrimp.
Pad Thai Street Food

Pad Thai

Pad Thai street food recipe
Rad Na

Rad Na Moo

Soft thick rice noodles in a warm gravy with pork and Chinese Broccoli.

Snack

Chinese Chive Dumplings

Gui Chai

Chinese chive dumplings with hot chili soy sauce.

Salad

Crispy Catfish Green Mango Salad

Yum Pla Dook Foo

Sour unripe mango, biting lime, salty fish sauce and crisped catfish.
Northern Thai Eggplant Salad

Yum Makua Praw

Spicy northern Thai raw eggplant salad with minced pork.
Tropical Yum

Yum Tawai

A variety of tropical vegetables with sesame curry sauce.

Soup

Spicy Vegetable Soup

Gang Leang

Clear, spicy vegetable soup
Tom Yum Goong

Shrimp in clear spicy soup made from lemon grass, kaffir lime, hot pepper, lime juice and fish sauce

Main Course

Baked Shrimp in Clear Noodles

Goong Ob Woonsen

Shrimp baked in garlic, pepper, cilantro and clear noodles
Beef Massaman Curry

Gang Masamun Nuea

Rich and well seasoned beef curry with potatoes and onions
Chicken Curry

Gang Gai

Chicken and Thai eggplant in red curry
Chinese Water Spinach Curry

Gang Tay Po

Chinese water spinach stewed in curry sauce with pork
Fried Fish with Tamarind Sauce

Pla Rad Prig

Whole fish pan fried and served with spicy tamarind sauce
Green Curry with Chicken

Gang Kiew Wan Gai

Green curry made with chicken and pea eggplant.
Heavenly Beef

Nua Sawan

Beef jerky spiced with peppercorns, cumin and coriander.
Mackerel with Chili Sauce

Nam Prig Pla Tuu

Mackerel and fresh vegetables with a shrimp paste sauce.
Masaman Curry

Masaman

Stewed beef and potato in spicy curry.
Mee Grob

Crunchy sweet and sour rice noodles.
Steamed Curried Fish

Haw Moak

Steamed, marinated fish in curry paste and coconut milk on vegetables.
Vegetarian Pumpkin Curry

Gang Ped Fug Tong Mungsavirat

Vegetarian creamy, mild pumpkin curry
Vegetarian Stir Fried Pumpkin Shoots

Pud Yod Fug Tong

Crunchy pumpkin shoots stir fried with garlic and salt.

Dessert

Mango on Sticky Rice

Kow Neuw Mamuang

Ripe mango served on a bed of coconut milk soaked sticky rice.
Miniature Fruit

Loog Choob

Miniature fruits made from mung bean paste cooked in coconut milk.

Recipe Component

Basic Red Curry Paste

Prig Gang Kua

Basic Red Curry Paste or Prig Gang Kua is the most basic curry paste.
Fresh Egg Noodles

Bamee

Homemade small strand noodles made with wheat and egg.
Green Curry Paste

Prig Gang Kiew Wan

Spicy green curry paste made with fresh Thai green chili peppers.
Massaman Curry Paste

Prig Gang Mussamun

Homemade fragrant Massaman Curry Paste filled with roasted spices
Vegetarian Red Curry Paste

Prig Gang Mungsavirat

Vegetarian red curry paste