Chiang Mai, Thailand
18° 47' N 99° 0' E
Dec 21, 2007 12:48
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Text written in: English

Thai Green Curry

I fancied brushing up on my Thai cooking skills (not that there was much to start with apart from Raymondo's recipe for Thai Green Curry) so I enrolled myself on a Thai cooking course.

Another guy from the hostel, Ryan was doing it too.  We were both collected from the hostel by a guy called Perm (the chef and director of the cooking company).  Once we had driven around in our truck and collected 9 others, including two Israeli nutters (Ahmed and Danny), we made our way to the market where Perm went through lots of fresh vegetables etc. telling us what they are used for and how to tell when they are ready to eat.  He also showed us how coconut cream & milk is made. 

After the market we made our way to the cooking class, which I think was held in the back of Perm's house.   We were given a list of dishes that we could cook I chose chicken & coconut milk Soup, sweet & sour chicken, thai green curry and pad thai (a must really seeing as it's the signature Thai dish).  In the end we all made spring rolls, papaya salad (so yummy) and sticky rice with mango, which now might possibly be my favourite food.

The soup was so simple yet tasted SO good.  Also the sweet and sour chicken was relatively easy to make .. it was all in the preparation, which didn't even take that long, and it only took about 1-2 minutes to cook on the wok.  It tasted scrummy too if I do say so myself!

Next was thai green curry. I was really interested in how the curry paste was made as I've yet to meet someone who hasn't bought it in a jar.  Once again.. pretty simple.. you just need all the fresh and dried herbs.. oh .. and a pestle and morter.   The recipe is quite different to the one I usually make but it was delicious all the same. It had a fair kick to it too.  

Last main dish was pad thai. Admitted, by Perm, that it was one of the hardest thai dishes to cook as you had to get it spot on or else it was ruined.  The challenge is on!  Luckily he demostrated it before hand for us so it wasn't too bad. We started by frying the noodles, garlic and tofu in a wok and after 1 minute adding vegetables then after that had cooked for 30 seconds you shift the noodles etc. to the side of the wok and pour in a whisked egg making sure to spread it all around the pan so it's a really thin layer.  After it's cooked you turn off the heat and wrap the noodles inside the omlette.  The the tricky part came where you had to flip the omlette over.. mine managed to stay intact! 

My favourite dish was the sticky rice and mango.  It was to die.. the sticky sweet rice and mango together tasted like syrup.. yum yum yum yum yum yum YUM.  Perm also made a spicy papaya salad which in isn't sweet as I thought it would be .. but light, fresh and spicy with fresh chillies.  We used sticky rice and moulded it into a stick then would dip it into the sauce.  

As i'm sure you can guess I loved the cookery course.  At the end of the day we were given certificates and our own cookery book.. with all the recipies from that day.  Chuffed to bits!!

 

 

 

Photos / videos of "Thai Green Curry":

The fresh food market Grilled fish More fresh fish Perm showing us different curry pastes Perm demonstrating how coconut cream/milk is made Fresh ginger and tumeric Lotsa fresh veg Ingredients for making thai green curry Perm and his rubbery mushrooms Tofu mixed with chicken's blood (to add flavour apparently) Thick soft noodles Thai's main food.. rice Perm's cookery course My station.. prep for chicken & coconut soup Perm making curry paste with Dave from the course Me making my soup Me My delicious chicken and coconut soup Chopping up my ingredients for sweet and sour chicken Again What about the concentration on my face (and Nick next to me) Perm's way of making sure we weren't stirring our food Thai cooking tradition Oh me bejaysus.. that'll be fire Hair and eyebrows still intact Me Ryan's mid-flame chicken dish Thai Green Curry Flipping the sweet and sour chicken Cooking class Chef Rutherford My sweet and sour chicken creation The class.. nutters - Ahmed in the yellow and Danny to his left Cooking class Thai green curry Perm and his sticky rice Making sticky rice and mango Dave demonstrating the perfect lime cutting technique Sweet and sour plum sauce for the spring rolls Ryan pelting the ingredients for the plum sauce Perm.. doing his facial expressions when tasting Banana leaf.. toasting it for making into bowls Perm peeling a mango for decoration Voila.. peeled mango flower Ryan and Dave making spring rolls Deep fried banana Spwing Raww The leaf bowls filled with spicy prawns Spring rolls Again Pad Thai Pad Thai Cooking Pad Thai Nick aiding with the temperature as I concentrate on perfecting my omlette Omlette My pad thai omlette No idea what the face is about Successful flip Finished product Thai green curry & pad thai omlette Ryan and his creations The cookery class The group again plus me
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