Thailand - The Cookbook, by Jean-Pierre Gabriel

I love Thai cuisine and I was searching high and low for an authentic Thai recipe book. Thailand, The Cookbook, by Jean-Pierre Gabriel is a comprehensive collection with recipes from all the main regions. The author travelled 16,000 miles across Thailand to document the different dishes around the country, prepared by Thai cooks. You will find typical Thai recipes known to Westerners (pad thai, tom yum soup, green papaya salad) but you will also find many atypical dishes; some, I'm sure you'll never try out - like fried crickets with herbs and spicy red ant egg salad. The main thing is that the dishes are authentic and the pictures in the book are beautifully photographed.  

 I remember frequenting a Thai restaurant in Singapore called Thanying. It was very good in the 90s. The chef of the restaurant used to work in the palace kitchen. There was a dish that I loved very much and I found it in this cookbook. It is spicy dip with rice crackers. The dip is actually made of prawns and minced pork, cooked in fragrant coconut milk. I made it successfully and it really reminded me of that dish in Thanying. 

I also made the red curry paste, which is a good base to learn as it can be used for multiple dishes. From the red curry paste, I did a stir fry pork curry (right) and steamed seafood in banana leaves. The first dish had to be adjusted a little bit as it was pretty strong in flavor. The second dish was fun to make and simply delicious.