Today we had a blast cooking together at a farm outside Chiang Mai. The woks were hot, the food delicious and we all took some tips away about how to cook tasty Thai food.
A Surprise, Kind Of
When we arrived in Chiang Mai, we told the girls we had a surprise for them one day. During our first day exploring the city, we passed by a few cooking schools. Paige & Sadie sniffed it out, “Is our surprise a cooking class?” Yes, it was.
Asia Scenic Cooking School
I found Asia Scenic from our trusty Southeast Asia resource, Travel Fish. I chose them because they had a farm location vs many of the providers only offering in city classes.
First Stop - A Local Market
On our way out of the city, we stopped at a local market where we met our instructor for the day, Nami. We learned about various staples of Thai cooking from rice, chilies, palm sugar, kafir limes, lemongrass and more.
Quick Food Observation
We’ve had a striking food observation thus far during our time in Thailand, which we chatted about as we walked around the market. Fresh produce markets like this are the way that nearly all Thai people shop and eat. Whether they themselves are cooking it at home, or buying it deliciously prepared as ‘fast food’ from street vendors.
Contrast to the the US you typically have two types of shoppers, easily visible in the checkout lane: those whose carts are predominantly full of colorful and single ingredient items or carts full of packages and pre-prepared foods like cereal, packaged meals, or snack foods. The divide unfortunately is most typically drawn along socio-economic lines. In Thailand, these fresh markets are everywhere and are how they eat. Let’s hope the Thai people keep their 'carts' full of produce and fend off the Americanization of food headed their way!
The Farm
The cooking school was located on a small 1.5 acre organic farm. We started by walking through the farm and seeing, learning and tasting the ingredients we’d be using in the class. Basils, gingers, beetle nut plants, pea eggplants, kafir limes, lemongrass and more….
Cooking with “Emotion”
Nami explained that in Thailand they don’t cook with Tablespoons and Teaspoons, they cook with “emotions”. How much of this ingredient or that ingredient depends on how you’re feeling.
Frying up some egg rolls.
Eager Beavers
No surprise, Paige and Sadie went after each dish enthusiastically. Even chef Sarah couldn’t wipe the smile off her face and had a swagger culinary step. Everyone got to choose the dishes they wanted to cook from a menu, in addition to spring rolls:
Paige - Pad See Uw (hold the eggs), Coconut Milk Soup, Khao Soi Noodles
Sadie - Pad See Uw, Coconut Milk Soup, Panang Curry
Sarah - Hot Basil Chicken, Coconut Milk Soup, Khao Soi Noodles
Doug - Pad Thai, Tom Sab Soup, Khao Soi Noodles
How Much Spice?
We made curry from scratch, mashing together all kinds of ingredients to create the flavor.
Nami had five levels of spice on her own scoville rating: Baby, Kindergarten, High School, University and PHD. PHD meant you were Thai.
When class and lunch ended we had some time to stroll the grounds for a bit. Sarah and I were struck by the sign on the owners home, which was on the property. Certainly, the words apply to what we're doing this year and we hope to carry with us for years beyond.
Everyone had such a good time, we agreed we’d look to book a few more cooking classes while we're in Southeast Asia. Chefs in Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia...fair warning, the Boha-chefs are coming to town!
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