I signed up to take a cooking class on my last day because I heard it was a good thing to do in Thailand. Also, it'll kill the whole day before I go to the airport, so it's perfect. I'm a little worried about my stomach though, so I've been adding more spice to my street stall pad thai to get used to it. It cost me about $40, but it includes transportation, all the cooking ingredients and supplies, lunch and dinner, which I make.
The guy was about 15 minutes late picking me up, so I started to worry a bit. I thought that maybe I got jipped, but he came around and after getting 3 more people, the 5 of us crammed into a taxi and headed to the market. I was a crazy place. First off, it'd be very difficult to navigate as a foreigner and I'm sure we couldn't get it as cheap as the locals do. The first thing we saw were the plate of roasted cockroaches, but from there it was a sea of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, fishes, noodles, rice, just about anything you could think of. We did our shopping and squeezed into another taxi to the school.
It looked like a small little restaurant under a highway, but it was clean and welcoming. It had 10 burners set up in a row for all of us to use, but first off, we say down and got acquainted. There was Chris from London. He works for the BBC, but does massages on the side so he's studying in Thailand. Marcus was from Austria and his girlfriend Alex was from Denver. They were really fun guys, but it's been a long time since I felt that short in a crowd. All 3 of them towered a good foot and a half above me.
This is what we cooked ...
Kang Khiao Wan Moo (Green Curry with Pork) We were each given a mortar and pestle to grind the fresh ingredients fir the curry. We only used 2 chillis, but our teacher, Earth, normally uses about 15 for himself. I think I could have gone with 3. After heating the coconut milk in a wok, we added the curry paste, pork, and veges, then let it stew a bit. It was really good!
Tom Yum Kung (Spicy and Sour Prawn Soup)It seems that the base for a lot of Thai cooking is fish sauce and sugar. We added it to boiling water, some herbs and vegetables, shrimp, and finally the secret ingredient ... Tom Yum soup paste.
Pad Thai Sai Gai (Chicken Pad Thai)First, it was stir-frying the chicken and the veges, then we set it aside on the wok and stir-fried the rice noodles. Then Earth added his own special secret sauce (which he gave us). We put that aside and cracked an egg, then tossed the noodles around a bit. I realized that all the street stall pad thais weren't actually pad thai, but just fried noodles. Earth confirmed this suspicion.
Bord Fug Thong (Pumpkin in Sweet Coconut Milk)Earth made this dessert for is because it was really easy. It was just kabocha, sugar, and coconut cream boiled for 10 minutes. Good!
The 4 of is got to hang out and talk a lot while we were eating our delicious food. They only did the half-day course, so they left after this. I started the afternoon course, but I was already stuffed. It was me, Earth, ad his two friends, Aeg and Tatsuni.
(Me, Marcus, Earth, Chris, Alex)
This was the afternoon course ...
Poh Piah Thod (Deep Fried Spring Rolls)These were really easy, I've made them before and the sauce was just the sweet chilli sauce at the market.
Kang Massaman Neua (Massaman Curry with Beef)It was the same setup as the green curry, but I didn't make the paste this time because it's too detailed with like 20 spices in it and it was supposed to be sweeter, but as it started boiling, the smell burned my nostrils. It didn't smell sweeter. Earth said he made a mistake and used the wrong paste, but it was okay because he just made another dish. I think it was called Panang. Either way, I got an extra dish on my menu.
Gai Pad Med Mamaung (Fried Chicken with Cashew Nuts)This one was simple, but really good! I just stir fried chicken, vegetables, an oyster sauce, then added cashew nuts.
Nam Takrai Wan (Lemongrass Tea)Lemongrass boiled in sugar water ... pretty easy and not bad.
The class was scheduled to finish at 4:30, but we were done by 2:00. I ended up eating with the three Thais and they explained the whole Thai political situation to me. They were funny people, but it's sad to hear how the recent problems have affected them. Earth used to have 10 students a day almost everyday, but because everyone's scared to go to Thailand now, he only gets a few students only. The actions of just the few affects the many.
(Tatsuni, Aeg, Earth)
I chilled for about an hour and then road back to Khao San road with them. I've been sitting in the Luang Poo smoothie shop for the past hour writing this, but I'm still stuffed. I was worried about what I was going to do for food at the Beijing airport, but I don't think I have to eat for the next 5 days after today's cooking class.
