Kalaya's Southern Thai Kitchen: A Cookbook - by Nok Suntaranon & Natalie Jesionka (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Bring the bold, spicy, beautiful world of Southern Thai cooking to your kitchen through 100 recipes and stories from the James Beard Award-nominated chef and celebrated ambassador of Thai food in the U.S. Growing up in the tropical region of Southern Thailand, Nok Suntaranon helped her mother make the fresh curry pastes she would sell at their local market. But decades later she returned home and saw that the food had become sweeter and watered down, victim to shortcuts and appealing to tourists. So, her life mission became clear: to find and preserve the old flavors of Thai food and to show home cooks how delicious and intricately flavored Thai cooking is. Kalaya's Southern Thai Kitchen is organized so home cooks can master this food with confidence and ease. With suggested recipe pairings featured on each recipe, traditional and modern recipe names, and beginner materials such as the Sauce and Paste or the Foundations of Southern Thai food chapters-Nok is there with you every step of the way in mastering Thai cooking at home. Nok dispels the stereotypes that Thai food is hard to make, or that it is synonymous with cheap takeout. From fragrant lemongrass and pungent shrimp paste to simple curry pastes, this is the fiery, refined cuisine of her homeland. Through over 100 recipes, you'll find new favorites such as Som Tom (Papaya Salad with Tamarind Paste and Dry Chili), Gaeng Ghai (Southern Style Chicken Curry), Nua Yang (Grilled Beef with Thai Chili Dipping Sauce), and Khao Niew Ma Muang (Mango Sticky Rice). With easy-to-follow visuals, beginner-friendly tips, and stunning on location photography, Kalaya's Southern Thai Kitchen allows cooks of all experience to bring a piece of Thailand into their homes and kitchens"--

Book Synopsis

Bring the bold, spicy, beautiful world of Southern Thai cooking to your kitchen through recipes and stories from the James Beard Award-winning chef of Kalaya, as featured on Netflix's Chef's Table.

"Nok's Thai cuisine embodies everything she's gone through and everything she's worked for, which means that her dishes are vibrant, personal, and full of flavor. . . . It's clear everything she does is from the heart, and that certainly includes her cooking."--Mike Solomonov, on Nok Suntaranon for the TIME 100 Most Influential People of 2025

Growing up in the tropical region of Southern Thailand, Nok Suntaranon helped her mother pound the fresh curry pastes she would sell at their local market. But decades later, after making a life in the United States, she returned home and saw that the food had become watered-down--sweeter and more geared toward a tourist's palate. Her life mission became clear: to preserve the flavors of Southern Thai food as she remembers them and to show American home cooks how delicious, intricately flavored, and doable Thai cooking is.

This is the cuisine of her homeland, both balanced and fiery, rustic or refined. From peppery fish sauce-garlic Hat Yai fried chicken to an extra-fresh, extra-herbal green curry to a celebratory turmeric sticky rice with savory coconut shrimp topping, this is Thai food as you've probably never seen it.

With easy-to-follow instructions, beginner-friendly tips, suggested recipe pairings, and stunning on-location photography, Kalaya's Southern Thai Kitchen allows all cooks to bring a piece of Thailand into their kitchens.

About the Author

Nok Suntaranon is the chef and owner of Kalaya, a celebrated Thai restaurant in Philadelphia. A former flight attendant, Nok reinvented herself at age fifty to become a James Beard Award-winning chef. Kalaya was named by Esquire magazine as its Best New Restaurant and has topped lists from The Philadelphia Inquirer and Eater Philly. In 2025, she was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People.

Natalie Jesionka is a journalist who writes about food, community, and social impact. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Toronto Star, National Post, Canadian Press, and Forbes. She served as a Fulbright scholar in Northern Thailand and is a Paul and Daisy Soros fellow for New Americans.