Kayala’s Southern Thai Kitchen: A Cookbook, by Nok Suntaranon with Natalie Jesionka

Suntaranon’s restaurant has received numerous industry honors. She received the 2023 James Beard Award for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic, was featured on Netflix’s Chef’s Table, and was included in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People list this year. Whether you’re already a Kalaya superfan or still looking to score your first reservation (or maybe you’re on a limited budget, like me) you can have a taste of Kalaya at home. This cookbook (written with Natalie Jesionka) is a great addition to the Philly restaurant canon, and I am super excited to add this to my personal library.

I loved the striking photos of Thailand and of the finished recipes, the colors, the invaluable cultural history, and the down-to-earth cooking tips, including quiet yet eye-opening hints about decorative cookware, like this one: "don't use one of the cute little ones you find in nice Western kitchen stores. You need a Thai style stone mortar; it will be big and heavy." Chef Nok is right: my wooden mortar and pestle were useless for spice grinding.

Authentic yet accessible

I enjoy cooking, but I lean toward the baking side. I’ve taken classes at Walnut Hill College and Sur La Table. But I admit that I frequently rush through recipes. In fact, back in 2019, I was a backup contestant for Worst Bakers in America (yes, really). Luckily, this cookbook is great for all cooking levels.

Suntaranon takes the perspective of a sassy, world-weary Auntie teaching her clueless family member how to cook. If you're an established home chef, you can ignore the introductory advice. However, for home cooks like me who ignore the steps and just toss the ingredients into the pan, she gives very clear directions on page 11: “Make these recipes as written the first time.” Even if you’re familiar with Southern Thai cooking or are an experienced chef, DO IT CHEF NOK'S WAY. You’ll see that she’s right.

This book contains more than 280 pages of recipes including sauces, salads, soups, stir-fries, and more. While Suntaranon has famously avoided Pad Thai in the past, there are recipes that include noodle and rice dishes such as baked shrimp with glass noodles (Goong Ob Woonsen), egg and crab fried rice (Khao Pad Pu), glass noodle salad (Yum Woon Sen Talay/Moo Saap), and rice noodles with clear broth and spareribs (Sen Mee Nam Sai).

If you're new to Asian cooking, and afraid of buying ingredients you won't use, don't worry. Many of the core repeat ingredients are fairly inexpensive and easily accessible, including chilies, garlic, shallots, fish sauce, lime juice, cilantro, sugar, brown sugar, and white pepper.

Something for every chef

There's something for everyone. Some recipes are purely plant-based like cabbage or tofu, while some are not. Some recipes have one to three ingredients, while others have more. The recipes are at various levels of complexity and pricing. While certain proteins hit the higher price point like oxtail or jumbo shrimp, Suntaranon is also budget conscious. In the introduction, she points out why the cheapest dried shrimp might not be the best, but still encourages home cooks to use pre-made sauces, if it's easier. She establishes professional standards like using clean workspaces, sharp knives, and fresh herbs. I loved the cultural knowledge throughout, especially the cultural commingling between Chinese, Malay, and Indonesian culture mentioned in the stir-fried pork in shrimp paste (Moo Kapi) recipe. Thanks to her, I now know that forks are typically used more prevalently in Thai cuisine than chopsticks.

Right every time

I tried making the oxtail soup (Soup Hang Wua), the braised cabbage (Kalum Thod Nam Pla), and the fried chicken (Gai Thod Hat Yai). I wanted to see how they differed from my Southern mother's preparation. Suntaranon’s recipes are deceptively familiar, yet feature complex flavor profiles I never would have imagined, like pairing brown sugar with fish sauce or adding rock sugar to a beef soup base. The cabbage had the simplest ingredients but the most intriguing flavor combination. And she was right, every time. The recipes are well-written and well-tested. My first attempts were perfect, with clear soup broth and perfectly seasoned chicken.

If you can’t afford to eat at Kalaya once a week (or at all), you can make a home version of the chef’s $98 Tom Yum soup. Admittedly, some of the cookbook’s ingredients can be harder to find, like lime leaves (my search took me to H-Mart in Cheltenham, Ben Thanh Supermarket near Adams Avenue, and the international section at ShopRite off Fox Street). Fortunately, we live in a city rich with Asian and international grocery stores.

The care placed into this text reveals how Suntaranon has received so many culinary recognitions. Kalaya's Southern Thai Kitchen is a proud addition to my Philly cookery shelf alongside Georges Perrier's Le Bec-Fin Recipes, the Brown Betty Cookbook, and Federal Donuts: The (Partially) True Spectacular Story. Find it at your favorite local bookstore (like Binding Agents) or borrow it from the Free Library.