Back to School: Cooking class in Chiang Mai

The one activity I planned for Chiang Mai, besides seeing the temples in the city center (which took all of 3 hours), was a cooking class. I chose Baan Thai Cookery School, and signed up for a full-day course. The format actually turned out to be different from what they promoted on the website with a different menu for each day; instead, you get a pamphlet with 6 categories and you choose one of three items in each category to prepare (for a total of 5 dishes, since "curry paste" is one of the categories).

After you make your selections, the instructors create a shopping list and you hit the local market. Here, our instructor took us to the different stalls, from spices, to vegetable, to tofu, to fruit, and explained the different ingredients. Here is showing us the four different kinds of eggplant. In his right hand he's holding the "pea eggplant" which I had never seen before. Apparently it is bitter, and good to eat after eating something spicy.

After the shopping trip, we came back to the "classrooms" where we munched on some fruit and snacks while the instructors prepared the ingredients for the different stations. Each classroom has a maximum of 9 students, so I found it to be a nice place to meet other people and swap travel tips. There was one other classroom of students, and we did end up mixing, since depending on which dish you wanted to make, you went to a different station led by its own instructor.

We first made the stir-fry dish, which for me was pad thai. Pretty simple, and something I hope I can replicate later! We then made our appetizers, and I chose papaya salad for this course. Also very simple, but you need to get a large mortar and pestle to first pound the dressing together, then pound the papaya and carrots into it.

In contrast to my cooking class in Turkey, at Baan Thai we each got our own chopping station, our own wok, and chopped and cooked our own individual portions. A cool piece of kitchenware were these ceramic bowls that held the different ingredients to bring to the wok. Here are the ingredients for Tom Yum Kung (hot and sour prawn soup). This was probably my favorite dish, since it was so richly and complexly flavored, and better than the ones I'd had in restaurants in the US.

We got to prepare curry paste from scratch, which involved first chopping peppers to a paste ("no visible seeds!") and finely chopping herbs ("like powder!"), and then pounding in a mortar and pestle.

The red curry that my group made could be used for both Penang curry, as well as the Khao Soi (Chiang Mai noodles) which was my choice for main course. Khao Soy is red curry mixed with yellow curry powder, then made into a soup with coconut milk. Egg noodles are in the soup, while on top fried egg noodles, pickled cabbage, coriander, scallions, and a squeeze of lime garnish the dish. Very rich.

Finally, we had the desserts which we prepared in advance of the curry. I chose the Tub Tim Krawp (water chestnut in coconut milk), which I had never heard of before so it sounded interesting. Basically it's water chestnuts, soaked in grenadine, and cooked with a tapioca flour coating so it becomes chewy on the outside, crunchy on the inside. Served in coconut milk, it was just the sort of dessert I like.

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Tom Yum Kung

Hot & Sour Prawn Soup

(from Baan Thai Cookery School cookbook, edited with my notes)

75 g prawn (or chicken)

30 g straw mushroom (cut off big stems and shred from stem downwards)

2 cups water

3 fresh chillies (in class, we first sliced these very finely, then mashed them with the flat side of the knife blade)

1/2 onion, quartered

1/2 tomato, quartered

3 kaffir lime leaves (remove the stem, then tear into medium pieces; I wouldn't make these too small, since you don't eat these in the end)

1 lemongrass, sliced diagonally (in class, we actually pounded these with the knife handle, then cut in half, I think the point is to make sure the flavor can be released into the soup)

2 slices of galangal ginger

3 tbsp lime juice

3 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp roasted chili paste

1 bunch coriander, finely cut

1 spring onion, finely sliced

1. Place water in pot over high heat

2. Add the lime leaves, galangal, and lemongrass, and bring to boil

3. Add chicken and wait until cooked

4. Add mushrooms, onion, and tomato

5. Add fish sauce, sugar, chillies, and chili paste, boil a bit longer