Day 11 Thai cooking class
This was one thing I planned to do from the start, an all day cooking class at a farm in the countryside. The instructor picked us up in a van and we stopped at a local market, where she showed us all the different ingredients. Once at the farm we toured the herb gardens and tried some of the fresh herbs to see what they tasted like.
The instruction was detailed and easy to follow, each student had their own mortal and pestle and wok. We would make seven dishes, six of our choice counting curry paste and its’ curry, everyone made the spring rolls. We tried the dishes as we made them; it was surprisingly easy and quick to prepare fresh Thai food from scratch with the traditional ingredients. I now have many of my facebook friends back home waiting for an invite to dinner. It was quite a lot of food and I didn’t need to eat anything else the rest of the day.
Once back in town I found a little place with buy 2 mojitos, get one free; I just sat there talking to the owner and watching the world go by. I called it an early night and headed back to the hotel.



Making the curry paste



Spring roll and papaya salad




Tom yum soup and Khao Soi, a special Chiang Mai curry



Mango with sticky rice

Everything looks GREAT, except the mango with sticky rice. What does the rice have in it, to make it that color?

Sammy, your trip report so far as been a real treat. Thailand is a country that has fascinated me for years.

The elephant sourjourn sounds like it was a bit uncomfortable, but interesting.

Such a beautiful country.

I love Thai food. Your cooking lesson and photos bring back memories of some really great meals.

Sue

Carol, it looks like they have used butterfly peas...the flower to colour it.....I just googled blue Thai rice....sure wish this forum had smellavision.....kate <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/canada.gif" alt="" />

OK, will be interesting to see what Sammy says that it was.

Yup my mouth is officially watering. Awesome report !

Sticky rice is a particular strain of rice, you have to soak it at least 4 hours and ideally overnight before cooking it, it's just naturally sticky when cooked.
Yes the blue color is from Pea Flowers, you soak them in water and to extract the color then add the water, minus the flowers, to the sticky rice with cocnut cream and lots of palm sugar since it is a dessert