Using an iPhone & iPad in Thailand Tips, App Reviews and News for the iPhone and iPad by Richard Barrow

Learn to Cook Thai Food on the iPhone

Posted on October 4, 2011

This new iPhone app, called Thai Cook, claims to have over 100 recipes to help you cook Thai food. The main screen gives you different categories such as curries, grilled,  seafood and desserts. Click on one of these icons and you go into a new screen which gives you a list of dishes together with a thumbnail. The number of chilli icons gives you an idea of how spicy that dish is. The names of dishes are sometimes translated into English, like "Indian curry Beef",  or in Thai like ""Kaeng Hang Le". For those familiar with the proper Thai names of these dishes, the English names are a bit confusing sometimes. Click through to any dish of your choice and you are given a list of ingredients and cooking method.

The Thai Cook app is nicely presented and probably has much of what you need to cook these dishes. It has a couple of bonuses like "Where to eat" and "Cooking Classes" but they are very limited in this first edition. I was curious why each page was a bit slow to open so I turned on "airplane mode". This immediately shut everything down. Apparently everything comes from their web server. Several food websites are credited as sources. Which explains some of the messy copy and paste. I saw one page which said click for more and another that said "buy cheep cook books". Neither had active links unlike the real website pages which I have now found. The release price of this app is 99 Cents but is free at the moment if you are quick.

Download from iTunes for free today only >>>

UPDATE: For some reason this app has now been removed from iTunes. Not sure why but possibly for copyright reasons. (5/Oct/2011)

Filed under: Thai Cooking 1 Comment

Free Thai Cookbooks

Posted on September 30, 2010

Here are two more iPhone apps that teach you how to cook Thai food for free.

The first one is called iThaiCookBook and has five popular recipes. These are Tom Yum Goong (Spicy Soup with Prawn and Lemongrass), Kaeng Phed Ped Yang (Thai Red Curry Paste with Roasted Duck), Kaeng Khew Whan Kai (Thai Green Curry Paste with Chicken), Pad Thai Goong Sod (Thai Noodles with Prawn) and Gai Phat Met Mamuang Himmaphan (Stir-Fried Chicken with Cashew Nuts).  In preferences you can change the language between Thai and English. In addition to the recipes, you get a shopping list for each dish. There are no pictures as such but there are plenty of illustrations. Obviously five recipes is not comprehensive, but as the price has just dropped from 99 cents to free then I would advise you to go and download this now.

The second free Thai cook book is called Thai Cooking and is released by The Nation.  They also have a HD version Thai Cooking for iPad. The file size is quite large at 320-350 MB. This one is a bit more comprehensive with 12 written recipes. They also have 13 videos, however only the first one will work. It says you have to buy the full app to access the rest of the videos but it is not clear where or how much it costs. What I like about this app is the section on Essential Ingredients which gives you a long list with pictures and a brief explanation. There is also a section on cooking utensils. If you bought the 8GB iPhone then you may want to skip this app.

The other free app for cooking Thai food that I reviewed before is Thai Cookbook by TAT.

Filed under: Thai Cooking 2 Comments

Thai Cookbook by TAT

Posted on September 3, 2010

Master your favorite Thai dishes in your own kitchen with this interactive cookbook application. Learn how to cook Thai food no matter where you are in the world.

This is now the second iPhone app produced by the Tourism Authority of Thailand. The first one was the disappointing Eat and Drink in BKK.  As predicted, the follow up is called Thai Cookbook by TAT. This time the app developer is clearly credited as being McCann Worldgroup Thailand. Hopefully the TAT didn't pay them much money to produce this iPhone app as I found it very difficult to do a review. It kept crashing and I had to keep reinstalling it. After the third install I just gave up. I will wait for their update.

The idea behind the Thai Cookbook by TAT is not bad but it is a bit limited as it only has 16 recipes. On the homepage you get a list of the different dishes. Clicking on the pictures brings you to a page with a list of the ingredients and instructions for cooking. There is also a video for each of the recipes where you are apparently shown step-by-step instructions. I say that as I had great difficulty in playing the videos to the end. It kept stopping every few seconds. I had to keep pressing the play button but then it crashed and the app refused to open again.

I know it is free but don't waste your time or energy downloading this app. I'll let you know if they do an update.

Filed under: Thai Cooking 1 Comment

Easy Thai Recipes

Posted on August 24, 2010

"Thai Easy Cuisines" offers Thai recipes including appetizers, main dishes, desserts, and drinks on your iPhone making it easier to find the ingredients when you are at the supermarket.

There are quite a few books and videos out to help people cook Thai food. But, they are not always practical to use in the kitchen. Plus, with so many recipes it is sometimes difficult to choose what to eat. That is where Thai Easy Cuisines for the iPhone becomes your best friend in the kitchen.  The home screen gives you a picture menu of 64 dishes which includes desserts and drinks. Each dish has a tag so you can make it easier by just listing soups, desserts, vegetarian, curries etc.  Click on the picture and you will get the list of ingredients and instructions. If you still cannot decide then you can click on the "today" tab and the app will then choose for you a starter, main meal, dessert and a drink.

I really like the way it is all laid out. Very colourful and simple to use. A couple of extra bonuses is the help you get with the ingredients. For any of the recipes that you want to cook, you can add the ingredients to the shopping list. If you have anything on the list already then click the box. This is really great as I found myself at the supermarket many times not remembering every thing I needed to cook something. It is also nice to have the pictures of the ingredients in the shopping list. Click on the icons and you will then get a bigger picture. I had some fun playing around with this app and look forward to using it on my next shopping trip.

COMPETITION: I liked this iPhone app so much that I asked the developers for FOUR copies to give away in a competition. They kindly agreed. The app is presently being sold for $2.99 but you could get it for free if you post a comment below. On Sunday night we will enter all the names into a randomizer and the four names at the top of the list will win!

Filed under: Thai Cooking, Thailand 15 Comments
   

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On this blog I will be sharing with you tips and methods of using an iPhone and iPad in Thailand. I am not pretending to be an expert, but I hope that from my personal experience of using an iPhone for my work and pleasure you might gain some knowledge. As well as reviewing apps that I use, I will also post about accessories and also the latest news from around the world.

- Richard Barrow


Twitter: @RichardBarrow
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Contact: @Paknamweb.com

Useful Posts & Websites

* Open a US iTunes Account
* Tips for Using an iPhone in Thailand

Amitiae is an excellent website for people interested in Apple, Mac, IT, iOs, Asia and Everywhere else

Over at Women Learning Thai, you will also find some useful blogs about using an iPhone in Thailand.

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