Jam Sanitchat - The Everything Thai Cookbook: Includes Red Curry with Pork and Pineapple, Green Papaya Salad, Salty and Sweet Chicken, Three-Flavored Fish, Coconut Rice, and hundreds more!

2ND EDITION

Dear Reader,

My most vivid memories of my childhood are of cooking. I remember sitting on the floor, handing my grandmother ingredients while she made dinner and pounded curry pastes. I spent so much time watching my mother and grandmother cook, I knew I would be able to do it on my own if I was just given a chance.

I lived at home until I moved to Austin, Texas, in 2001, where I started to cook for my college roommates and new friends. I had dinner parties all the time, and after graduating with my masters degree, I began teaching Thai cooking classes. I had found my passion: sharing my knowledge with others.

Thai cooking is driven by what ingredients are available and in season. From the beginning of my cooking days, I have used a variety of ingredients like summer and winter squashes, turnips, rutabaga, and others available at farmers market stands. I learned very quickly that the best tasting meal is the meal that uses the freshest ingredients. I am overjoyed to share my passion for cooking with you. Kin Kao, or lets eat, as we Thais always say.

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PUBLISHER Karen Cooper

MANAGING EDITOR, EVERYTHING SERIES Lisa Laing

COPY CHIEF Casey Ebert

ASSISTANT PRODUCTION EDITOR Mary Beth Dolan

ACQUISITIONS EDITOR Lisa Laing

ASSOCIATE DEVELOPMENT EDITOR Eileen Mullan

EVERYTHING SERIES COVER DESIGNER Erin Alexander

Visit the entire Everything series at www.everything.com

THAI
COOKBOOK

2ND EDITION

Jam Sanitchat

This book is dedicated to my late grandmother, Ubon Wasuwat, and my parents, Orawan and Banjong Sanitchat. Thank you for sharing your love and lives with me, and for always believing in me.

I thank my beloved husband and life partner, Bruce Barnes, for allowing me to follow my passion. Without you, Bruce, our son would have missed more baths and bed times.

I would like to thank our son Leo for being patient while I was working on this book. Thank you both for being the easiest family to take care of and for all your support as I was finishing this book. I love you both so much.

I would like to thank my late grandmother, Ubon Wasuwat, for showing me her secrets while she was whipping out dinner after dinner using only a wood-burning stove. Thanks to my parents, Banjong and Orawan Sanitchat, for having such great passion for great cooking. Thank you Mom for always believing in me, and thank you Dad for always making me believe in myself. I have learned greatly from you and I am so grateful I am your daughter.

Thank you to my team at Thai Fresh. Thank you Nicole Butler and Marc Fidelman for managing while I was gone. Thank you to Aly, Casey, Kaylee, Monica, Tomas, Kyle, Saul, David, Daniel, Maggie, Colin, Robert, and Jess, for doing such a great job creating all the amazing dishes and great customer service.

Thank you to my dear friend Kathy McCarty for the final and last-minute editing. You are amazing.

Lastly, I would like to thank my late professor Leslie Jarmon, who polished my writing skills and enriched my love for writing while I was in graduate school. You have touched my life in many different ways.

I am truly privileged to have all of you as my family and friends. I thank you for fulfilling this dream for publishing.

THAI COOKING IS ALL about taste and balance. The five flavorssweet, sour, salty, spicy, and bitterare always present, either in a single dish or throughout a meal. Each ingredient has a unique role to play, adding specific flavors and textures. You will use your senses to create each dish, as if you are creating a piece of artwork. Youll find yourself adding a little bit of fish sauce, balancing it slightly with sugar, or adding extra lime to balance the sweetness. After time, when you have gained experience, your instincts will begin to guide you through this process. Eventually you wont even need to think about it.

Just as you create balance within a particular dish, when planning a meal try to create balance between the different dishes you are serving. For example, if you are cooking a spicy curry, a plain vegetable stir-fry will complement the curry perfectly. Condiments are always present at the Thai dinner table as well; and each one can be used to fine-tune the balance of the five flavors. For example, lime juice, tamarind water, and white vinegar all add sourness to food. Some cooks prefer to use lime juice, because of its strong sharp taste, while some prefer to use tamarind water for a more rounded and sweeter taste. Balance is always the goal.

Thailand is blessed with an abundance of food. There is plenty of seafood, fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables; most grow all year round. Thai dinners tend to revolve around which ingredients are currently available. A Thai cook starts with what shes got in the kitchen, then considers which ingredients are in season when deciding what to cook for dinner. Recipe books were not a part of Thai kitchens until the 1980sin fact, some Thai cooks have never picked up a recipe book in their lives.

When using this book, have fun with it. Remember, there are no terribly strict rules. The measurements in the recipes are there to give you a rough idea. That is why a recipe will often call for 12 tablespoons of an ingredient. The amount you will use ultimately depends on your taste and those whom you are cooking for. If your guests arent very adventurous as far as spices go, tone it down, and add fewer chilies. Learn by using your senses and always taste as you go along. One good way to master Thai flavors is to taste a dish every time you add an ingredient, just to see the difference each one makes. Once you are familiar with what each ingredient adds to the dish, you will be more confident about substitutions when you need to make them. Remember: start small. Once an ingredient is added, you cannot take it out, but you can always add more if you dont use too much to begin with.