Review: Healthy Thai Cookbook

Haley Holmes, Healthy Thai Cookbook: 75 Authentic Thai Recipes to Make in your Home Kitchen (2024)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220652143-healthy-thai-cookbook

Sumptuous Thai Recipes

This cookbook has 75 of the most appetising Thai recipes you might want to make, and each is illustrated with a beautiful colour photo.

The recipes are divided into categories of type of preparation, rather than according to which meat they use. For example: Soups, Salads, Fried Dishes, Stir-Fry Dishes, Dipping Sauces, Condiments, etc. The most prolific categories being, of course, Red, Green and Yellow Curries. The author suggests making curry pastes in bulk and freezing them in cubes to pop into your wok with whatever ingredients you’re making your curry with.

The most important principle of Thai cooking, says the author, apart from, of course, using fresh good-quality ingredients, is the ‘harmonious balance’ between the six types of taste: sweet, sour, umami, salty, bitter and spicy. Bearing that in mind, you might need to get your hands on an exotic ingredient or two (e.g. lemon grass, galangal, rapa cabbage leaves, makrut lime leaves, tamarind paste, sambal oelek).

I once had at a Thai restaurant Red Duck Curry with Pineapple (Gaeng Daeng Bpet) which was astonishing. You’ll find that recipe here.

I can’t wait to try making Red, Green and Yellow Curry cubes, Green Chicken Curry, Red Duck Curry (with pineapples), Deep Fried Tofu with Peanut Sauce, Steamed Fish with Lime Juice, Pork Satay Skewers, Mango Coconut Ice Cream and Coconut Flour Pancakes.