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Summary: From Branches of Light:
Review: "Everyone loves Thai food, but it's not easy to find truly meatless dishes. Nancie McDermott has developed innovative variations on traditional recipes, providing health-conscious cooks with a repertoire of vegetarian dishes that capture the vibrant taste of Thailand. From refreshing salads and savory soups to flavorful and spicy entrees and side dishes--and don't forget delicious Thai Iced Tea--this definitive cookbook offers 100 delectable recipes in all. A helpful glossary introduces and demystifies the widely available ingredients and equipment used in Thai cooking, and offers tips for finding Thai supplies and substituting if necessary. With an emphasis on the techniques, ingredients, and flavors of classical Thai cuisine, 'Real Vegetarian Thai' will inspire everyday meals and some marvelous special occasions."
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Summary: Every recipe so far is great
Review: As a vegetarian who adores Thai food, this recipe book was a fantastic find. All the recipes I've tried have come out very tasty, and it was easy to find the ingredients at the local supermarket, with some additional items at an asian grocery. Granted, I live in California where ethnic food items are easy to come by, but we now eat several Thai meals a week. I've even learned to make some substitutions so that the recipes fit a Zone diet, by decreasing the noodles and increasing the seitan or tofu.
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Summary: A great idea, but somewhat limited and dissapointing.
Review: I bought this book and was truly excited about it. The author has what seems to be real knowledge about Thai cuisine, having been a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. However, in the end, there's just not much here in the way of recipes. Perhaps it's a good start if one has never cooked Thai. However, other Thai cookbooks I have seen are so much broader with so many more recipes, and I was hoping to find all of those exciting recipes in vegetarian versions. I may be being unfair if, as the author says, most Thai food has meat or at least fish in it. The author has taken a wonderful first step in finding innovative ways to omit ALL animal products. So really, I suppose, we just need more books like this and we have an area that needs much more vegetarian exploration.
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Summary: Wonderful addition to any vegetarian kitchen
Review: I have been using this book for just over a year, and it is wonderful. Every recipe is a new adventure. The recipes are not simple, but the instructions are clear and the rewards are great. If you are looking for a book that will teach you to cook the best Thai food you have ever tasted, this is it!!
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Summary: Excellent Thai cookbook
Review: I own several Thai cookbooks, but this one is my favorite hands down. Like any Thai cookbook, the recipes require some advance preparation to make the sauces and curry pastes, but once you set aside a few hours to prepare the basic recipes the meals are quick, easy, and delicious. The author's love of Thai food really comes through. I whole heartedly recommend it.
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Summary: Excellent Thai cookbook
Review: I own several Thai cookbooks, but this one is my favorite hands down. Like any Thai cookbook, the recipes require some advance preparation to make the sauces and curry pastes, but once you set aside a few hours to prepare the basic recipes the meals are quick, easy, and delicious. The author's love of Thai food really comes through. I whole heartedly recommend it.
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Summary: Yum!
Review: I spent about a year and a half in Thailand and am in love with the food of that country. I really enjoy this cookbook -- it gives vegetarian versions of a lot of my old favorite standby dishes. They are nothing particularly earth-shatteringly new, just tasty vegetarian versions of Thai dishes, which invariably contain fish sauce and meat or seafood. It's nice to rely on Nancie's suggestions rather than think up what vegetables go really well with panang curry all by myself. I still eat fish sauce, so I don't follow her recipes exactly, but they are tasty. I do wish it had more regional recipes in it though, especially ones to eat with sticky rice.
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Summary: One of the Most Usefull Cookbooks in My Library
Review: This book has so many great recepies for just about any palate. Sometimes the recepies can look a little daunting and complicated, but it assumes you're using all fresh ingredients, which you don't always have to. After all, cumin powder is in my opinion just as good as fresh cumin seeds. Or more available anyway. Basically, once you take the time to create a few of the "staple" ingredients in this book (red and green curry paste are essential), you can make just about anything in here quickly and cheaply. And it's GOOD! I'm never going to forget the look on my friends' faces when I came out with an eggplant curry that I'd made from this book. Everyone was amazed. So if you want to do something different, and you're a bit creative, this book is for you.
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Summary: One of the Most Usefull Cookbooks in My Library
Review: This book has so many great recepies for just about any palate. Sometimes the recepies can look a little daunting and complicated, but it assumes you're using all fresh ingredients, which you don't always have to. After all, cumin powder is in my opinion just as good as fresh cumin seeds. Or more available anyway. Basically, once you take the time to create a few of the "staple" ingredients in this book (red and green curry paste are essential), you can make just about anything in here quickly and cheaply. And it's GOOD! I'm never going to forget the look on my friends' faces when I came out with an eggplant curry that I'd made from this book. Everyone was amazed. So if you want to do something different, and you're a bit creative, this book is for you.
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Summary: Worth it for the Pad Thai recipe
Review: This is a great cookbook -- I love eating Thai food in restaurants, but it's hard to feel comfortable as a vegetarian, since I know there's often still fish sauce in foods marked 'vegetarian'. Everything I've tried from this cookbook tastes wonderful and authentic. As others have said, it's not for quick meals, especially since many recipes require home-made curry paste.In response to the reviewer who wondered if this cookbook was on the short side because of its vegetarianism -- removing fish paste/fish sauce from Thai food is non-trivial, since it's in almost everything. In some dishes, it mainly adds salt, and soy sauce can (and is) a usual substitute. Others, I'd imagine, just don't taste right without it. That said, I'd love it if this cookbook were longer, since what it includes is wonderful. If you're not vegetarian, the same author has a non-veggie thai cookbook as well. (According to the specs, it's a few pages shorter, but I haven't looked at it.)
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