Thai Cooking School

Thai food is delicious.

I don't think it can be overstated that THAI FOOD IS DELICIOUS. Chiang Mai is known for the abundance of cooking schools and we've been excited to try our hand in the kitchen for the last few weeks.

The cooking school we chose is located on a family-run organic farm, about 30 minutes from the city center. We were picked up early in the morning in one of the quintessential red pickup-truck-taxis, and taken to the market. Once there, we watched as our instructor, Sammy, gave us a lively lesson in rice and set out to collect the ingredients we'd need for the day.

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Time for Class

The cooking school is set up so that each student gets their own work and cooking station, making for a great individual learning experience.

Each student selected one dish from each category: curry, soup, noodles, appetizer, dessert. We made a green curry and a red curry; tom yum (lemon grass & shrimp) and vegetable soup; pad thai; spring rolls and papaya salad; and sticky rice with mango.

Creating the Curry Paste

Adding the Fresh Ingredients

Homemade curry paste, Thai eggplant, pea egg plant, green peppercorn, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, green beans, basil, chicken, salt, sugar, water, and coconut milk. Mint and red pepper for garnish.

Red Curry

Pad Thai Prep

One of the greatest things about pad thai is that, by definition, it must take no more than 5 minutes to cook. By this point in the class, we'd cooked the curry, simmered the soup, and we soooo ready to eat our lunch.

Rachel's Lunch

Red curry, pad thai, & tom yum soup

Green papaya salad

Unripe grated papaya with lime dressing, tomatoes, green beans and hot peppers, of course

Dessert

Sweetened sticky rice and mango

Do you know how to milk a coconut?

That's not a joke question. Have you ever thought about the difference between coconut milk and coconut water? We hadn't, but that was the very first lesson of Thai cooking school. Coconut water is the delicious, refreshing, backpacker-sustaining ambrosia, drunk straight from the plant itself. Coconut milk is quite another matter.

Coconut milk requires a two step process: the shredding of the coconut meat and the pressing of the shredded coconut to drain the liquid. That's the milk, a key ingredient in Thai cooking. The creamy, sweet-ish milk is distinct, without the overbearing flavor that coconut meat or water can bring to a dish. Too spicy? Add coconut milk. Too dry? Add coconut milk. Too flat? Add coconut milk.