Since before the beginning of our Thailand trip various friends told us that we simply had to do a thai cooking class when we were there. As we spent more days in Chiang Mai than in any other place we visited in Thailand, the opportunity presented itself. My boyfriend Simon found this great Cooking School called the Basil Thai Cookery School online. So we signed up right away for the next day.
At around mid-morning the next day, we were picked up at our Guest House by our lovely cooking teacher "Apple". Obviously not her real name but she told us to call her Apple as we probably wouldn't be able to pronounce her thai name^^. We were the last ones to be picked up, so after we hopped in she took all of us straight to a little market.
Our little group consisted of two American travellers, a young couple from Great Britain and the two of us. When we arrived at the market Apple taught us about all the different fruits, vegetables and spices that were used in thai cooking. It was a really interesting experience as there are so many vegetables that you just don't come across in Europe. After our little introduction to the ingredients we had a little time to explore the market by ourselves while our teacher did the shopping for the actual cooking later on.
The market was not very big but therefor very authentic. Except for us, there were hardly any other tourists, which I rather liked. We bought some fruit shakes and watched the thai people do their shopping and interacting with the traders. In Thailand going shopping for food is not just an annoying chore but a social experience.
At the Cooking School, we were all handed a little list, where we could pick a dish from each category, that we wanted to learn how to cook. The categories were: Noodles, Stir-fries, Soups, Appetizers, Curries and Deserts.
So let's get cookin'! We started out with the first category. Depending on what we picked on the list, we were given the ingredients we needed. Apple showed us how to dice the various vegetables and after that we were introduced to our cooking stations. There were exactly six gas stoves next to each other with already waiting Woks on top of them. We were taught how to use the gas stove correctly and when to put them on which heat level. There were only three different heat levels.
Our teacher Apple rushed from one student to the other and helped us. Sometimes she would stand beside us and yell "Stir, stir, stir, stir!" like a little drill sergeant, which was kind of funny and made us all sweat and stir like crazy. We were really lucky to have such a genuinely nice and communicative teacher like Apple. We all liked her instantly. Also, her english was really good, so we had no problems at all understanding her.
We worked our way down the cooking list and everytime a category was done, we sat down at the big table in the front room and ate what we had just cooked. Our group got along very well and we offered one another to try our dishes as not everybody had cooked the same dish from that category.
If someone couldn't finish their dish or wanted to take it home, Apple packed it in those typically thai take-away plastic bags. And after a few dishes, I really had to do that too, because I was getting sooooo full from all that delicious food. And this way, dinner was already taken care of.
Halfway we had a little cooking break where Simon and I went to a little shop nearby and got some iced coffee. It was getting really hot next to those gas stoves and the humid climate in Thailand didn't help either^^.
I really liked how the class was set up. I liked the friendly, open atmosphere. My favourite part was when we learned how to fold and roll springrolls ourselves. I had never done that before and they turned out sooooo good!
After the class was done, each of us got a little cook book with all the recipes for the dishes we had just cooked. It also has definitions of thai vegetables and spices in it and it has detailed instructions on how to cook rice the correct way. Because apparently cooking rice really is rocket science ;)
We sat at the big table for a while flipping through the little book and chatting away with our group and Apple before she drove us back home to our Guest House.
It was a perfect day at the Basil Thai Cookery School and I would definitely do it again.
A few facts before you leave:
PRICE: 1000 Baht / Person (~27€ / ~28,50$ / ~20£)
TIMES: |Mo - Sa| Morning Course: 9am to 3pm
Evening Course: 4pm to 8.30pm
Have you ever done a thai cooking class?
What was your experience?
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