Thailand Day 10: Cooking Class

Cooking with Dana!

My last day in Chiang Mai marked my cooking class. I would learn how to do traditional Thai dishes. Because I had to catch my train at 4pm, I wasn't able to do the full day course with 7 dishes that ended at 6pm. Instead I did the "Basic cooking course" where I would learn to create 3 dishes including Thai curry paste. 

I was picked up from my hostel at 9am. We gathered a couple more people on the way, all of sitting in the back of a pick up truck. We first went to the market where our "Master Chief" took us around and taught us how to identify various Thai ingredient and he purchased the things we would be using for the day's course. We were given time to wonder around the market. The one girl from New Zealand was overwhelmed by the market chaos and the odd assortment of things sold. For me it was very similar to what I was used to in the Philippines, where I pick up my veggies, get fresh fish and have my dresses made. Of course this combination of fresh produce, live fish, seamstress and pig carcass can be a little odd to people who aren't used to it. I picked up some fresh strawberries for myself, we gathered back at the truck and made our way to the cooking school.

The cooking school was in a front yard of a house, under one covered area were 10 small gas stoves, and a large prep table, under another was a long table with chairs. We sat down at the table and were each given a list of different food. We were instructed to choose one soup, one noodle dish, and one curry dish. Our teacher went around the group recording the various dishes we had chosen. I went with Coconut Cream Soup, Pad Thai, and Khoa Soy Curry.

First up the soup. Our instructor took us to the prep table which was filled with ingredients and told us what each of us need to take for out soups and then demonstrated how to chop and prepare each of them. 

Coconut Cream Soup

50 g of chicken or prawns (aka sea bugs that have the same texture as rubber) I went for the chicken option

1 tbsp of sliced lemon grass

1-2 leaves of kaffir lime leaves

7-8 of fresh chilies smashed I only put in 2

1 lime

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp of chicken stock

3-4 oyster mushrooms

1/2 tbsp sliced of galangal (thai ginger)

1 tbsp chopped coriander 

1 green onion

1 medium/small onion eighthed

1 medium tomato eighthed

2 tbsp of fish sauce 

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup of coconut cream

1. Add water into a pot; add chicken stock, kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass and galangal and chilies bring to light boil

2. Once at a boil, add tomatoes, large onion, mushroom and chicken, stir for 2-5 minutes

3. Reduce heat to medium, add fish sauce, sugar, lime, taste. Stir until flavours are blended. Add coriander and spring onion. 

4. Serve while hot

Makes 2 servings 

As I discovered when cooking outdoors in Thailand, its hot, by the end of cooking the soup we were all covered in sweat. With two more dishes to go and the day only getting hotter our instructor reminded us constantly to drink lots of water to avoid passing out. He would often sing to us "Stiiiiiir, and drink, Stiiiir, and drink." All the while he shook his hips with a resolve that would impress Shakira. 

Pad Thai

100g rice noodles

50g sliced chicken

2 tbsp cooking oil

50g chives

50g bean sprouts

50g long beans (optional)

1 egg

1tsp of dry mini shrimp they look like sea monkeys

2 cloves of garlic

30g hard tofu cubed

5 tbsp water

3 tbsp oyster sauce 

1 tbsp fish sauce
2tsp sugar
1 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp black soy sauce (2/3 soya sauce, 1/3 molasses)

1. Soak rice noodles in warm water
2. Smash garlic, add to wok with cooking oil. Fry garlic, tofu and chicken on high heat until chicken is cooked
3. When it is almost cooked add egg, keep stirring until the egg is well cooked
4. Add water, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, soya sauce and black soy sauce
5. Add noodles. Keep stirring until noodles are full coated and soft.
6. Add sprouts, dried shrimp, long beans and chives. Cook for one minute than turn off heat.
7. Serve with crushed peanuts, dried chilies, lime and sugar

Makes 1 serving

Coconut Cream Soup and Pad Thai, so good!

On to the Curry!

Making curry paste is hard. There's so many ingredients that need to be finely blended together. I've used a mortar and pestle to grind pigments for paint and pastels before. This is harder. About 25 minutes in to the grinding of the ingredients our instructor informed us that most people no use a blender. 

Yellow Curry Paste

10 chilies I put in 2

3 tbsp chopped shallots

2 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp chopped galangal (thai ginger)

1 shoot of fresh lemon grass

1 tbsp thai ginseng

1 tsp shrim paste

1 tsp chopped kaffir lime leaf

1 tsp coriander root

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp pepper corn

Put all ingredients mortar and blend throughly with pestle until it is a smooth texture and constant colour. Or put it in a blender...

Khoa Soy 

Khao Soy is a kind of noodle in chicken creamy curry, exclusively found only in the north of Thailand. It is usually eaten with onion, pickled cabbage and chili paste.

Served with noodles, either egg noodles or wonton

Egg Noodles

100g chicken breast (sliced into 1 inch)

1 tbsp yellow curry paste

1/2 cup coconut cream

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp fish suace

2-3 tsp sugar

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 tbsp curry powder

Noodles:

1. Put egg noodles in boiling water until soft and strain 

for wonton noodle

2. Put egg noodle in hot oil and deep fry until golden brown in colour.

Sauce:

1. Add cooking oil, coconut cream in wok on low heat, add in yellow curry paste, stir for 1-2 minutes until fully mixed. 

2. Add coconut cream and water to stop burning.

3. Add chicken, stir vigorously until chicken is fully cooked.

4. Add coconut cream, fish sauce and sugar. Increase to high heat. 

5. Keep at a boil for 1-2 minutes. 

6. Garnish with fresh chives, green onion, coriander and thai basil. Serve with noodles

Please note that cooking curry is not an exact science 

Makes 1-2 servings 

After this the cooking class concluded, I was already full from the Pad Thai and Soup that I got my curry to go so I could have it on the train. We were present with an official cookbook (printed pages tied together with string) and certificate of completion. We were driven back to our respective hotels. I didn't have much time until I need to leave for the train station. I went to a cafe, got some ice cream and read my book.  I split a ride with two british girls to the train. 

The train ride was perfect. I was in second class which meant that I didn't have a locking room, but my bag was right beside my seat and people were bound and determined to steal my dirty clothes, so be it. The seat was large the view was great. I sat across from an Italian photographer who was working on a series where he photographed rural Thai farmers and recorded their stories about the land. He showed me some of his work and I was intrigued. We talked about art for most of the ride. 

About four hours into the ride we stopped at a station. On came more people, the empty birth across the aisle from us was filled by a Thai woman, her older mother and her two fat girl. These children were awful and neither the mother or grandmother did anything to control them. They ran up and down the aisles, threw food at each other, went through everyones bags, and when told to stop the mother piped in that they weren't stealing anything, just looking. It was awful. At one point we couldn't take them anymore and me and the Italian grabbed our valuables and made our way up the train to the dinning car. Once in there we were bombarded with late 90s pop music and drunk French retirees. We squeezed into a booth beside a Thai man who spoke no english and looked like he hated his life, and a Canadian jade miner from BC. The car was loud and mostly just starred at each other and the drunken bar dancing of 60+ French people. Grinding is awkward in a dark club to begin with, people grinding who are older than your parents, in fully lit dinning car is on a whole other level. When we finished our drinks and made our way back to our birth, the beds were made and the two girls were asleep, thank god. I climbed up to the top bunk, pulled the curtain shut. There was the sound of the wheels on the track and the boot step on the ticket inspector as he made his rounds. I fell asleep to the gentle rocking of the train.