Submitted by Madison D’Amico on the 2017 winter session program in Australia and Thailand sponsored by the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics…
After conquering the city of Bangkok and the beaches of Rayong, I was ready for the change to Chaing Mai. Chang Mai is more of a town set-up, it is not as crowded or polluted as a city, but it still has a lot of fun things to do! First on our itinerary was a Thai cooking class. The past week and a half here, I have not been the biggest fan of the Thai food, however, I was excited to learn about how the food is made.
The morning began with us being split up into three groups of twelve and each group was given a tour guide and a personal van. My guide’s name was Wass. She first brought us to a farmer’s market. Here, she showed us where people purchase their food. There were endless foods ranging from rice to chicken to produce and more. We then picked out the ingredients for the food we would later be making at the cooking class. After the market, our guide took us to the farm where we drove past the animals and crops. The majority of the food we were cooking was grown on site minus the few things we purchased at the market.
The first step of cooking was putting on a funny hat and an apron and each person had their own little cooking station. Wass, our guide, would teach us step by step how to make a course and we would follow along and then take a break and enjoy the food. The first course was a soup called Tom Yam. It was made with a flavored broth of chili peppers, mushrooms, lemongrass, fish sauce, lime leaves, tomatoes, sugar, onion, parsley, shallots and either shrimp or chicken. I personally was not a huge fan of the soup because it was a little spicy. Thai soup is very different from most things you will find in America. The next course was Pad Thai noodles which were made from rice noodles, carrots, tofu, onions, egg, lemon, molasses, salt, shallots, chili powder, brown sugar and soy sauce. I absolutely loved the noodles and will be trying to make them at home! The third course was called Kaeng Ka Ri Gai. It was essentially chicken and yellow curry with garlic, lemongrass, shallots, chili peppers, curry powder, seeds, sweet basil, sugar, fish sauce, salt and coconut milk. I learned how to make the curry from scratch which included grinding up the ingredients until they formed a paste. I do not like the smell or taste of curry so I barely made a dent in this course. It was extremely spicy and I accidentally ate an entire pepper which left a burning sensation in my mouth for about ten minutes later. To finish it off, we made a dessert, Kluay Bod Chii. The dessert was made from coconut milk, water, brown sugar, bananas, salt and roasted sesame seeds. It was a fantastic dessert and contained a very different texture and flavor than most desserts I have ever had.
The Thai cooking class was an amazing experience. I learned how different the ingredients and meals are. The foods seem to contain way more spices than the food I am used to. Thai cuisine has definitely grown on me the more I have been here and I am very happy I had the opportunity to see the entire process that goes into it!