04 February 2008

Thai Kitchen Cookin'

This weekend, I finally got the chance to do what I have wanted to do since I arrived in Thailand...learn how to whip up some tasty Thai dishes with the best of em'! After hunting around Thailand for a reputable place (a girl has got to learn from the best!), I found Bai Pai Thai Cooking School. On Saturday, Thomas and I headed to this cute lil' cooking school, located in a gorgeous open-air house on a remote back alley in the Yannawa district of Bangkok, near the river. Needless to say, us two crazy kids made for an entertaining time in the kitchen!

We cooked, fried, chopped and ate our Saturday afternoon away, preparing four typical Thai dishes! Bai Pai also taught us Westerners all about key ingredients, techniques and preparation of Thai cuisine. Surprisingly, the dishes were all very easy to make and took 15 minutes or less to cook (which is a huge plus for impatient ol' me!). What I found interesting is that Thai cuisine is made up several basic ingredients, which are used in almost every dish. Thai ingredient staples, you may ask? Fish sauce, palm sugar, soy sauce, garlic and Thai chillies of course!

Before we started cooking, we got a lesson in vegetable carving! Using a flat peeling knife and a sharp rounded knife thing, we made roses out of tomato peels and leaves out of cucumbers. I can't say I was a natural at vegetable carving, but my veggie masterpieces definitely turned out better than Thomas's, haha! He was getting a bit frustrated with the carving process, weren't you Thomas? Check out my intricately designed rose and leaf in the Som Tam picture!

Gai Hor Bai Toey (Chicken in Pandanus Leaf)


Som Tam (Papaya Salad)


Goong Sauce Ma Kham (Prawn in Tamarind Sauce)


Gang Phed Ped Yang (Roasted Duck in Red Curry)

After cooking our little hearts out for almost four hours (and eating all our delicious creations!), we were, needless to say, ready to lay down and beach ourselves like a big whale! I think my favorite dish was either the Som Tam (it's my fave!) or the Gang Phed Ped Yang, which is surprising because I didn't really like red curries before taking the class! This red curry used pineapple in the recipe, which sweetened it up perfectly for my huge sweet tooth! Honestly, I was (and still am) getting pretty sick of Thai food, but this was all really scrumptious!

Now, I am ready to throw a huge Thai-themed party when I get back so I can cook all the yummy recipes! The tough part will be finding some of the ingredients, but I am excited to bring a little Thai cuisine back home to you all (and find a good Asian grocer!). With all my fingers still intact and minimal physical harm after the cooking class, I would say I am well on my way to becoming a chef de cuisine, Thai style of course!

On Sunday, we had the infamous "Sports Day" at school, which meant unfortunately I was at work on a Sunday morning at 8am! However, to see 1st graders shimmying their hearts out, moms dressing up in traditional Thai outfits to earn points for their child's team, listening to a million cheers in Thai and experiencing Thai "sports," it was pretty funny! More Sports Day to come...check for a blog post coming soon!

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