Chiang Mai cooking school…. A big adventure!

We left the south of Thailand and flew in to Chiang Mai at the end of November. It was almost like going to a different country. The humidity had completely dropped as had the temperature. We spent five amazing days in Chiang Mai and in hindsight I wish we had stayed longer. Every day was jammed packed with elephant rides, temples, pandas at the zoo, bamboo rafting, mountain trekking, it truly was fantastic.

 

We decided, well I decided, much to the contempt of my fellow traveller, that we should go to a Thai cooking school based in the outskirts of Chiang Mai and learn how to cook some of the delicious traditional food we had been eating on our travels. It cost us about £8 for the day and at 6am we were up and ready not sure what to expect.

Our chef and guide for the day “Perm” was brilliant, he had such a good sense of humour and he taught us all about the different traditional fruit and vegetables in Thailand as we walked around the food market purchasing our ingredients. The whole market smelt so fragrant, with the smell of Lemongrass and Thai Basil everywhere. The fish was so fresh it was actually still alive!

Once we had purchased our ingredients for our day of cooking we headed back to the kitchen. Throughout the day we learnt how to make:

-          Hot and Sour Tam Yam Soup

-          Green Curry with Chicken

-          Chicken with Cashew Nuts

-          Pad Thai

-          Mango Sticky Rice (which is where my love for it originated)

-          Spring rolls

-          Papaya Salad (which blew my head off with the amount of Red Chilli Pepper in it)

Perm kept asking us whilst we were cooking if we wanted a “big adventure” or a “small adventure”. Not knowing what would happen next, we eagerly said “big adventure” and little did we know he would then hurl water straight into our hot Wok and up it went in flames – nearly singed my hair off!

One of my favourite dishes that I learnt how to make whilst on this cooking class was Chicken with Cashew Nuts. I cook it at home every few weeks and it is really quick and easy to make. Come back for the next blog and I will include the traditional Thai recipe and how to cook it.

The Thai cooking school ended up being one of the best things we had done throughout the whole of our travels, if you are thinking of going to Chiang Mai, please take the time to go here and remember to ask for a “big adventure”.  Thai cooking school – definitely recommended!

Next blog entry: Thailand Chicken and Cashew Nuts