Ask a bunch of tourists on the streets of Chiang Mai why they decided to visit Thailand and I assure you that most of them will mention the food. I will be writing more about Thai food in a later post (all of the deliciousness deserves a dedicated post) but for now I want to share my 4 hours of Thai culinary training with you.
While spending the weekend in Chiang Mai, my co-teacher and I decided to learn how to make some of the delicious dishes that we had been enjoying for the past month. We booked a cooking class with Tom Yum Thai Cooking School, an independent business in the city.
After being picked up from our hostel, and meeting the friendly couple from Taiwan taking the class with us, our host Ooun took us to one of the local markets in the city to gather supplies. Every member of the tour chose which dishes they would like to make from each of the five categories: stir-fried, soup, appetizer, curry paste, and curry. Then we would all make dessert together.
Once we arrived back at Ooun’s house, we prepared to prepare (see what I did there?) the six course meal we would be sharing together. First, despite my love of Pad Thai and Pad See Ew, I decided to mix it up and make cashew chicken for my stir-fry dish.
Then it was time for soup. The cooking school is named after Tom Yum, which is a popular hot and sour prawn soup that I have heard amazing things about. However, I hate shrimp with a fiery passion, so I made Tom Kha Kai (chicken in coconut milk soup). Afterwards, for the appetizer I made spring rolls because I like them and they are fun to roll, but it was kind of cheating because they aren’t really a traditional Thai dish.
Finally, it was time for my absolute FAVORITE Thai dish, Khao Soi! Chiang Mai’s signature dish, Khao Soi, is a coconut curry noodle soup that is native to northern Thailand. The delicious, light pink soup is made with boiled egg noodles and topped with meat (usually chicken) and crunchy fried egg noodles. I eat Khao Soi whenever it is available and, for the past month and a half, have not gotten even a little bit tired of it.
We finished dinner with Khow Neaw Ma Muang, also known as mango sticky rice. If you are like I was, you have probably never considered rice a particularly appetizing dessert food, but spend any time at all in Thailand and you will change your mind. Rice is in EVERYTHING here, and when it is in dessert it is cooked with coconut milk and sugar, producing a sticky, sweet, and delicious base for sweet Thai fruits like mango!
After class we got a cute cookbook with all of the recipes we made in class. I don’t have a kitchen in Thailand, but I will definitely be testing out my Thai cooking abilities when I get back home and am inevitably suffering from Thai food withdrawal.
Awesome!