Thai Cooking Class

Green Papaya Salad
Originally uploaded by metaphoric.

Attended a Thai cooking class just today at the resort as part of a team building exercise. Surprisingly, the food turned out pretty good despite our bumbling and burning.

Note to Self: Cooking class instructors need to be very good at "rescuing" dishes that have gone astray. We added too much salt, too much sugar to some dishes, and still it could be salvaged and very palatable!

Recipes that we made were... Kiew Wan Gai (chicken green curry), Som Tum Thai (Thai Green Papaya Salad) and Tom Yum Goong (spicy prawn soup). The recipes were a little messed up in the order that they were made, but by and large, from memory, here they are... tried and (somewhat) tested.

Tom Yum Goong

Ingredients:
1 piece red shallot, cut into wedges
1 stalk coriander root, pound with flat side of knife
1 stalk lemon grass, white root end sliced at 45 degree angle (smash to get more flavor)
4 slices galangal (young ginger), slice into strips for more flavor (smash to get more flavor)
60g straw mushrooms
1/2 tbsp Chilli paste
1 tomato, cut into wedges
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp sugar (to taste)
1/4 tbsp salt (to taste)
4 river prawns (optional: can add chicken)
4 Kaffir lime leaves, remove stalk and tear up
2 small red chillis (halved)
400ml chicken stock or prawn stock
2 tbsp lime juice

Method:

1. Heat up soup stock in pot at low fire until stock begins to simmer
2. Add shallots, coriander roots, galangal and lemongrass and bring to a boil.
3. Add straw mushrooms and continue boiling.
4. Season with fish sauce, salt, sugar and chili paste. (At this time, the soup turns into characteristic color. Some people prefer less color and more spice, in which case, tune less of the chili paste, and add more chilli later.)
5. Add the prawns/chicken and boil until prawns/chicken are cooked.
6. Add Kaffir lime leaves and chili.
7. Add tomatoes and continue simmer boiling. (Tomatoes will disintegrate into soup if cooked too long, so its ok to have nearly raw tomatoes in the soup.)
8. Season with lime juice and turn off the heat.
9. Serve.

Som Tum Thai (Green Papaya Salad)

Ingredients:

100g shredded green papaya (Don't get those that are too sour. Replace with carrots or radish if green papayas cannot be found.)
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 pieces sri da tomato (cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes)
1 string string beans
2 small red chilli
10 pieces of dried shrimps (soaked in water and dried with kitchen towel)
1 tbsp roasted peanuts
2-3 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp palm sugar
1 tbsp lime juice

Method: this dish is combined in a mortar and pestle, so you need a fairly large one

1. Pound garlic and chilli into large pieces using a mortar and pestle
2. Cut string beans into pieces and add into mortar together with shredded papaya
3. Add dried shrimps and roasted peanuts and pound/rub everything together again
4. Add palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice and pound well together
5. Add tomato last and mix gently to avoid crushing tomatoes.
6. Serve immediately.

Kiew Wan Gai (Chicken Green Curry)

I like this version as its savoury and not too strong on the basil and coconut if done right. I'm usually allergic to green curry - they give me a headache, even the supposedly good restaurant done ones. Surprisingly, this soup like curry didn't have that effect on me and tasted savoury and good!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp green curry paste (I suspect you'll have to go to a Thai supermarket shop to get this)
200ml chicken stock
200ml coconut milk (fresh is better, Suntan is acceptable but use less or dilute with water to avoid the heavy texture)
2 Thai green eggplant
2 tbsp palm sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 handful sweet Thai basil
4 Kaffir lime leaves
4 slices large red chillis
200g chicken fillet, cut in large slices

Method:

1. Heat oil in sauce pan on low-medium fire until oil is hot enough to bubble.
2. Stir fry curry paste in oil until aroma is released.
3. Sear meat by stir frying in curry paste (optional) or combine chicken stock and coconut milk with meat at the same time. Boil until chicken is just cooked through and still juicy.
4. Add eggplant and boil until cooked.
5. Season with palm sugar, salt and fish sauce.
6. Remove from heat and add sweet Thai basil, kaffir lime leaves and chilli. Leave sitting for about a minute and stir through.
7. Serve immediately.