3 Northern Thai Dishes From Chef Nuit Regular’s Debut Cookbook

Chef Nuit Regular shares her most popular recipes from Northern Thailand in her new cookbook, Kiin!

“For me, Northern Thai cooking has always been a journey. I never sat down in a classroom to learn how to cook. I never had a book to tell me how to pick ingredients, or how to tell if something was fresh or ready to eat. Instead, I spent long hours in the market, watching every little detail. I went to different relatives’ houses and helped them cook their favorite dishes, learning each step as I went along. And I delved into the garden with my mother, where she picked the best ingredients, and I held them in my hand, looking them over, teaching myself how to recognize quality.

Each dish I cook reflects this journey. A bowl of soup changes with every spoonful, as I add different spices or more noodles as I eat. The soup reminding me that, even though food might start with tradition, evolution can also be delicious.

When family or friends come over, I fill the table with curries, noodles, salads and a full rainbow of different plates for everyone to pick from. We share the food, laugh and tell stories about the crazy things our kids just did, and how we did even crazier things when we were kids. These stories, and eating the food my family taught me how to make, all blend together into something that’s wrapped in history, the future and love, all at the same time.”