For someone who likes to eat so much, I’m not a cook. Whenever anyone asks me whether I cook, I’d say “I make food, but I don’t cook.” I can whip up a delicious bowl of fried rice and make praise-worthy guacamole, but real cooking? Nah. I don’t have the patience nor a particularly developed palate to know when something needs just an extra pinch of salt or whatever. Of the two of us, D is the chef. He grew his own edible garden and enjoyed experimenting with new spices to change up the flavor profile or using new ingredients to put a twist on traditional recipes. And I enjoyed being his sous chef and then eating his creations.
But I gotta say, our new lifestyle doesn’t give us a lot of time to cook. Either our apartment will be ill equipped or we just don’t have the energy to grocery shop. And besides, it’s so much more fun to explore the local offerings! As a result, the days of cooking and creating have fallen to the wayside and if/when we do, it’s always just the simplest of foods. But while in Chiang Mai, we got the yearning to flex our cooking muscles once again. Furthermore, we figured that after years of eating Thai food, it’s about time we learned to cook some Thai dishes!
Chiang Mai has an overwhelming amount of Thai cooking classes. I was tasked with the job of picking a good one. I halfheartedly flipped through the brochures at the local tourism office, and all of them looked so… boring! All the same drab dishes, all the same dull format. So I took my search online and within 10 minutes, I had found the one. As soon as I landed on A Lot of Thai’s webpage, I just had a good feeling that it’d be special.
A Lot of Thai is a family run business and all classes are taught by Yui, a Thailand TV chef. Classes are kept small and intimate so that each student can receive individual attention. She has a few different courses available (menus here), and I picked the Tuesday one mainly because I wanted to eat spring rolls and mango sticky rice (yeah, I’m very out-of-the-box here). I also picked the full day option, because duh, I wanted to eat more food!
The morning of the class, Yui personally picked us up from our apartment on Nimmanhaemin Road. We arrived at her house in a quiet residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Chiang Mai. She had transformed the side carport area into an outdoors kitchen. There were 10 cooking stations each with its own prepping surface, gas stove, wok, utensils, etc. Overhead bamboo rafters provided shade from the sun and formed an airy breezeway. Potted plants and softly swaying wind chimes created a cozy atmosphere. It felt more like hanging out at a friend’s house rather than at a cooking school.
Yui put the group at ease right away. She’s petite with a mischievous smile and eyes that sparkle when she talks about food (I’m seriously kicking myself for not getting a picture). Yui is actually a bit of a Thai celebrity, but you would never have guessed that based on her down-to-earth demeanor. But a quick scan of the walls will show smiling pictures with notable people, such as Gordon Ramsay. She also travels all over the world to teach others her traditional Thai recipes. She told hilarious stories about stuffing two giants suitcases with Thai ingredients and trying to get them past customs.
After brief introductions, we all put on aprons and were ready to be chefs for a day!
Even for those of us who are not cooks, Yui made it incredibly easy for us. For each course, her assistants provided us with the exact portions of ingredients for the dish. All would appear at our stations fully prepped – the veggies washed and peeled, and the meat already cut. It was like all the fun of cooking, but without any of the dirty work!
Before each dish, we would all gather at Yui’s workstation as she explained each ingredient, how to cut them, how to mix the sauces, and the cooking technique. She carefully demonstrated each dish from start to finish and then had us sample it so we would know how it should look and taste. Afterwards, we would go to our own cook stations to replicate the steps.
Sounds easy enough, right? Watching Yui do it, it all looked so effortless!
As simple as Yui made each dish look, I soon discovered that I was the worst chef of our group. I dropped ingredients, spilled sauces, forgot steps, and chopped my finger. And at once point, Yui jokingly said, “whoever burns the garlic fails this class.” Yep… moments later, I burned the garlic.
But even with all my small screw ups, I couldn’t believe that I was actually cooking Thai food! Yui broke down each step so simply that anyone could understand and do it. Sure, mine didn’t look at pretty as hers, but wow, I have to toot my own horn and say that they tasted pretty damn professional!
We learned to make 6 authentic Thai dishes in total. Here is what I made in order!
Pad Thai – It surprised me how easy this dish was to make. The entire cooking time was only about two minutes. The hardest part would be getting the ingredients to make this. This was made with palm sugar and tamarind sauce mashed/squeezed from fresh tamarinds. The taste profile for a true authentic Pad thai should be tangy (from the tamarind sauce), salty (from fish sauce), with a little bit of sweetness (from the palm sugar).
Green panaeng curry – This dish should be creamy (from whole coconut milk), spicy, and with a hint of sweet + salty. We also used tiny eggplants that had a bitter taste. There were two versions of this dish: red curry and green curry. D and I made one each so that we could try each others. The green one was mouth-on-fire spicy.
Tom yam goong (prawn soup) – Not very pretty, but I swear it’s good! Whole shrimp heads provide more of a rich seafood flavor, and the flavor of the broth was derived purely from the ingredients: lemongrass, keffir lime leaves, shallots, galangal (kind of like ginger), and lime juice. It had a wonderful clean, tangy herby flavor.
Non greasy spring rolls – This was probably one of my favorites! Aside from the store bought wrapper, everything else was home made. We stir fried the glass noodles & pork filling, and after wrapping, the spring rolls were slowly deep fried at a medium temperature until a golden brown. They turned out perfectly crispy. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that they were the best spring rolls I’ve had ever!
Chicken cashew – I had a hard time wok-ing this for some reason and D ended up cooking it for me. I’ve come to learn that Thai’s love their cashew nuts. I must admit that this wasn’t my favorite dish (I’ve never liked cashew that much), so I let D have most of mine too.
And for dessert: mango sticky rice – Okay here’s the truth: THIS here is the reason I signed up for this class! I just really wanted some mango sticky rice. And this did NOT disappoint, and this is the BEST mango sticky rice I’ve had in Thailand so far. Just imagine soft ripe mango and whole coconut milk served over organic sticky wild rice grown by Yui’s father. I could have had bowls of this stuff.
About halfway into the class, Yui took us on a market tour to give our tummies a break. She drove us to her local market where she buys most of her ingredients. It was a treat to see where she does her shopping and have her further explain the ingredients we were using. The market also sells ready-to-eat food, and she pointed out her favorite vendors to us. As if we didn’t have enough to eat already, D bought a little bag of Northern Thai sausage.
Yui’s class is proof that not all Chiang Mai Thai cooking classes are created equal. Her class is not just about learning to make some Thai dishes. It’s rooted in a passion for food, for teaching and spreading the recipes, for the Thai culture, and for life. She didn’t just want to collect some money from us and send us on our way; she truly wanted us to understand the significance of each ingredient and the cooking technique so that we could continue to make it back in our home country. She treated us as friends, sharing her stories and life philosophies.
I truly believe that Yui’s class was one of the best things we did on our travels so far. It’s so true that one of the best ways to learn about a culture is through the food. With Yui, we were able to get a slice of true authentic Thai culture, with a side of deliciousness and a sprinkling of laughs and heart.
At the end of the day, we all left with our tummies stuffed full (some people brought home take-out boxes of anything they didn’t finish, but knowing the two of us, we polished off every single morsel) and her self-made cookbook containing all the recipes from her classes. It’s really the best kind of souvenir: a new set of skills that will allow us to carry a bit of Thailand with us wherever we go.
Practical Information:
- Price: full day class runs at 1500 baht, which is roughly US$45 per person. Includes transportation, all ingredients and materials, market visit, and recipes book. I thought this was very reasonable.
- Hours: this will be a full day activity, roughly from 9:30 am to 6 pm (pick-up to drop-off). Her classes are available Monday-Friday only.
- All dietary needs can be accommodated. Vegetarians/vegans don’t worry!
- Come hungry and you will leave STUFFED!
Have you taken a cooking class? What did you make? What other ways do you connect to a culture through food?
This post is linked up to Travel Tuesday with adventurings.
This is really cool! My boyfriend and I want to visit Asia (eventually) once we get all settled in London and I’m totally going to hunt one of these types of classes down when we go!
It was SO fun and I really think it’s one of the best things we’ve done! I really really recommend A Lot of Thai if you take one. I haven’t taken another one, but I’m sure that other ones won’t even compare!
I’m going to be in Chiang Mai in early April and I’ve been randomly looking at cooking classes… Looks like thanks to you I’ve also found the one! I’ve already bookmarked their website ;)
—————-
21 year old travel blogger
http://the-living-spree.blogspot.co.nz/
Yay! I’m so excited for you to take it too!! I know you’ll love it! It was one of the most fun activities I did in Chiang Mai, and even on all my travels so far!
Sounds like value for money! I’m glad you get to visit the market on top of cooking. It’s true, most of the cooking classes around just want to take your money, let you play with the wok for a while, and then send you on your way.
The extent of cooking classes I attended are Youtube and blogs, all self help. That’s why I am such a terrible cook :D
Nonsense! I don’t think the stuff you make look bad at all! At least you try. I would love to continue to make Thai dishes, but I can see getting the ingredients to be a problem :(.
My husband and I did a similar Thai cooking class while we were on our honeymoon in Koh Samui. Such terrific food and so much fun!
I know, right! I never thought cooking could be so fun! Sounds like a great honeymoon! :)
I loooved this post. I’ve heard about these cooking classes and seen some posts about them elsewhere but none that actually talked about the food you get to make, how it was made, and how you liked it. So interesting! And oh man, mango sticky rice!! I’ve actually made it once before and although the rice wasn’t as sticky as I would like, I thought it turned out pretty great.
I agree with you: new-found cooking skills really are the best souvenir!
I really hope I get to practice them someday! I would at least want to make mango sticky rice!! I think even with not as sticky rice, there’s no way that you can go wrong, because it’s just so good!!
This is amazing! What a great way of learning to make dishes! I would definitely add this to my list if I visit Thailand – because it sounds like a fun day!
If you make it to Chiang Mai, I really hope you do look it up! It was soooo much fun. We even thought about taking another one of her courses with a different menu, but we’ll save that for next time we’re back!
A lot of the above dishes aren’t suitable for me now that I’m vegan, but I’m positive that there would have been some vegan dishes they could have taught me to make. Mango and sticky rice though is vegan and I absolutely LOVE it and miss it a lot actually, I should learn how to make it by myself even though the mangoes I buy from the local shop here will never be as juicy and delicious like the ones we had in Asia :(
Yeah!! I was shocked at how juicy and sweet the mangos are here in Thailand! I really need to come up with the ingredients to make mango sticky rice myself. And no worries with being vegan! She can make changes to accommodate any kind of dietary needs. And I heard that she uses different things than just tofu every dish. :)
Mango with sticky rice is one of my favorite dishes EVER. As is tom yum soup. GREAT CHOICES!
A cooking class was one of the things I didn’t get to do when I was in Thailand… I know, I know! Something so simple and easy to do! But Thailand was the last leg of our trip, and we were dealing with a lot of unexpected stuff as a consequence of some dire straits we had encountered in Laos/Vietnam. Ah, well. Next time when I’m in Thailand ;)
Totally understandable! I’m sure you’ll be back sooner than later! And I LOVE mango sticky rice too!! I actually haven’t had it much before coming to Thailand, but it’s become one of my favorite desserts now!
I’ve never really thought of taking a cooking class before, but seeing this and recently reading about my friend’s cooking experience in Vietnam and Italy has reeeaallly got me thinking…
Oh nice!! I was so love with this one that I was thinking about taking a class in Vietnam as well (because I loooove Vietnamese food too!). It’s good to know that there is one. I will definitely search for one now :D
Looks like it was a great experience! I am a little intimidated by Thai cooking since they use a lot of ingredients that I’m not familiar with, but it’s great that they included a trip to the market.
You don’t have to be intimidated at all! She spent a lot of time explaining each ingredient, and even passing them around so you can touch and smell. There’s nothing scary about it :). And they taste GREAT too when they’re all cooked together. :D
Awesome, it sounds like a very thorough experience. Would love to check it out if I’m ever in the area!
I loved my Thai cookery class in Chiang Mai, it was one of the highlights of my trip, and your photos are beautiful :-) Also love the VW Camper I spotted parked outside!
I think this was definitely a highlight of the trip! Even though I saw more amazing things, this is one of the most FUN things we did :D. Yes!! I loved that old antique car too. I just couldn’t remember what it was called, so thank you! She picks people up in that and we drove to the marketplace in it!
This looks awesome! I’ve tried making pad thai and failed miserably. I jsut don’t have the right technique I think of frying up the noodles. That mango sticky rice sure looked tasty. I think I’d definitely want to try this out.
I would love to make my own pad thai! I wouldn’t know where to get the fresh tamarind paste or palm sugar though. For frying the noodles, it literally takes like 30 seconds for the noodles to be done (if you’re using fresh noodles, or after soaking dry noodles in water). And if it’s getting a little dry, add a few spoons of water in the wok :).
Totally agree that food is one of the best ways to enjoy a new culture! <3 And I love that you found a total gem like this amongst the seemingly endless raft of cooking classes in Thailand. I think a little bit of determined research for this kind of thing truly pays off!
I’m honestly so lazy to do a lot of in-depth research, so I’m glad this popped up as one of the top results of cooking class in Thailand! And I was excited to see that the menu was yummy too! I’m going to try to do more cooking classes whenever a place offers them now. :D
This class sounds awesome! I went to Thai Akha Cooking School for a class when I was in Chiang Mai. Also a class that I would definitely recommend.
You can read my post here – http://www.herenthere.co/blog/cooking-class-in-chiang-mai/
Lovely post Anna! You two sound just like me and my hubby. Your classroom looks gorgeous. We did Basil Cookery School – it was such a great experience, I wrote about it here: http://www.tripchow.com/look-like-thai-chef-in-three-hours/
We are keen to do more cooking classes so I might try your one next time :)
Hi Gale! Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. This class was so fun and I really think was one of the best experiences in my 2+ months in Thailand! I highly recommend it because the chef/teacher was so passionate about her work and her attitude was a huge part of the experience. Your cooking class looked great too!
Awesome publish and pictures! We took a veggie Chinese food preparation category in Chiang Mai and had such a tremendous time. Cooking in the gorgeous landscapes seems like an extra as well. We’ll have to check here position out when we return to Thailand later in the season.
http://www.destinationchiangmai.net/activities/