Nok Suntaranon credits much of her success as a chef to her mother, Kalaya, who ran a curry paste stall in Thailand's Trang province. "I grew up helping my mother around the house, in the store and all of that," said Suntaranon, the chef behind Kalaya in Fishtown . "My family, we all love food and dinner time is always the best time and my mother is such a great cook.
So when I moved here, I just wanted to cook for myself and my husband." Suntaranon is sharing her home recipes in a cookbook, "Kalaya's Southern Thai Kitchen," due out Tuesday. Her restaurant, Kalaya, which draws its name from her mom, has received many accolades, including a James Beard Award and a spot on the New York Times' 2023 list of the best restaurants in the country.
Suntaranon began working on the cookbook in October 2020, not long after she opened Kalaya in Queen Village. The restaurant moved to its current location at 4 W. Palmer St.
in 2022. In choosing which recipes to include, Suntaranon said she focused on the meals she like to make at home – much like she did with her restaurant's menu. The cookbook includes recipes for Gaeng Som Pak Thai, a sour curry with shrimp and pineapple; the curry paste Suntaranon made at her mom's market stall in Thailand; and Tom Yum Goong, which is the same base recipe as her restaurant's Tom Yum soup .
There are sections on the "building blocks" of sauces, pastes and spice blends, breakfasts, salads, soups, stir and wok frys, grilled and steamed dishes, and dessert.