I thought it might be interesting to take a half-day Thai cooking course while in Chiang Mai and, originally, signed up both ex-Marine and myself. But then a light bulb went on. Why should I learn to cook? Travels With Sheila has been cooking for over 50 years. Instead, I’ll observe while ex-Marine, husband, Steve, does the chopping, dicing and cooking. Such a great thought, yes? Vieng Travel made these arrangements, and a songtaew picked us up at the Chiang Mai Gate Hotel. Neither of us had any idea where the school was located, the name or even what we were going to learn. It just sounded like fun and something different to do.
The songtaew stopped at two other hotels and picked up one couple, both lawyers from San Francisco, and another couple from the Boston area. Dropped at the cooking school office opposite Thapae Gate to check in, we were shocked to see the small office loaded with today’s students handing in vouchers and paying for their course. There must have been at least 40-50 persons milling around.
The Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School is run by Sompon and Elizabeth Nabnian. It was established in 1993 and was the first cookery school to open in Chiang Mai. There are plenty others but this is arguably supposed to be the best.
Paid up, everyone was loaded into mini vans and transferred to the actual cooking school located around 15km/9.3 miles out of Chiang Mai in a private residential area (gorgeous houses). All I can say is, what a set-up. Coffee, tea, and mineral water was always available plus clean bathrooms. The big, open cooking area was divided into long lines of individual stations, one per student, with your own wok.
Divided into two groups of perhaps 20 in a group, each student chef was given a recipe book that included the dishes that we were going to cook today. ex-Marine psyched himself up, put on his little green apron and was actually a little scary with that big knife in his hand…View image, and I prepared to video and take notes. Quite a few of the students had signed up for multiple day classes (you can take a half day, one day and even five days). The man next to ex-Marine was on his third day of cooking Thai food and extremely helpful. The majority of students were a lot more serious about Thai cooking then we were and really into it.
The first part of the cooking course was an educational talk in a classroom for our group of 20 on different herbs… (there were two different basils…View image) and spices used in Thai cooking. Each herb/spice/additive (for example, fish sauce…View image) was passed around to smell and get a closer look at. One ingredient, Kaffir Lime, would be impossible to duplicate back home but regular lime could be substituted. The main ingredients are Chinese Celery, Coconut Milk, Coriander, Eggplant, Fish Sauce, Garlic, Ginza (a type of ginger), Kaffir Lime, Lemongrass, Mushrooms, Noodles, Palm Sugar, Shallots, Shrimp Paste, Tamarind, Tofu and Tumeric.
A coffee break and time to walk around Thai Cookery School’s own vegetable and herb garden. Now I knew why the eggplant in the green curry and eggplant dish at Aroon Rai a few days ago looked nothing like our eggplants (or aubergines) back in America. These are small green eggplants about the size of a tomato. Back to the classroom…
