Finding authentic Thai food recipes isn’t always easy. I cringe at some of the recipes I see on Pinterest that people pass off as Thai Food. So, I was impressed when Tuttle Publishing sent me two of their Thai cookbooks to review. Everyday Thai Cooking and Heavenly Fragrance had me lost in a world scented with buttery popcorn pandanus leaves, salty fish sauce, and fiery chiles as I browsed the thai food recipes in these two beautiful cookbooks. The pages have beautiful pictures of Thai BBQ pork (marinated in chili-garlic, oyster sauce, fish sauce, lime juice, and other Asian ingredients.), chili crabs with ginger, and even tantalizing cocktail recipes such as a vodka sour made with young coconut juice and a pandanus sugar syrup.  I am really impressed with these cookbooks and will be ordering some of the other cookbooks that Tuttle publishes.

While you’re whipping up your Thai food recipes, you can easily learn how to speak Thai with the books that Tuttle also publishes. I was most impressed with the book Instant Thai. It has over 100 key words and phrases in Thai that you will most often use. The book is divided into sections for getting into know someone, ordering at restaurants (!), shopping, getting around, health and the body, and emergency expressions. Since I will be moving to Thailand soon, I am very excited about this book.  Of course, I will try to learn all the phrases that I can, but its small size means I can also carry it with me to look up phrases that I may need as I’m on the go.

I am also just as impressed with the Thailand guidebook that they published as I was with the previous guidebooks on Indonesia that I reviewed in the past. Their guidebook does a really great job at highlighting the can’t miss spots such as the best area to get Thai street food (which to me is the MAIN reason to go to Thailand in the first place).

If you are headed to Thailand soon or are just looking to explore it vicariously by preparing some delicious Thai food recipes, these are the perfect books for you.