I was in Bangkok last weekend, and having been there several times already, was at a loss regarding finding something more meaningful to do besides shopping and eating. Thankfully, trusty Trip Advisor gave pretty good trip advice - Silom Cooking School ranked No. 9 among 181 attractions in Bangkok.
I booked a class over the internet, and we met the instructor at one of the skytrain stations. After gathering everyone (about 11 people altogether), we headed for a nearby market to pick up the ingredients. At each stop, the instructor gave a short commentary about what we were buying and what we were going to do with it.
First stop was a seafood stall to buy prawns for tom yum goong and phad thai.
This lady doesn't just sell seafood...
There's also a pup for sale! Don't think dogs are classified as seafood though. (ok just kidding, apparently that was her pet - but we got a bit of a shock when what we thought was a plastic bag suddenly popped its head out)
Moving on to the coconut stall....
Nusi the instructor explaining how to get coconut milk from old coconuts
At the kuey teow stall to pick up rice noodles for phad thai
At the vegetable stall getting a tutorial on chillies - apparently the difference between red and green curry is the colour of the chillies that are used.
There are 4 types of ginger used in Thai cooking: galangal, finger ginger, tumeric and normal ginger.
Mushrooms - the straw mushrooms on the left are used for tom yum goong.
Eggplant for the green curry.
There are also various types of basil in Thai cooking - sweet basil, holy basil and mint (it's a type of basil!)
Market street was crowded and busy - just the way it should be for a saturday morning.
The labourers headed back to Nusi's apartment and got to work chopping chicken, shelling prawns and washing vegetables.
Grated coconut with milk waiting to be squeezed. Just add water!
Getting the first press of cream out.
Pounding garlic.
Ingredients for tom yum goong - thai coriander, galangal, lime leaves, tomato and straw mushrooms. The little red containers had fish sauce, chilli paste and lime.
Everyone hard at work.
All set for dish 1: Tom yum goong.
We added a bit of water to the wok, and threw in all the ingredients.
Cooking in progress
This generated a lot of smoke....if this had been Singapore, someone would have already complained about unauthorised use of premises with no written permission.
But the end product was delicious! We were amazed that we managed to cook such a yummy dish!
Back to the chopping board for dish No. 2: Phad Thai
All the stuff you need for phad thai: palm sugar, preserved radish, garlic, shallots, chives, tofu, fish sauce, tamarind paste, peanuts and chilli.
In it all went, with prawns too.
It was yummy!
Back for Dishes 3 and 4: Larb gai (chicken salad) and gaeng khiaw wan gai (green curry).
Larb all mixed up....
With sticky rice being added.
Delish! We didn't realise that the brown nutty small bits were actually ground toasted rice.
Raw material for dessert: tum tim grob, or red rubies. The water chestnut pieces are soaked in red syrup for about 20 mins.
Cutting chillies for the green curry paste.
Pounding the green curry paste.
Ready to roll out the green curry
Cooking in progress....the aromas were starting to come out....
Green curry cooked by yours truly
Dessert time: Dip the water chestnuts into tapioca flour, and get a pot of boiling water.
Boil the chestnuts until they float.
And then dip them in cool water. Separately, boil coconut milk with salt and sugar.
It was unbelievably simple, and delicious.
All in, it was a very interesting morning and it was a great way to spend 4-5 hours learning more about Thai cooking and meeting people from other countries. There are 2 other cooking schools that I found on Trip Advisor - Blue Elephant and Baipai - but they appeared more upmarket. I thought that Silom was a good find - down to earth, simple, rustic and homely.
Address: 68 Silom Soi 13 Opposite Narai Hotel Bangkok Thailand
