One of the most enjoyable memories from my trip to Thailand is a day-long Thai cooking course. This memory has potential to be long-lasting, as I plan to implement what I learned in my everyday cooking.
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| Mouth-watering Thai Food: Green Curry, Fried Tofu Cakes, Stir Fried Tofu with Cashews, and Tofu Souffle |
We learned ins and outs of Thai cooking at
Gap's Thai Culinary Arts Cooking School in Chiang Mai, which I can wholeheartedly recommend. One simple argument in their favor is that at Gap's you'll learn how to cook more Thai dishes than you would at any other school in Chiang Mai (for the same price and during the same duration of time). Moreover, I can attest that teachers there are fantastic! They're friendly, chatty, have good sense of humor, smile a lot, and they know their stuff. The three of us–Agnieszka, Wojtek, and I–had a great time during the course and also afterward, as some of the food we cooked we took with us to enjoy for dinner.
The course lasted six hours during which–magically–we cooked EIGHT dishes each AND went for a shopping expedition to a local market. Such high efficiency of learning and cooking was possible because all ingredients that we needed were washed, cleaned and chopped up for us, so we could simply grab them and start cooking whenever we were ready. I wish I had someone to do that job for me in San Francisco... (husband, hint, hint)
Here's a list and below are photos of the eight dishes that I cooked. As I'm vegetarian, all of these dishes are either with tofu or veggies.
- Green Curry Tofu (we also learned how to make the Green Curry Paste)
- Steamed Tofu Souffle in the Banana Leaf Cup
- Stir-fried Tofu with Cashews
- Thai-style Tofu Cakes
- Spicy & Sour Lemongrass Soup with Oyster Mushrooms
- Steamed Pumpkin with Coconut Custard
- Vegetarian Spring Roll
- Pad Thai
During the course we also learned how to make plain and sticky rice, as well as how to carve onions and tomatoes into flowers.
The course started with a visit to a local market, where Mai–one of our teachers–introduced us to some of Thai veggies, herbs and spices.
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| At a local market |
Afterward we went to the Gap's school, where the real cooking started.
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| Here's our second teacher and his cooking philosophy: "How much of the spices you should add? I don't know. Just try your dish and figure it out. You want it sweeter, add sugar. You want it more salty, add soy sauce..." |
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| Green curry with tofu |
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| Seems ready to me! |
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| And here it is, ready to be eaten. |
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| Tofu souffle in the banana leaf cup |
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| Steaming in progress |
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| Pre-cut ingredients for stir fried tofu with cashew nuts |
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| Let's make this pan hot! |
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| Stirring, frying, mixing... |
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| Ready: stir fried tofu with cashew nuts |
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| Agnieszka and Wojtek working on their fish and chicken cakes |
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| Meanwhile I'm frying tofu cakes |
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| Fried tofu cakes |
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| And here they are: perfect tofu cakes! |
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| And for dessert steamed pumpkin with coconut custard |
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| Final product: steamed pumpkin with coconut custard |
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| The last dish that needs to be finished before lunch is spicy & sour lemongrass soup with oysters |
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| Ready: spicy & sour lemongrass soup with oysters |
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| My delicious five-course lunch: Green Curry, Stir-fried Tofu with Cashews, Tofu Cakes, Spicy & Sour Soup with Oysters, Steamed Tofu Souffle, and Rice |
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| Mai is teaching us how to carve an onion into a flower |
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| Carved onions |
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| Carved tomatoes |
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| We're making spring rolls–clearly, it's a job that demands a lot of focus ;) |
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| My vegetarian spring rolls |
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| And last but not least: Pad Thai |
Friends, if you want to try out my new cooking repertoire please stop by for dinner next month!
