About this item
Only one chef has proved her mastery over celebrity chef Bobby Flay in the Food Network's Pad Thai Throwdown challenge: Nongkran Daks.Now, the master chef and owner of Virginia's renowned Thai Basil restaurant shares her secrets for creating Thai cuisine's most beloved dishes at home - using ingredients that can be found in most grocery stores.In Nong's Thai Kitchen, Daks teams up with veteran food writer Alexandra Greeley to show readers how to prepare classic Thai recipes such as: Chicken with Thai Basil Shrimp Soup in Coconut Milk Spicy Beef Salad with Mint Leaves Roasted Duck CurryThai food is famous for its balance of sweet, sour, salty and hot flavors. This unique symphony of tastes and sensations is why Thai restaurants and cookbooks have entered the mainstream.
About the Author
A native of southern Thailand, Nongkran Daks' introduction to cooking began at age seven. She would get up at 4:00 am daily to pound curry paste. Later, as a college student in Bangkok, Nongkran worked at a restaurant with the unlikely name "Dairy Queen", while earning a degree in agricultural economics. Subsequently, as the spouse of a diplomat she used her husband and children as willing guinea pigs for dishes acquired during family travels.
Before launching the Thai Basil, Nongkran taught cooking and catered in Honolulu, the Washington, DC area, China, Laos, Taiwan and Thailand. She also ran a snack bar in Bangkok featuring Asian and Western dishes and a mean cheesecake.
At her Thai Basil restaurant, Nongkran seeks maximum authenticity. She also offers cooking classes, catering and often lectures and conducts demonstrations on Thai cuisine.
Nongkran's cuisine has received favorable coverage in the New York Times, USA Today, the Washington Post, Washingtonian magazine, the Zagat and AOL and Gayot guide. Her restaurant also earned the government of Thailand's "Thai Select" certification.
In 2009 Nongkran beat Celebrity Chef Bobby Flay in a Pad Thai competition on his Food Network program Throwdown! In 2010, she filmed a cooking segment with Samantha Brown, part of a show about Thailand which aired on the Travel Channel.
Multi-cultural and multi-lingual, Nongkran is a member of the culinary society, Les Dames d'Escoffier. Her first cookbook, "The Secrets of Thai Cooking," was self-published. Subsequently, Nongkran and Alexandria Greeley co-authored two Thai and a Vietnamese cookbooks. Their newest cookbook is "Nong's Thai Kitchen".
Learn more about Nongkran and the Thai Basil at www.thaibasilchantilly.com
