I already said that “The gastronomic revolution” was out of my mind.
Despite this, I have already written posts about food on my blog titled “The flavors and kindness of India”, “Flavors born on the beach”, “The durian” and “Six-day fast”.
At one point, I found myself seriously considering: maybe I should become a gastro blogger.
I’m not saying that’s necessarily why – well, it has nothing to do with it – but I paid for a Thai cooking course.
That was today.
And now I had to decide: should I write this post or make myself a proper pad thai.
Writing won.
How did I prepare for today?
I was looking forward to today with excitement.
I had already taken part in a cooking class with my older daughter, where we learned the secrets of sushi making. Based on my experience at the time and the very good reviews on Airbnb, I knew I was in for a great day.
The preliminary program – What will we do?
The weekend was for ultra-short preparation. We got to know the schedule, which was as follows.
We will meet at a local market on Monday morning.
Before the class starts, we will be given a menu, from which everyone will choose their own menu item, and then we will shop together accordingly.
The program included preparing five types of dishes.
Stir-fry – optional:
- pad thai
- cashew chicken
- pad see ew (thick noodles with soy sauce)
- drunken noodles (pad kee mao)
Soup:
- tom yum chicken
- coconut chicken soup
- hot and sour shrimp soup (with water)
- spicy and sour shrimp soup (with coconut milk)
Appetizer:
- papaya salad
- fresh spring rolls
- fried spring rolls
- mixed fruit salad
Dessert:
- mango sticky rice
- pumpkin with coconut milk
Curry:
- Curry cream is made from scratch.
- Optional: khaosoi (chiang mai noodles), green curry, red curry, Massaman curry.
I put together my own menu in no time:
- pad thai
- spicy and sour shrimp soup
- fried spring rolls
- mango sticky rice
- Massaman curry
The preparation was over.
At the market
This morning we met at a market in Chiang Mai’s old town. Six of us participated in the training as guests (seven, because one of the couples had their 2.5-year-old son with us), and our host (Aek) and his wife (Nok) helped us deepen our cooking knowledge.
We all received a cute little basket and started shopping.
The market was amazing. I saw a lot of fruits and vegetables that I had never even heard of before.
Aek told us a lot about these plants, Thai eating habits, spices, and their uses.
He gave us the fresh vegetables, so we had a lot of opportunity to smell them. I smelled wonderful fresh and unknown, or familiar but not very often smelled, scents today. I think I even smelled something that became love at first sniff.
We saw a lot of exciting ready-made food, and of course fresh meat, but not really fish. This market, as I experienced, is not a tourist attraction, or it was simply too early. On the other hand, I saw that everyone knows and loves Aek, so many people welcomed our group as friends.
The cooking school
Aek and his wife are professionals.
You could tell right away when you saw the kitchen set up in the yard.
A super big table that up to eight of us could stand around to prepare the ingredients for each dish. 8 professional stoves designed for woks, surrounded on all sides by enough space to comfortably accommodate the ingredients needed for frying and cooking.
Every minute of our few hours together was a perfectly coordinated, yet relaxed and cheerful pastime. Aek’s professionalism was also evident in the fact that he knew exactly what the 6 people were preparing, and gave everyone exactly what they needed. He conducted like a conductor and never missed a beat.
I certainly wouldn’t have known that the pad tahiti cooks put a spoonful of soy sauce on the small plate, while those choosing the other dish only put half. You take two green onions from the plate, you take three.
Here, too, I gained a lot of information about why we use these ingredients, why so much and why not more. We talked a lot about the balance of flavors in the dishes, which was a nice feeling because I actually knew this balance from my previous meals, but I didn’t know what was “behind the dish.”
The ingredients were prepared very professionally. Just enough for six people. The meats were prepared in small bowls, but we had to process everything else ourselves. We cut, chopped, and pitted them. We used a mortar.
We tasted quite a few ingredients. We smelled all the spices. You couldn’t smell the spices in the market, but here they were unlimited.
I’ve never smelled such delicious spices in my life. This world of cuisine is so different from the European one. Here, sweeter spices, citrusier, fresher scents dominate. My senses, accustomed to garlic and red pepper, soaked up the experience-carrying scents and flavors like a sponge.
Thai food
It was a great experience for me to photograph the pad thai that I made.
The taste of the food prepared according to Aek’s instructions was also excellent. I have eaten quite a few pad thai here in Asia, so I can definitely say that both mine and the pad thai available in Győr are original.
My next research will be the Chinese sweet and sour soup. LOL.
We ate everything we made. There was an option for someone to take home what they couldn’t eat. I didn’t take advantage of this option.
We also provided a way to eat the food. The place also had a dining area. We sat together so that everyone could enjoy the fruits of their own labor.
I noticed that we were all very satisfied with the flavors that came our way.
In addition to the ready-made dishes, there was also an off-menu item. For example, coconut sticky rice. Or mangosteen. But tamarind was very exciting, which I have written about before. But now I could not only see it, but also taste it. And both the sour and sweet versions. Excellent fruit!
We also learned cooking techniques. We cooked and baked.
In the pictures you can see ready-made dishes that I made.
By the end of the program, I was full of food, new experiences, and joy. I didn’t become a Thai chef, but I know this cuisine much better – and maybe a little bit about myself in it.
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If you enjoyed this story, you can buy me a coffee. You don’t have to – but it means a lot and I always turn it into a new adventure.
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