Chiang Mai #1: Thai Orchid Cooking School and Sunday Walking Market

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It was quite noisy outside last night, so I didn't sleep too well. The bags under my eye were huge and no amount of slap could hide their existence, however my headache had gone! I didn't think that would have happened due to my lack of sleep. I went down to the reception/cafe/lounge room to pay for my room for the week. The two ladies working there were lovely. They sorted out my payment and then sat me down with several maps, one of the neighbourhood I was staying in, a one which had the whole city on it, and another one for Maerim (which I didn't end up visiting). It was so sweet of them, on the map of Chiang Mai, they pointed out the main sites to visit in the old city, and other places of interest around the city. The map of the local area was great, it had quite a few different convenience stores, supermarkets, the local market, restaurants, massage places and food stalls marked on it.

After getting sorted, I ran up to the Tesco Lotus (you're never far away from a Tesco, no matter where in the world you are) and stocked up on some beverages to keep me going. Their ready-to-go food selection was none existent, luckily I had spied a restaurant, that had been on my map, that were selling pastries outside. I picked up a pain au chocolat. When I got back to the hostel, A, one of the owners of the cooking school was waiting to pick me up. I apologised for being late, and she was lovely about it, and when I asked if I could eat in the car, she said I could. What a lovely lady! We chatted and picked up another couple of ladies. We arrived at the cookery school. It's in the old city (I think!), it was really nice, everybody else on the course was already there. We were given a form to fill in, we had to tick what we wanted to cook. We would be making six things today; an appetizer, soup, curry paste, curry, noodle dish, and a dessert. It didn't take me long to decide what I wanted to make, I had vaguely decided when I booked the course a couple of months ago. I chose chicken satay, Tom Yum Goong, Red Curry paste, Panang Curry, Pad Thai, and Thai Pancake.

We were given some aprons to wear, and after getting them on we headed to the outside kitchen. The work stations were great, we each had our own work station and, A and Kong, had taped our pieces of paper with all our choices written on, to our work stations. The work stations had space to store our bags and cameras under, if we didn't want to leave them in the dining room, and everything was very, very clean. After getting sorted, A showed us how to make the marinade for the chicken satay. Then we headed into the classroom and Kong showed us how to make spring rolls. There was a mirror on the ceiling above Kong, so if we couldn't see what he was doing we could look up there. After the demo, we headed back outside, and split into the two groups of spring rolls or chicken satay. Our satay sticks had been marinading nicely, and we put them on the grill to cook. A showed us how to make the satay sauce and a cucumber salad to go with the chicken. We could alter the measures in the satay sauce to suit our tastes, so I added more red curry paste. It was quick to cook and smelt so good. I was definitely getting hungry. We chopped the vegetables for our cucumber salad, and made the dressing of vinegar and sugar. I'm surprised at how much sugar goes into Thai cuisine, as it never tastes overly sweet. They have the balance just right. We plated up and headed into the dining room to eat our appetizers. I can safely say it was delicious. A and Kong had also made some extra spring rolls and satay stickers, so the others could try them

Next up was the soup course. There were three choices, Tom Kha Gai (chicken in coconut milk soup), and two Tom Yum Goong (hot and sour prawn soup) one with coconut milk and one without. A showed us how to make the prawn stock for the Tom Yum Goong, and then we headed to the classroom and Kong demonstrated how to make the three different soups. Kong showed us hoe to make each soup and then he invited us up to try them. They were all really good. I was looking forward to making my soup, as I like to make soup at home, but nothing this exotic normally. Also I was really pleased that I had tried the Tom Kha Gai, as I don't think I had had it before and I really enjoyed it, so I will try making this, and order it at Thai restaurants in the future. I made the creamy Tom Yum Goong. The soups were fairly simple to make, so not too daunting to try and make it at again at home. It does help here that most of the ingredients are prepared for you. We did lots of chopping and measuring, but no hunting around the kitchen cupboards for ingredients. I couldn't believe how quick the soup was to make (partly because the vegetable were already made), and it was delicious to eat too.

A then showed us how to make red and green curry paste. She showed us the different ingredients involved and put them in a mortar and we each had a go at using the pestle to grind the ingredients. In the olden days, before blenders, it would take ages to grind the spices, but now we can do it so much more quickly with the aid of a blender. A said that we should still try to use a pestle and mortar for about half an hour to grind the spices, as it helps the flavours to come out. Simply, shoving all the ingredients in the blender and blitzing it, doesn't have the same effect. We took turns grinding the pastes, boy it was hard work. We didn't grind them completely, A said that their assistants would finish them off in the blender, while we visited the market.

We all got into the van and drove for about five minutes to the market. I had previously done a cooking class a few years ago in Cambodia, which had included a market visit, too. However that one was before we started cooking. I preferred doing it this way, and visiting the market in the middle, as it gave us a break from the kitchen and a chance to let some our the food we had eaten settle, before heading back to cook and eat some more. the market we visited was Somphet Market, it is located in the old city. We had a look around the market and A explained some different things that were on sale. One thing I couldn't get my head around was the black and pink eggs. The shells are dyed pink, so that people don't mistake them for regular eggs. They are preserved for a long time, and I think they are buried to preserve them, though I could be wrong. This turns the egg black. It is safe to eat and you can either eat them raw or cook them. I'm a pretty adventurous eater, but I didn't really fancy trying these, they smelt a bit funky. A told us about some of the different fruits and vegetables. We also visited a little shop, where our noodles were freshly made to go into our Pad Thais, that we would make later. We had some free time to wander around the market. I bought some chili paste and looked at some other stuff. There were spice sets that contained the ingredients to make Tom Yum Goong, everything was dried, so we wouldn't have to worry about them perishing. I would get some of these later in my trip. A and Kong were so sweet, it was pretty hot outside, so they had brought everyone a bottle of water to drink, whilst we took a look around the market.

Back at the cooking school, our curry pastes were ready and it was time to start cooking again. Kong demonstrated hoe to make all the different curries, green curry, panang curry, and yellow curry, and of course we all got to try a bit of each one. They all tasted delicious, but I was still happy that I had picked the panang curry to make, as it was definitely my favourite. I learnt that I definitely make Thai curry wrong when I make it at home. I always cook the meat or vegetables first in the paste, but here I learnt to add cook the curry paste with some coconut cream before adding the other ingredients. The curry smelt heavenly. I had made my curry with chicken, you could choose either pork or chicken. After we had cooked our curries, it was back to the classroom to learn how to make Pad Thai. Everyone had opted to make this dish. Kong made it look so quick and easy to cook, but would we find it that easy? They had said it would be super quick, and that our curries won't go cold. We filled our plates with all the ingredients in order. It was really quick to cook. First the tofu, then shallots, egg, noodles and water, seasonings, and finally the beansprouts and peanuts. It was a bit of a juggle keeping all the ingredients in the wok, and only having a specific ingredient over the heat. But I'm sure with time and lots of practice, I'll nail it.

We headed to the dining room and tucked in to our feasts of curry and Pad Thai. They were lush! I really enjoyed them. We all thought it would be too much food, but it was so good, that we ended up polishing the lot off. Thoroughly stuffed, and with no room left in our stomachs it was time for dessert. I had chosen to make Thai Pancake. It was pretty straight forward. Interestingly, the banana is put in the pancake, when it is cooking. I put plenty of condensed milk and honey on my finished pancake. Sometimes I love the obsession South East Asia has with condensed milk. This is one of these times. However there are times, when they mix it with stuff, I think it shouldn't be mixed with. The pancake was good, and set me up for my roti obsession that would follow. Also A gave us some lemongrass tea, it was nice, and it used up the rest of the lemongrass, that we had out in our Tom Yum Goong earlier. We also learnt something new, lemongrass keeps the mosquitoes away! So, not only does it smell amazing, taste fabulous, but it stops you from being bitten! To finish off, we had some fruit, there was the regular pineapple or mango (I can't remember which), rose apples which were tasty, and the piece de resistance DURIAN! I was happy, after years and years in Asia, I'm finally getting to try durian. Durian is the really stinky fruit that is banned from most hotels and various modes of transport. A and Kong had bought some earlier at the market and I could smell it in the van as we drove back, but it wasn't too overpowering. It wasn't too bad to eat either, I managed a couple of bits of it. The texture was really creamy, and it didn't have much of a taste. However the aftertaste had a tinge of raw onion to it, and it seemed to get stronger. This put me off from eating any more.

A drove me back to the hotel. She is lovely to chat to and we talked about being teachers, as she used to be a high school teacher. Back at the hotel, i decided that I needed a nap. I was so tired, but when I lay down, I was just too wired to sleep. So I decided to head into the old town and head to the Sunday Walking Market. I left around half five and it took a good forty minutes to get to the market. The old city is not what I had expected. Its really busy, quite big, and there are tonnes of cars. I followed the moat around and reached Tha Pae Gate. A had told me earlier that they close the road to traffic for the market. You can see why, it is just a sea of bodies. I had went pretty earlier, to try and avoid the hordes, but I don't think that it is possible. At some points it was impossible to move independently, and you were part of the moving sea of people. I spent a couple of hours looking around the stalls. There was so much stuff on offer and I did end up buying a few things. They were all cheap things though, as I didn't have much money left after paying for my hotel and the cooking class. The Walking Market was a lot bigger than I imagined, and I thought I was never going to reach the end, it just went on and on.

Whilst walking through the market I wandered off into a temple, which the market had overspilled into. There were a load of stalls set up in its grounds. The temple was really pretty. I also had a quick look at Wat Pra Singh, which is at the end of the Sunday Walking Market, but it was really, really busy, and this put me off going in for a good look around. I decided to head back to the hotel. I followed a random road down to the edge of the old city, and then headed back. I was staying quite far from the old city, but I didn't mind as I like walking. When I got back, I was still feeling pretty full from lunch, but felt I needed something small to eat, so I headed to 7-11 and got a toastie for old time's sake. I must have eaten a million of them when I was in Bangkok during the summer.

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Photos

The Finished Product
Chicken Satay with Cucumber Salad

A Explaining...
... how to make curry paste.