Chiang Mai has many different types of activities to occupy
any visitor. Tiger Kingdom, Elephant rides and sanctuaries, temples, food,
drinking, walking, biking, scootering, yoga, meditation and cooking classes to
name a few. Only about half of the
things in that list interest me so when I arrived I booked a cooking class.
There are many different cooking schools within Chiang Mai
with half and full day options. I opted for the half day because I had heard
the amount of food was large and I know myself, I have about five good hours
before I start to zone out. I knew the half day was right for me. However, I
know a lot of people who did the full day and loved it. They even give you a
nap in the middle of the day!
My class was with Smart Cook and I took it because the
hostel recommended it (yes they get a commission). They are all pretty similar
so I felt fine booking through the hostel and spreading the love. I was picked
up at my hostel and dropped in a market in the east of the old town. I was met
by a petite girl, I say girl because there is no way to tell how old she was
given her small stature but my guess is she might have been 20. There were five
students total and Nani (the girl) introduced herself and launched into a full
on lesson in the market. She explained all of the foods we would be using
including the oils and spices. Most of the vegetables I recognized except
miniature eggplants that looked like large peas.
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| Food market. |
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| Nani, our teacher |
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| Mushroom close up, they were so soft. |
After the full explanation at the market we took a 10 minute
walk through some back streets and alleys and arrived at the smart cook
facility. We sat around a table while they offered us coffee and tea and let us
alone to get to know each other. In my group there was one German man, a Dane,
a South African, someone from Japan and Australia, an eclectic group. The South
African girl was a trained “food stylist.” I’m not really sure what that is but
she seemed to know her way around the kitchen.
Shortly after our impromptu get to know you session we were
ready to start cooking. We had each chosen from two options for each course.
Only one person in our group, the German, was doing a full day. He was rewarded
with a nap in the middle of the day. I
had decided on Pad Thai, Prawn Soup, Green Curry and Spring rolls four my
options. I was delighted when they asked if anyone was vegetarian. I was
planning to just leave items out but they accommodated me and gave me more
tofu. I don’t love tofu but I thought it was really nice of them to do and
cooked with it.
The soup was first up. We did a little prep, cutting our
veggies, ginger and lemongrass. The soup cooked in about two seconds and couldn’t
have been simpler. In fact each dish was incredibly simple compared to other
types of cooking. You didn’t have to do too much to the ingredients once you
were in the cooking phase. The key thing is that each dish had a spoon full of
sugar in it. I was not expecting this. I assume it was to balance out whatever
amount of spice you had decided to put in. Each dish was relatively small but
in the end I had to bring two portions back to the hostel.
Pad Thai was our second dish. We cut up the vegetables in
advance, mixed the ingredients together in the wok and then cracked an egg and
put it in the wok. Mine started to cook really fast and started to stick.
Luckily I think the noodles were a bit pre-cooked. I was next to the South
African girl and was envious of her flair for not burning things. My pad Thai
didn’t burn but it was a might crispy.
After these two dishes were complete we sat down to eat
them. My tofu faux prawn soup was spicy! I had put a minimal amount but somehow
my mouth was on fire. After this two course meal we were all ready for a nap. I
couldn’t believe how full I was after these two small portions. It is at this
point that everyone asked if we could get take away containers for the portions
we were about to cook. Luckily they had them.
The green curry paste was a bear to make but incredibly
tasty. I again put a minimal amount in but had my mouth re-enter the fire zone
the next day because of it. For the curry we used the paste, small eggplants
and the mini eggplants that looked like big peas. Coconut milk, sugar and oil
were also essentials. We mixed it all up in the wok and set it aside when it
was to our liking. Nani later gave us white rice to go with this as well.
Spring rolls were my favorite to make. I loved rolling them
up into perfect little vehicles of taste. We made very small ones but they were
still delicious. I completed the rolling portion first so I was the first to
drop fry them. They didn’t have to stay in long at all because the oil was so
hot. Nani kept saying golden brown but I thought she was saying keep them down.
Then I had an aha moment while cooking them and realized what she was saying.
Of course she was saying golden brown! Duh!
While we packed up our take away containers she gave us the
rice and chili sauce for the spring rolls. We said our goodbyes and were each
taken back to our respective temporary dwellings. It was a wonderful half day
and I was stuffed. I spent the rest of the day loafing around waiting to be
hungry enough to eat my take away. I didn’t end up eating it until the next
day! By that time my curry had settled nicely and was even spicier! Yum!
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