After a week of diving and a week of doing not very much on the beach I have finally left Koh Tao. Two night buses take me north to the city of Chiang Mai, with a day in Bangkok in between. Alex is staying on Koh Tao for the next two months and Charlotte has gone to the island of Koh Phangan with Gemma, a friend from university. I am really looking forward to travelling alone for a bit - I also get two seats to myself on both buses, meaning I actually get some sleep.
Above: Leaving Koh Tao
As soon as I walk into my guest house in Chiang Mai - recommended to me by friends for its excellent tours and onward travel organising - I am asked if I want to go on the Thai cooking class starting in an hour. Having planned to do this anyway I see no point in putting it off, so I find my room, shower, send some very beachy clothes to be washed and head downstairs.There are 11 other people on the course and we are all driven in the back of a jeep to the local market where we learn about the different ingredients we will use while cooking.
Ingredients include mushrooms, lime, ginseng, lemon grass, chilli, pineapple, peanuts, ginger, fresh tumeric, coconut milk, basil (sweet, lemon and hot), oyster sauce, chives, spring onion, chicken, tofu, palm sugar and soy. These are just the 'main' ingredients.
Next we are taken to a large garden outside the city where, under a bamboo canopy, there is a makeshift kitchen with little gas ovens and huge knives laid out alongside chopping boards. We get to choose which dishes we make from a long list, but everyone choses pretty much the same - spring rolls, green or red curry, banana in coconut milk, sweet and sour soup and chicken with cashew nut stir-fry.
Next we are taken to a large garden outside the city where, under a bamboo canopy, there is a makeshift kitchen with little gas ovens and huge knives laid out alongside chopping boards. We get to choose which dishes we make from a long list, but everyone choses pretty much the same - spring rolls, green or red curry, banana in coconut milk, sweet and sour soup and chicken with cashew nut stirfry.
Above: The Kitchen
Above: Sugar, Oil, Oyster Sauce, Vinegar
Above: Ingredients for Pad Thai
Our teacher, Joe, is very funny and likes to shout 'STIR STIR' at us and regularly checks to make sure we have the correct number of fingers. When we are making curry paste, Joe tells us that Thai men look for a good, hard working wife by seeing how lazy she is when using a pestle and mortar. He tells me that I will be a bad wife, which is fine with me - especially as I have already gotten large amounts of chilli in my eye even without pounding it sufficiently.
Above: Making Red Curry Paste
Above: Red Curry
When we finish the course we get a certificate and a book of the recipes we have used. I take a very large bag of food back to the hostel with me, and I'm amazed that some people managed to eat all six courses. I'm hoping that the lesson will pay for itself in that I won't have to buy meals until I get to Laos.
Above: Spring Rolls - Delicious!
Looking forward to trying your cooking on your return!
ReplyDeleteDick