Today we were excited to finally get to do something other than hospitals, dentists, pharmacies and laying around the hotel! We were able to get into the cooking class we wanted at the last minute so we were up early to get picked up at our hotel. There were a total of 10 people in the class, which was a nice size and everyone spoke excellent English (American, Australian and Filipino.) We stopped at a market outside the city first to learn about some of the ingredients we would be using including the different types of rice (regular and sticky) and the various sauces. Regular rice is long and skinny vs sticky rice which is short and fat. Sticky rice also breaks easily when being washed so it needs to be washed carefully and only steamed, not boiled like regular rice in a rice cooker. We learned about fish sauce (essentially fermented fish) and how some people substitute soy sauce (fermented soya) as a vegetarian option but it changes the flavor. There was also oyster sauce (not nearly as smelly as fish sauce!) and mushroom sauce.
After the market we got back in the van and went to the cooking school, which was outside of Chiang Mai on a small farm. We started by putting on giant ‘farm hats’ which looked like Thai sombreros and walking around the farm to look at the fresh ingredients we would be using! The first was kaffir lime. It is in the citrus family and they use the rind (the fruit looks like a bumpy lime) as well as the unique leaves that have a double leaf shape. The fruit is not as sour as lemons/limes so they recommended if using lime to supplement to use sparingly. Next was galangal or Thai ginger. It is used for flavor but the pieces are picked out since you cannot eat it like you would ginger as it is bitter. We also looked at tumeric and regular ginger. Next was Thai parsley, which smelled and tasted like cilantro but had long, broad and spiky leaves like a weed. Next was the different types of eggplant including bitter (tiny, green and berry-like but very bitter) and sweet (golf-ball sized with lots of seeds.) We also smelled some fresh lemongrass. The grass part is used for tea but not for eating and the root is mashed up and included in several dishes although the roots can be a bit tough so sometimes they pick out the pieces before serving (like they do with galangal or kaffir lime leaf.)
We made several dishes during our cooking experience! We started with pounding our own curry paste. I did yellow and Michael did green. The base ingredients are the same and then different things are added to make it red, yellow or green curry paste. We then made our own curry (amazing flavor!) and definitely the highlight of the day for me. We also did soup. I did tom yup soup (clear broth and a little spicier) and Michael did a coconut soup. They were both tasty and very easy to make. Next up was pad thai. Most of the pad thai we have had isn’t very peanuty or flavorful but the stuff we were taught to make was wonderful! It is crazy how much sugar is in everything though and although our pad thai had other ingredients, there was a lot of oil and sugar! Next up was chicken stir fry with long beans (imagine a green bean that is 18 inches long!) and spicy basil. I didn’t like this one as much but Michael really loved it. Lastly we made banana in coconut milk. We also died the milk green with a special plant called pandan (only color, not for taste) which added another level of fun to the basic dish!
It was a long but awesome day of learning to cook tasty Thai food and we got a fantastic book at the end detailing all the ingredients we used as well as how to make each dish. Definitely worth it!
After the cooking class we headed back to our hotel to hang out then headed off to a bar called Ram Bar where we had heard there was a fun and well-done lady boy show. Ladyboys are transgender women (born men, transitioned to women) who perform a cabaret type show. This was a very tiny venue with a small stage in a gay bar but the show was fantastic! We also ran into 2 other travelers from Minnesota who were at our cooking class and had a great time hanging out and enjoying the show for the evening! The show was great with huge, ornate costumes and lots of dancing with lip syncing to popular songs. It is quite the experience and definitely was fun to get to experience a show! We were sitting right along the aisle where they walk on and off the stage so the women all wanted to sit on Michaels lap or touch is beard (all the women here love the big red beard!) and that made it all the more fun 🙂
Mera and Michael Travel 