Asia Recipes Travel

Travel || Thai Cooking Class (in Thailand)

We love Thai food, so we set aside an afternoon to do a cooking class. The venue we chose offered different menus on different days, so instead of scheduling our class around our availability, we scheduled it around what we’d most like to eat. That seems like the natural decision, right? 

First of all, I’d like to point out how amazing it was to cook outdoors. If only all of my recipe posts could be done like this; outside, in warm sun with perfect natural lighting. Alas! We started the class by learning about the massaman curry first. The chef demonstrated the whole process, and then we had a chance to try it for ourselves. I let Sam do all the jobs that I don’t like to do, like chopping the chicken. My favourite thing about the lesson was that the cooking staff, and especially our wonderful chef didn’t hesitate to tell you if you were making a mistake! When Chef tasted our curry, she declared it not sweet enough, so I embarrassedly added in an extra spoonful of palm sugar to make it just right! (I also put in some extra peanuts when no one was watching, just for me!) 

Next up we had the pad thai goong. Sam had the illustrious job of prepping and deheading the prawns and I didn’t envy him this task. Since I don’t eat seafood, I sat out the tasting of this recipe, but I got stuck into the actual cooking of it. Believe it or not, the hardest aspect of the recipe was preparing the noodles so that they were just the right consistency! 

Our cooking class was in the late afternoon, and we were able to set everything aside for a few hours and come back and stuff ourselves later on for dinner. I was super proud of our massaman in the end, but I know it wouldn’t have gone nearly as well without such good guidance. 

Our cooking class was at Khao Lak Laguna, 26/8 Moo 7, Khuk-khak , Takuapa, Phang-nga, Thailand 82220

Phad Thai Goong Sot

Ingredients: 

250 g rice noodles
200 g fresh shrimp
3 tablespoons of oil
.5 cups of fried tofu
2 tablespoons of dried turnip
1 egg, beaten
1 cup of bean sprouts
1/4 cup of Chinese chives, chopped
1/4 cup of roasted peanuts, chopped

For the sauce:
3 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup of dried prawns
1/4 cup of fish sauce
1/4 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of tamarind juice
1 tablespoon of paprika

To garnish:
1/2 cup of bean sprouts
1/2 cup of chives, chopped
1/2 lime, cut into wedges

Instructions: 

Soak the rice noodles in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain them and set them aside for later. Then heat a large skillet and add in your oil. Sauté the garlic and dried shrimp. Next add in the noodles and stirfry until they go translucent.

Then add in the fish sauce, dried prawns, sugar, tamarind juice and paprika and mix everything together in your pan until thoroughly combined. Next, stir in the tofu and dried turnips.

Whilst stirring gently, turn the heat up a bit higher and make a space in your pan to crack an egg into. Break the egg and whisk it whilst it cooks until just set. Then combine everything in the pan, giving it a few tosses to all become mixed together. Reduce the heat back down to medium and cook for about two minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Mix in the chives, peanuts and beansprouts and then garnish with all the additional bits (if desired).

Massaman Curry

Ingredients: 

150 g chicken
3 tablespoons of massaman curry paste
1 cup of coconut cream
2 cups of coconut milk
3 potatoes, boiled, peeled and cut into chunks
2 onions, chopped
2 tablespoons of peanuts
2 tablespoons of palm sugar
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
3 tablespoons of tamarind juice
1 tablespoon of chicken stock

Instructions: 

Heat the coconut milk in a large pan over medium heat until it just starts boiling. Then add your chopped chicken pieces, reduce the heat and simmer for about 2 minutes.

Then add in your coconut cream, curry paste and sauté for about 1 minute stirring constantly. Next add in your peanuts, sugar, fish sauce, tamarind juice, chicken sauce, onion and pre-boiled potatoes.

Simmer until everything is tender and cooked through


Our brilliant chef and teacher! 


About to dive into our tasty meal. 

Have you ever taken any cooking classes whilst you were on holiday? 

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