Thai Cooking

Travel to Thailand to Learn How to Cook Thai Style! I love travelling and I love cooking, so whenever I can, I take a cookery course that teaches me about the cuisine of the country I am visiting. My most recent holiday was to Phuket in Thailand, inspired not in the least by my love of Thai food. I decided to explore the island and taste some of the local food before deciding on a specific cookery course. I’ve eaten at plenty of Thai restaurants all over the world, but ironically until now, never in Thailand itself. Phuket is an island south west of mainland Thailand, in the Andaman Sea, on the other side of the Gulf of Thailand. In fact it is closer to Malaysia and Indonesia than it is to Thailand proper, and more than 860 km south of the capital Bangkok.  And having been there I also understand why it’s a popular destination for travelers and is often called the “Pearl of the South”. The largest of all Thailand’s islands, Phuket is little more than 1000 square meters in size (or 540 square miles), running 48 km (34 miles) north to south and 21 km (16 miles) east to west. It’s a gorgeous place, with mountains and valleys, long sandy beaches, mangrove swamps and even canopied rain forests. I soon discovered that restaurants in Phuket cater not only to those wanting true Thai cuisine, but also those wanting the kind of food they have at home. I avoided those offering so-called international fare, but did feast at a couple of great seafood restaurants, including one on Mai Khao Beach and another on the shores of Bang Tao Bay that serves the freshest local seafood possible. I also found a great restaurant at Nai Yang Beach offering top quality classic Thai food. Next step for me was to find a cooking class that would fit my needs. I was pleasantly surprised to find considerable choice, some running for a few hours and others for as long as five days. I wanted something in between, so eventually opted for a two-day course that would culminate in us cooking four courses that we would then eat. Included in the price of the course was a 96-page glossy cookery course book on classic Thai cooking, full of photographs to inspire us later. Ingredients and instructions for the sample meal were supplied separately. Our teacher was a wonderful Thai woman who grew up on the island of Phuket. She told us about Thai food and explained traditional equipment that would help ensure a more authentic result. Not much that I didn’t know about, but interesting nevertheless. Then she explained how Thai people generally cook by “feel” taking their own taste into account. This is important, because you can easily adapt recipes to make them hotter, or not so hot, sweeter, saltier or less saucy. The recipes we learnt to cook were: •    Tom KhaTalay, a prawn dish (with a touch of calamari and mussels) cooked with coconut milk, lemon grass, galangal, shallots, coriander root, kaffir lime leaves, mushroom, green chili, deliciously salty fish sauce and a bit of fresh lime juice – garnished with chopped spring onion and coriander leaves. •    GaengKiewWaanGai, a chicken green curry made with tiny Thai eggplants, baby gourds, sweet basil and kaffir lime leaves, and coconut cream, that we flavored with palm sugar (you can use ordinary white sugar instead) and the inevitable fish sauce. •    Yam Moo Yang, a very simple Thai dish made with grilled pork tenderloin that is mixed with sliced cucumber and tomato and chopped spring onion and then dressed with fish sauce, palm sugar, lime juice, a little crushed garlic and a good handful of sliced green chili. •    KluayBuadChee, made by simmering sliced banana in sweetened coconut milk to which a pinch of salt is added. I was pleased with my results and my teacher was complimentary. My last task was to stock up on a couple of equipment items I didn’t already have. I’ve had a wok for a long time, but not a steamer basket. These are typically made from bamboo and are really quite cheap. I also decided to invest in a large granite pestle and mortar to use for hand-grinding my own spices in future. I found a gorgeous one that now takes pride of place in my kitchen. It is quite heavy, so I carried it home in my hand luggage. The book given away as part of the course is permanently on display on my coffee table, and I am busy working through every single recipe. Hope this post inspires many more to pick up local cuisines on their travels, just like I do…:) Cheers! Looking for vacation rentals in Thailand? Click here