Leela Punyaratabandhu

Developer Leela Punyaratabandhu breaks down the techniques to achieving the perfect plate of this iconic Thai stir-fried noodle dish.

This is the street food fried rice of my childhood.

The is a copycat of the popular five-star grilled chicken found throughout Bangkok.

This vegetable Massaman curry gives you the best of both worlds: a full-flavored and ultra-comforting curry that’s also unfussy enough to whip up on any weeknight.

For the best version of this mussel curry, use fresh mussels, not frozen mussels on the half shell.

This fragrant coconut cake is dense and chewy inside and crisp on the top.

Set out these smoked shrimp on a paper-lined picnic table, set a bowl of sauce in the middle, and go to town.

These delicious banana leaf packets conceal warm, slightly sweet sticky rice perfumed with the smokiness of the charred wrapper and with a piece of banana at the center.

Crispy, flaky, chewy, sweet, gooey—you get all of these sensations at once when you bite into freshly made roti.

If you love the sour-salty-sweet Thai green papaya salad, you’ll love this peak-summer version made with tomatoes and cucumbers.

You’ll want one of these delightfully frosty lime slushies, infused with lemongrass and sweetened with honey, in hand at every summer cookout.

Delightfully soft yet chewy Thai sticky rice is traditionally prepared in a bamboo basket set over a metal pot of boiling water, but you can easily replicate the method at home with a saucepan and a fine-mesh sieve.

Juicy summer melon with a salty-sweet crunchy bacon topping makes for a low-effort but universally crowd-pleasing appetizer.

The marinade for these “simple but sublime” grilled pork steaks is packed with tons of Thai flavors anchored by garlic, cilantro, and white peppercorns.

A summer-inspired take on Thai sweet chili sauce with fresh peaches pairs perfectly with simply grilled scallops for an easy appetizer.

This dish is inspired by a Thai-Chinese favorite, bami haeng, served from food carts and casual open-air eateries in Thailand.

Leela Punyaratabandhu’s phanaeng-marinated beef skewers belong at your next barbecue. 

This recipe is inspired by the grilled chicken served at Jeerapan, a 77-year-old restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand. Their version is baked in a tandoor-like oven, but I've adapted it for a grill or oven. The two-stage cooking method is essential: The initial roasting at moderate heat partially cooks the meat while dehydrating the skin, getting it ready to crisp up later on and allowing all the scattered bits of fresh aromatics and dried spices in the marinade to adhere. The final stage of cooking is hot and fast, using saffron-infused coconut oil as a basting liquid. The end result is a juicy, fragrant, and intensely flavorful bird, tinted canary gold—its skin smoky, charred, and crisp. The pineapple-chile dipping sauce lends its sweet tang and a mild kick of heat to round out the meal.

This coconut rice recipe appears in Leela Punyaratabandhu's cookbook, Bangkok, as part of a meal that includes green papaya salad, sweet shredded beef, and chicken red curry.