Noodles & Rice

Rice is the base of every Thai meal, and noodles are the country's favourite quick lunch. This collection brings together the one-plate dishes that street stalls are built around: noodles stir-fried in a very hot wok, noodles in rich curry broth, and rice cooked in stock or spiced with whole spices.

You will find pad Thai with tamarind and dried shrimp, Chiang Mai's khao soi with its nest of crispy noodles, khanom jeen nam ngiao in a tangy pork and tomato broth, Hainanese-style khao man gai and the Thai-Muslim chicken biryani, khao mok gai.

The recipes are written for a home kitchen: how to soak dried rice noodles so they do not break, how to cook in small batches when your burner is not as fierce as a street cook's, and how to set the table with the condiments that let everyone season their own bowl.