Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes [Paperback]

Nancie McDermott (Author), Alison Miksch (Photographer) (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2004

Now busy home cooks can bring the fantastic flavors of Thai cuisine into the kitchen with a simple trip to the grocery store. Nancie McDermott, experienced cook, teacher, and author of the best-selling cookbook Real Thai, presents this collection of 70 delicious recipes that focus on easy-to-find ingredients and quick cooking methods to whip up traditional Thai. With recipes like Crying Tiger Grilled Beef, Grilled Shrimp and Scallops with Lemongrass, Sticky Rice with Mangoes, and Thai Iced Tea, along with McDermott's highly practical array of shortcuts, substitutions, and timesaving techniques, anyone can prepare home-cooked authentic Thai meals -- as often as they like.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nancie McDermott is a food writer and cooking teacher specializing in the cuisine of Thailand, where she spent three years as a Peace Corps volunteer. Her food articles have appeared in numerous magazines, and she is the author of the perennially popular cookbook, Real Thai.

Alison Miksch 's photographs have been featured in many magazines, including Better Homes and Gardens, Country Home, and Shape . She lives in Pennsylvania.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811837319
• ISBN-13: 978-0811837316
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,306 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > Asian > Thai

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

137 of 140 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick, Easy and Delicious!, March 10, 2005

By 

Jen "Jen" (Houston, Tx) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes (Paperback)

I love cookbooks and cooking. When my husband and I decided to get on an Asian kick, we chose this book because it eases you into Thai cooking. With no outrageous ingredients, octopus or black squid ink, this cookbook offers the lover of this type of cuisine an easy and very delicious alternative to some of the more authentic recipes offered in other cookbooks. By authentic I mean the strange ingredients. The Chiang Mai Curry Noodles is excellent and depeding on which curry you try, panaeng or red curry, can be hot and spicy, delicious. The Paht Thai Noodles were made in our household two nights in a row they were so good. The chicken coconut soup is a very refreshing dish and the Green Curry Chicken with Zucchini and Jasmine Rice was something even my three year old enjoyed.

In the beginning there is a small investment to be made in ingredients the average American does not have in their pantry. There is a fish sauce,(which is used in practically every asian recipe and in this book), soy sauce, and sri rachaa which is an Asian hot sauce and various curries and a couple other spices. But, once this book hits your life they will be as common and familiar to you as ketchup or mustard. Excellent pictures for those, like myself, who love pictures. If you are considering this book, go ahead without further reservation.

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It really is quick & easy!, May 25, 2006

By 

frootsmoothie (Seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes (Paperback)

I'm a college student who grew up in a family where the most elaborate meal we had was chili dogs, so needless to say I didn't pick up a lot of culinary skills. At first I was worried that the recipes would be too complicated or exotic for me, but my boyfriend and I love asian cuisine so we thought we'd give it a shot. I'm so glad I bought this cookbook! It really lives up to its name - every thing is quick, easy, and delicious! The curries are wonderful and simple to make, and there's even detailed instructions on how to make rice (again, great for the cooking-impaired like myself!) The ingredients are generally inexpensive and easy to find (even at my dumpy little grocery store.) I would definately recommend this cookbook to anyone who is unfamiliar with asian cooking or new to cooking in general. Wonderful book!

Edit: I have to edit my review and say that we recently made the Chiang Mai noodles (the dish featured on the cover) and it was SO wondeful and easy. My boyfriend has been begging me to make it again all week. Another hit from this book!

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Woktabulous!, September 24, 2006

By 

M. Lang (Dayton, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes (Paperback)

With my wife's recent interest in Thailand and a pending trip to boot, I picked up Quick & Easy Thai. I still figure one of the best ways to understand a different culture is through a full belly. Quick & Easy Thai has one of my most important prerequisites for a good cookbook...great pictures. Although I have only made a handful of dishes, the pictures which adorn the pages of this well constructed book beg to have me make more.

The recipes are easy to understand and comprised of ingredients that you should not have to travel off of the beaten path to find. The author gives the reader a good primer on Thai cooking and delves into some of the specialized ingredients and tools that a beginner might need.

A lot of Thai cooking can be quiet spicy. Fine by me...not so fine by the misses...on a few recipes, I have had to back down the heat. Even with different palates...the end result was still fabulous. I looked at a number of different books before settling on Quick& Easy Thai. So far, this appears to be one of the best.