Bangkok Thai Cooking Academy-Day 1

Well, today was my first exciting day of Thai cooking school. There were 4 other students in my class. I made 4 savory dishes and 1 sweet. The instructor Chef Ratch was amazing. She took us on a tour of one of the markets and pointed out some of the different ingredients we would be using, such as finger root ginger, pandanus leaves, fresh tumeric and green peppercorns. The market had fresh fruits and vegetables, raw meats and seafood, as well as cooked, desserts and everything else you can think of that is food.

The dishes I made today included:

• Grilled long eggplant salad (Yam Ma-Kua Yao)
• Steamed fish with ginger sauce (Pla Neung Khing)
• Chicken wrapped in pandanus leaves (Gai Hor Toey)
• Spicy seafood with herbs (Pad Cha Talay)
• Thai layer cake (Kanom Chan)

All the dishes tasted wonderful, but if I HAD to pick my favorite it would be the grilled long eggplant salad. The flavor of the sauce was just amazing. It had a touch of sweetness from the sugar, balanced with tartness from the lime and a kick of heat from the bird’s eye chili’s and garlic, and the coriander brought it all together. Such simple ingredients gave a huge punch of flavor! See Bangkok Thai Cooking Academy recipe below.

For the grilled long eggplant salad, you will need:

• 1 long green eggplant
• 1/4 cup ground chicken, boiled
• 1 egg, boiled, peeled and cut
• 1 tablespoon dried shrimp
• 1/4 cup shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 Birds eye chili
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 long red chili, sliced thin
• 1 coriander root & leaves
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar

Steps:

1. Grill the eggplant until the skin is black and charred. After cooling, remove the skin. Cut into 1 inch pieces and arrange on serving platter.
2. Add birds eye chili’s, garlic cloves and coriander root into mortar and pound until you get a thick paste.
3. Add fish sauce, lime juice and sugar to mortar and mix together. Set aside in small bowl. (I used a mortar and pestle A LOT today…a fun way to let your aggression’s out 🙂 ).
4. Top eggplant with cooked ground chicken
5. Arrange egg on chicken and garnish with long red chili slices and shallots.
6. Pour mortar mixture onto the dish and sprinkle dried shrimp on top.
7. You can garnish with cilantro leaves and lettuce (optional).

Below are the before and final presentation pictures of the other WONDERFUL dishes I made.

Yam Ma-Kua Yao

Thai Grilled Long Eggplant

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine thai

Ingredients

  

• 1 long green eggplant
• 1/4 cup ground chicken boiled
• 1 egg boiled, peeled and cut
• 1 tablespoon dried shrimp
• 1/4 cup shallots thinly sliced
• 2 Birds eye chili
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 long red chili sliced thin
• 1 coriander root & leaves
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar

Instructions

 

• Grill the eggplant until the skin is black and charred. After cooling, remove the skin. Cut into 1 inch pieces and arrange on serving platter.
• Add birds eye chili’s, garlic cloves and coriander root into mortar and pound until you get a thick paste.
• Add fish sauce, lime juice and sugar to mortar and mix together. Set aside in small bowl. (I used a mortar and pestle A LOT today…a fun way to let your aggression’s out 🙂 ).
• Top eggplant with cooked ground chicken
• Arrange egg on chicken and garnish with long red chili slices and shallots.
• Pour mortar mixture onto the dish and sprinkle dried shrimp on top.
• You can garnish with cilantro leaves and lettuce (optional).