Both me and Bill enjoy cooking, and we both love Thai food, so it was natural to sign up for a cooking class while in Thailand. And with the convenience and the availability of the many schools, it was easy to book a cooking course. Being raised in a household that income was generated from a small business, I always rather spend my money with family and small businesses, whenever I can anyway. Siam Rice Cookery School is owned by Nan and Pot, they have a darling six month old baby, and they run their business from their home. It was a great pleasure to get to learn the secrets to Thai cooking from locals at their own home.
After Pot picked us up from the hotel, and we did the tour in the market, he drove us to a nice neighborhood in Chiang Mai, a place we would have never got to see if it was not for that class. It was nice to get to see the way Chiang Mai residents live at home. We were treated to mini coconut pancakes,which were delicious, and we were shown the menu of the various courses that we got to choose from. Me and Bill took advantage of being able to choose different courses and thus increasing our tasting and learning options. There are seven dishes in each course: an appetizer, soup, salad, first meal, curry paste and then curry sauce, second course and finally dessert. I am drooling just thinking about all the food we ate that day. We actually skipped dinner that night since we got to eat everything we cooked and then some.
It was a small group of six people:us, a couple from Holland, and two guys on a six month Asian tour(lucky them) from England. We all had a great time, cooking, eating and drinking lots of water to be able to keep on eating the delicious spicy foods we cooked. We were each given our own apron, wok, cutting board, knife and ingredients. At the beginning of school day, Nan said that we can choose to add as much chili peppers as we prefer, from none to a handful, which is practically what Nan said Thai people do"just grab a handful of chili peppers"; no counting, no measuring. These chili peppers are tiny but mighty, I started with four in my soup, but needed to drink a lot, a lot of water to finish it, so for further courses I reduced the number to two and that seemed to work better for me.
Some of the main ingredients we used,almost every time, for frying and are in the jars in the above pictures are: oil, sugar, fish sauce and oyster sauce.We cooked all the dishes with chicken, but the same recipe can be used for pork, beef, tofu or seafood.
We started the cooking adventure by making soups,which are a big part of the Thai cuisine. Bill made the famous Tom Yum soup; hot and sour soup with chicken, and I made the hot and creamy soup with chicken, which is essentially the hot and sour soup with coconut cream. They were both delicious, and fairly easy to make.
We then moved on to making the appetizers; spring rolls with sweet chili sauce for me, Pad Thai for Bill. I was intrigued by the fact that Thai consider Pad Thai(fried noodles) an appetizer, I consider it lunch or dinner heaven if I can get a good plate of Pad Thai here. Again both dishes were fairly easy to make and delicious.
Moving on to salads. Papaya salad for Bill, spicy glass noodles salad for me. Nan said that the spicy glass noodles salad is the potluck salad because it is so easy to prepare, and holds well. I will have to remember that.
Tomorrow, I will post about curry paste, curry sauce, main dish and dessert.
Comments (11)
Hi Candi, that's great that you had a chance to take a thai cooking class. And from the photos you took, it all looks so delicious. The home cooking class and instructors seem really nice too.
Thanks so much for sharing! Can't wait for the next installment.
Posted by Kathy (Trekcapri) | June 15, 2009 6:34 AM
Posted on June 15, 2009 06:34
Yum! Everything looks so good. That is interesting that Pad Thai is an appetizer because it's a main dish in every Thai (US) restaurant I've been to. What a charming little courtyard where the class was held.
Posted by Annie | June 15, 2009 8:31 AM
Posted on June 15, 2009 08:31
Your cooking class sounds wonderful! The outdoor setting amongst tropical plants looks very inviting. Love the food photos! Did you get a printed copy of the recipes? I'm particularly interested in the spicy glass noodle salad. Looks delicious and so fresh.
I love Thai food and my SIL is a fabulous chef but I have to remind her not to put too much heat on my food. Those little red chili peppers (bird's eye) can easily set my mouth on fire!
Posted by María I. | June 15, 2009 11:26 AM
Posted on June 15, 2009 11:26
Everything looks absolutely delicious!! I would love to learn how to make spring rolls and Pad Thai, two of my favorites.
Posted by Chiocciola | June 15, 2009 9:25 PM
Posted on June 15, 2009 21:25
Kathy,we loved it! It was delicious!
Annie, I know, I was surprised too that Pad Thai is considered an appetizer.
Maria, I will e-mail you the recipe.And I know what you mean about the chili setting your mouth on fire:)
Chiocciola, I will e-mail you the recipes as well, I want to try to recreate all these dishes we made too, and then I'll also be posting recipes here.
Posted by candi | June 16, 2009 12:17 AM
Posted on June 16, 2009 00:17
That's great, thanks!!
Posted by Chiocciola | June 16, 2009 6:17 AM
Posted on June 16, 2009 06:17
This sounds fabulous - now I must go get a snack.
Posted by Kim | June 16, 2009 8:30 AM
Posted on June 16, 2009 08:30
Candi, what a fabulous way to spend a day with a cooking class in someone's home. Everything looks delicious!
Posted by sheri | June 16, 2009 7:12 PM
Posted on June 16, 2009 19:12
Your cooking class sounded great - something I would love to do too.
And your photos are lovely.
Posted by nancyhol | June 17, 2009 11:47 PM
Posted on June 17, 2009 23:47
Finally catching up on your trip (I did not forget you - just saved the most interesting to last). How lucky to be able to learn how to make all of these dishes! Thai food is my second favorite food (after Italian). Yummmmmmm!!
Posted by girasoli | August 23, 2009 12:44 AM
Posted on August 23, 2009 00:44
Hello.Candi
Thank you very much.
Hope you cook all well.
Good Luck with your life.
POT NANCY AND PETER PAN
family from siamricethaicookery school in Chiang Mai
Posted by POt | November 23, 2009 6:24 PM
Posted on November 23, 2009 18:24