I finally took a Thai cooking class and let me tell you, it exceeded my dreams and expectations! Given that I’m obsessed with food (Thai food in particular), healthy eating, and discovering why people eat what they do around the world made this the ultimate foodie experience for me! I dove in and signed up for a full day-6 hour course with who I believe is the best Instructor in Chiangmai, Thailand!
My journey to mastering my curry skills began like this, I got picked up around 8:30 a.m. and met some of the people that would also be taking the course with me. Our first stop was a trip to the local market to pick up ingredients needed. This farmers market is one of the most peaceful markets I’ve ever been to with options like fresh put together herbs and curries to make quick Thai dishes, sliced up fruit, juices and unique flowers. We drove 10 km out of the city center to arrive at the gorgeous location with an outdoor kitchen setup with individual stoves and a well prepared chopping station for us that won points with their attention to detail. We were taken upstairs to the lovely rooftop to receive an official introduction to the course and relax with some lemongrass tea before getting to work.
We spent the rest of the day cooking 7 traditional Thai dishes we selected guided by Cat the Instructor, laughing, learning and my favorite part, eating! She made it super easy for me to customize my vegetarian options as I only chose to make one chicken dish, panang chicken with curry paste made from scratch! This was back when we were making exceptions and it was Shaun’s all time favorite meal. Although, I loved learning how to substitute certain ingredients to make your dish healthy, vegetarian and even vegan without taking away its authenticity! This is one of the reasons why I’ve been fascinated with Thai food. Everything we made was delicious and guilt free!
I created a veggie tom kha gai soup, veggie pad thai noodles, papaya salad, panang chicken, learned how to make coconut milk, a traditional thai dessert, and mango sticky rice. The group of people I took the course with were a great time, diverse, friendly, we shared everything we made and just had great vibes all around! We finished the day with a tour of their organic garden where Cat shared more knowledge on the ingredients we used, received our certificate of completion and a recipe book.
If you have an appreciation for Thai food like I do then doing a cooking class is an absolute must when in Chiang Mai and of course I highly recommend the one I went to! I honestly feel like going to Pra Nang Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School was the best decision on this Thailand trip! Cat was funny, personable, informative and warm. She walked us through every step to assure we enjoyed this amazing experience.
TO LEARN HOW I FIND FLIGHTS FOR $20
