Cooking in Chiang Mai

We've all just finished two days staying at a boutique resort just outside the city (Jasmine Rice Village) and taking cooking classes (Chiang Mai Cookery School) - it's been relaxing and A LOT of fun. Learning to cook with lots of chillies (the joys of having half the class coughing from the chillies' smoke! =) ), the difference between coconut cream and coconut milk and when to you use what, all the different spices, etc. - just awesome! Granted, having "prep fairies" who hand you everything from the meats to the spices that you need in the correct amounts and already cut up makes things easier. I guess I now know how the chefs on the cooking channel do it? ;)

Our main lesson yesterday was an introduction to the basic Thai ingredients (basil - 3 types, galanga, coconut milk, chillies, palm sugar, etc.) in a classroom setting before we struck out on our own at individual "wok" stations to prepare 6 dishes over the course of the day. Today's lesson was all about curry...and just how many types are out there! Everyone learned how to make red curry from scratch using dried spices and fresh herbs using a mortar and pestle. Once that was done, we all cooked our own chicken red curry - YUM!! We then went on to make 5 additional dishes. Did I mention that we eat everything that we cook? Talk about needing to rub my belly... =)

Ready, set, cook!

Who's going to be the next iron chef?

Back in the classroom!

Eating the fruits of our labor

Cooking in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai, Thailand