Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School

The second weekend in March we went to Chiang Mai, Thailand...


map of Thailand- we flew from Bangkok (yellow dot) to Chiang Mai (red dot)


waiting every so patiently for the plane

Why do all of these posts seem to start with an airport or airplane shot? I guess we flew a lot! Liza came up to Chiang Mai with Dave and I for the weekend- we flew up so she could fit it in to her work schedule. We hustled to get to the airport on time, only to find out that our plane was delayed for hours....so we sat and waited for hours...

Once we finally got out of Bangkok and touched down in Chiang Mai, our wait wasn't over...


how many Thais does it take to empty a plane?

The pedestrian ramp at our gate was stuck- they couldn't move it to the plane so we could disembark. Its now past midnight. We're all grumpy.


rescued! option #2 is a rolling stair!

They finally found a rolling stair to get us off the plane with- whew! I thought we were going to be stuck on there forever! Needless to say we were in no mood to haggle with the taxi drivers or go door to door looking for a good deal on a hostel. Luckily, we had picked a place out of the guide book early- called "Your House Guesthouse"- the woman who runs the place is named Sin. Seemed like just the ticket! And I would definitely recommend the place- the people were very nice, the place was decent and clean, not too loud, and the room we all stayed in had some beautiful teak wood- old skool! Its located inside the moat- the older section of Chiang Mai- definitely the area that caters more to backpackers. Heres a map of Chiang Mai- notice the square moat!:


old town Chiang Mai- map from the Your House Guesthouse webpage

Liza, Dave and I woke up the next morning eager to start cooking- we planned to take a day-long course in Thai Cooking from the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School. They do a multiple day course, and you can take as many or few as you want- each day boasts different recipes and a different focus. It cost us each 990 bhat, just under $30, and was worth every penny!

The day we took the class they took everyone to the local market to buy ingredients.


market greens, ready for sale

The market we went to was the same market that the general population buys their groceries at. I'm sure they had a deal with the sellers at all of the stalls, because we took over one woman's vegetable stall while our instructor pointed out the different kinds of ingredients we needed- everyone had one or two things they were in charge of buying- and what to look for- how firm things should be, what kind of peppers to buy, etc. We were given vouchers to give to the sellers instead of money- then our instructor went back in and paid the sellers money for the vouchers we gave them. Worked out well- you could tell that the sellers liked having us come through.


we received instruction on what to look for in each of the ingredients- some were typical (eggs) and some were unusual (tiny green pea eggplant in plastic bags at the bottom of the photo)

Dave and I were the only ones in the class who requested vegetarian cooking- so we were also shown the different kinds of tofu available, and bought one of each kind- silken, firm, and firm with pretty yellow (saffron?) dyed edges (tasted the same, just looks prettier!).


Dave makes a purchase

The whole thing was great fun! We also had a little time to poke around the rest of the market. I LOVE these open air markets that you find in countries like this! So much more real and alive and genuine than the sterilized, waxed and illuminated supermarkets of America. Not only can you buy ingredients- vegetables, fresh noodles, live chickens, freshly butchered meats, herbs and seasonings- but you could buy meat on a stick (a Thai favorite) as well as simple soups and other meals made right there in the middle of all of the fresh ingredients. You KNOW this is local eating!


super fresh fish- straight from the bucket onto the grill!


the market is in an alley just off this street, a typical Chang Mai street with wires running everywhere and unassuming dusty apartments squeezing the sidewalk

Once everyone had made their purchases, we were herded back out into the street to a couple of awaiting trucks- we rode in one that was a typical pickup with bench seats lining the two sides of the bed and a metal roll cage type of structure around it- where we rode, gripping the metal bars and our purchases!


Liza and Dave with their purchases from the market- tuk tuk behind them was just for show, but they're very common vehicles!

They trucked us out of the city to the "suburbs" - just far enough that the buildings spread out and became large, prosperous looking single family houses, not unlike some of the ones you might find in a well-to-do American neighborhood. Leafy vegetation crowded the houses and the road. The sprawling compound we ended up at was definitely a house, with the addition of a great open-air covered porch with cooking stations set up in two rectangles.


the school was set up on a covered patio- everyone got their own burner and wok

Everyone in the class got their own prep and cooking station, which consisted of a wide stainless steel table with a huge single burner, hooked to propane, I think. The burner had an integral metal ring for a wok to sit in- the only pan we used for all of our dishes. We each also had a small cleaver, a cutting board, and a couple of stirring spoons.


Liza stands before her burner- these things were HOT!

The whole class (about 15 people) filed into a small classroom with tiered seating and a long prep station with a couple of burners and a long mirror hung above at just the right angle so you could watch everything the instructor did on the table top. Sompon, the main instructor, taught a few of the dishes, and his helpers did some of the others- everyone was very good and humorous about each thing they did.


Sompon, the main instructor, going over the steps for the next dish- the mirror above him made it easy to watch what he was doing

After watching the instructor make the dish, we filtered out to our stations, picked up the ingredients from a table in the center of the pavilion, and started cooking! This involved a bit of chopping and a lot of joyful shouting- dump it in now! okay stir! stir more! turn off the gas! It seemed to take no more than 5 minutes to cook each thing- so fast, so easy! Mindblowing!


Chelsea and Liza cookin' it up!

We made six dishes:
fried big noodles with sweet soy sauce
tofu with cashew nuts
steamed fish in banana leaves
yellow curry with tofu
spicy prawn salad
bananas in coconut milk
(I will post a recipe or two if I get a chance)


classroom instruction- this instructor was very funny

Before each dish, the whole class sat through instruction- talking about what each ingredient was, how to cut it correctly, and when to add it to the mix. Then we all filed out and prepared our own portion.


Dave marked his banana leaf with the burning man symbol- )'(

We made a couple of dishes, and then sat down to each them all together. After the break, we made a couple more, and then sat down to eat those. By the end of the second meal break I was suffed beyond repair!


awesome food we just made- from top: rice, steamed fish in banana leaves, yellow curry, and tofu with cashew nuts

All of the food was so good! I think my favorite was.... oh I don't think I could even pick! Tofu with cashew nuts, fried big noodles, yellow curry, steamed fish.... by the time we ate the bananas in coconut milk for dessert I didn't think I could put another bite in me... but it was also so good! The spicy prawns were my least favorite, if I had to choose something, but even that was really good!


Liza and Chelsea dig in!

This last photo is for Dave's brother- we were in a fish and chips place on the main backpackers drag- owned and run by an expat from England- he had this Hash House Harriers sticker on his wall- made us think of Steve Massie!


on on! this one is for the Big Pink