About the Author

PAILIN CHONGCHITNANT was born and raised in Thailand. After attending the University of British Columbia, she made her way to Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in San Francisco, and began cooking for both Western and Thai restaurants. She is the creator and host of Pailin's Kitchen, a popular cooking channel on YouTube with over 1.5 million subscribers, which takes an educational approach to Thai cuisine, and the author of Hot Thai Kitchen. Visit her at www.hot-thai-kitchen.com

Reviews

“Are you, like I once was, a Thai food enthusiast with little or no knowledge as to how one actually cooks it? Don’t worry! Sabai is comfortable, not intimidating, but also clear and concise in its ap- proach to getting you started cooking Thai food, and achieving results that give you the confidence to dive more deeply into this amazing cuisine.”
—ANDY RICKER, chef/owner of Pok Pok restaurants

“Pailin’s wonderful book is the perfect way to bring real, delicious Thai food to your everyday meals. She’s such a warm guide and has so much to show us about Thai cooking and eating.”
—MAANGCHI

“Over the years I’ve had so many good results following Pailin Chongchitnant’s recipes, videos, and advice that I’ve come to trust her implicitly. Her newest book, Sabai, is a particularly appealing resource for folks like me who love Thai food and are always on the lookout for recipes that balance flavor and authenticity with practicality. Pai’s inimitable talent for empowering her readers with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to transform Thai cooking from a once-in-while project to a simple weeknight meal makes Sabai an essential book for any Thai food lover.”
—J. KENJI LÓPEZ-ALT, author of The Food Lab, The Wok, and Every Night is Pizza Night

“The most famous recipes in a cuisine are often the ones made in restaurants or for special occasions, but those are usually also the most difficult and time-consuming—and not representative of everyday home cooking. Here, Pai takes you into the comfort of her home kitchen with the food she makes on the regular. One could argue that makes it an even truer representation of Thai cooking. I, like so many thousands of others, turn to Pai’s Thai cooking expertise over and over because she’s so good at communicating the nuances of the cuisine with joy, ease, and clarity. With this endlessly helpful and usable book, she expands into a critically important, and critically overlooked, side of Thai food: the easy and accessible dishes that make up everyday home cooking.”
—DANIEL GRITZER, Senior Culinary Director, Serious Eats

“What a deliciously compelling book this is. Pai utterly succeeds in her mission to bring us the full-throttled flavors of Thai cuisine in a clear, calm and totally achievable way. The recipes showcase the mouthwatering flavors we know and love of Thai food but set out for a contemporary home kitchen. Beginning with helpful (rather than overwhelming) information on essential ingredients and notes on how to balance the key flavors, by the time the first recipe is presented, we are at ease—in a state of sabai—ready to cook! I will be cooking my way through this entire book, beginning with the Old-School Pad Gaprao, Pounded Cabbage Slaw, and the Thai Street-Style Sundae. Mid-week Thai at home never looked so good.”
—HELEN GOH, co-author of Sweet: Desserts from London’s Ottolenghi

“Sabai is joyous, life-changingly delicious, and gloriously fresh. Pailin’s easy recipes are pitch-perfect, introducing us to the kaleidoscope of flavors from her Thai heritage, while remaining easy and accessible, the sort of meals I can effortlessly whip up any night of the week. This book belongs in every kitchen.”
—LARA LEE, author of Coconut & Sambal: Recipes from My Indonesian Kitchen

“Some cookbooks are born of generosity. Sabai is one of them. In it, Pailin Chongchitnant shares knowledge gleaned from a lifetime of experience, removes common barriers to entry for Thai cooking, and banishes the futile expectation of perfection, all in the service of one big- hearted goal: to empower any curious cook to bring true Thai cooking into their own kitchen.”
—DAN SOUZA, Editor in Chief, Cook’s Illustrated