My current journey is at it’s end. Yes, I’m done! Six weeks of class all condensed into 22 days of instruction! You can call me Chef now 🙂 . I earned my Master Thai Culinary Chef Diploma! Yesterday (Saturday) was my last day of class. Yes, I’m a day late posting but had to go celebrate with friends yesterday so was too late to do this when I got back. I am excited to have completed the course but sad that I won’t see some of the people on a daily basis anymore. It has been an experience of a lifetime for me. It’s amazing how I understand certain processes of cooking now…and not only Thai but some basic skills have become better for me…I’m sure that is because I did them about 6-7 hours a day for 22 days straight!

Before I get into what I made on my last day, I’d like to thank the school, Bangkok Thai Cooking Academy, for my experience. If you are ever in Thailand and want to take a cooking class give them a visit.

I especially would like to thank the Chef’s that instructed me. My main instructor (for the 4 weeks of class on weekdays, with the additional hours of private lessons after regular class on those weekdays), and the one I am most partial to, Chef Ratchaneekorn (Ratch) is amazing. She is very knowledgeable, kind, funny, and accommodating AND has the sweetest smile. She ALWAYS encouraged my growth. Any question of curiosity I would have she would answer. If I wondered if something could be done another way she was quick to ask if I wanted to try it that way too. I hope I am able to see her again some day…well, other than tomorrow…I’m already having withdrawals of being done and going back to say “Hi” to her before I leave :).

My Saturday private instructor, Chef Chayanat (Nat), was also wonderful and very knowledgeable. I only had 3 Saturdays with him but they were double classes each time. I find myself lucky to have had private instruction with him being he is the head Chef instructor! One thing I remember the most about him from my first encounter with him is that he would tell me every time I touched meat, or something that could be contaminating, to go wash my hands. Now see, those who know me would know I’m pretty OCD about always washing my hands in the kitchen, multiple times anyway, but he didn’t know that, so it was nice to see that there was another compulsive and organized cook like me, ha, ha.

Lastly, I have to give honorable mention 🙂 to Chef Piyarat (Guitar). She instructed me for only one private lesson, so I didn’t get to know her as well, but she was also kind and knowledgeable. So, overall, this has been a wonderful experience for me and I enjoyed learning beside these three Chefs.

So now, back to the cooking part of my last class. No new ingredients for me today. My work station:

Today I made:

• Fish curry paste (Nam Prik Khanom Jeen Namya)
• Noodles with fish curry (Khanom Jeen Namya)
• Glass noodles salad (Yam Wun Sen)
• Mung bean crepes (Khanom Thua Paep)
• Chicken satay with peanut sauce and cucumber sauce (Gai Satay)
• Tom yam fried rice (Khao Pad Tom Yum)
• Stir fried chicken with spicy herbs (Pad Khee Mao Gai)
• Fried stuffed squid with garlic (Pla Muek Thot Gratiam Phrik Thai)

As other days, all the dishes had their pro’s and cons, but today there was one dish that was hands down the best! The chicken satay with peanut satay and cucumber sauces. So flavorful and moist…the sauces were both excellent! Each giving the bite of chicken it’s own flare of flavors. The cucumber sauce a tart and sweet flavor with a burst of freshness from the cucumber, shallots and chili. The satay sauce a rich flavor of curry with a hint of tart from the tamarind, sweet from sugar and salty from fish sauce and the coconut cream and milk give it a creaminess. I have a chicken satay recipe with peanut sauce that I always use at home, which is excellent, but I have to say that this one is just a little bit better 🙂 .

For the chicken satay with two sauces, you will need:

• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1-2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoons palm sugar
• 1/4 cup coconut cream
• 100 grams of chicken or pork, thinly sliced (or if vegetarian can use whole mushrooms or pieces of tofu)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (for grill)
• 6-8 six inch skewers (more if you use smaller, less if larger)

Satay sauce:

• 1 1/2 teaspoons red curry paste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons massaman curry paste
• 1 tablespoon tamarind paste
• 1 tablespoon sugar or palm sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons roasted peanuts, grounded (or can use creamy natural peanut butter if you prefer)
• 1/4 cup coconut cream
• 1/4 cup coconut milk

Cucumber sauce:

• 1/3 cup white vinegar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup cucumber, sliced small or diced
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 1/2 red spur chili thinly sliced

Steps:

1. Mix first 5 ingredients well and then add chicken and combine well. Let marinate for at least 15 minutes to overnight.
2. Thread your chicken onto skewers and set on plate and cover with plastic wrap. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.
3. For the satay sauce, stir fry the two curry pastes in some oil until fragrant on low heat.
4. Add coconut cream and mix well as you continue to heat until the fat separates to the top.
5. Add ground peanuts, the coconut mil and rest of seasonings for satay sauce and combine well.
6. Keep cooking on low heat until sauce is reduced to a nice thick texture and then remove to a sauce bowl. If the sauce begins to separate you have cooked it too long, add some more coconut milk until it’s creamy again.
7. For the cucumber sauce, add cucumbers, shallots and chili to a sauce bowl.
8. In a pot, combine vinegar, sugar and salt and bring to a boil. Let it cool and pour on top of the cucumber mixture to pickle.
9. Take your skewers out of the frig and let sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes.
10. Cook skewers on grill, grill pan or non stick pan for about 3 minutes per side, or until cooked through. While you are cooking you can baste with additional coconut milk as you turn them from side to side…makes them even more moist.
11. Garnish with chopped scallions or coriander leaves, if you want, and serve with the two sauces. You can also serve with grilled bread or rice. Enjoy!

And the other dishes from today:

Okay, for those of you who know me well…you know that I can’t NOT post this. A classmate found a stalk of interesting lesser ginger (or finger ginger) while cooking…doesn’t it remind you of various things? 🙂 . I also will know who read my whole blog post today by comments I get back on just this one picture…ha, ha.

So, that is it for my Thailand journey my friends. Will hopefully have another culinary adventure in May…but MUCH shorter…by 25 days…ha, ha. I hope you have enjoyed my posts as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you. Check back to this site for more recipes and posts from the Midwest Mediterranean!

/Christina…the Mid-Med

Happy Monday. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I made a few things today that I’ve been waiting to see how it’s done here. Just fyi, won’t have class tomorrow and the next day for the new year so will get back to you on Thursday!

My work area today:

The things we made today were:

• Chu chi curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Chu Chu)
• Shrimp in dried red curry (Chu Chi Goong)
• Fried spring rolls & sweet chili sauce (Por Pie Tord)
• Stir-fried beef with oyster sauce (Nua Pad Nam Man Hoy)
• Salt-crusted grilled fish (Pla Pao) with dipping sauce
• Thai sweet dumpling (Ka Nom Tom Bai Toey)

The two things I had been waiting to see how they do it here were the fried spring rolls with sweet chili sauce and the salt-crusted grilled (well, it was actually roasted) fish. They were both excellent, and my top 2! The fish was so moist and flavorful with pandanus leaves, galangal ginger, kaffir lime leaves and smashed lemongrass stuffed in it’s belly and mouth. The spring rolls were crispy and so easy to make and paired great with the sweet chili sauce. Choices, choices…I will go with the salt crusted fish…it was so easy to make and so healthily (is that a word?) flavorful. AND…a lot of people are scared to cook a whole fish, so this will show you how easy it is!

For the salt crusted fish, you will need:

• 1 whole sea bass fish
• 2-3 lemongrass, smashed
• 5 slices galangal ginger, smashed
• 2-3 kaffir lime leaves, stem removed and torn in quarters
• 2 pandanus leaves, tied together
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 2-3 green birds eye chilies, chopped
• 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1-2 coriander root, chopped
• 1-2 limes, juiced
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 3 mint leaves, chopped

Steps:

1. Wash fish well and remove guts and gills (if not already done). Do not take the scales off. Put fish on large piece of aluminum foil.
2. Stuff the lemongrass, galangal ginger, kaffir lime and pandanus leaves into the belly of the fish, and the mouth.
3. Mix salt with flour and rub on both sides of the fish.
4. Close foil by making a foil packet and bake in oven at 375 degrees for about one hour, turn packet over half way through.
5. To make dipping sauce, pound chilies, garlic, mint and coriander root until fine.
6. Add lime juice, sugar and fish sauce to combine. Taste should be spicy, sour, salty and sweet.
7. When fish is done, remove skin and remove meat and serve with sauce.

And the other dishes I made today:

That is it for today. Catch you back on Thursday! Two day break from class for the new year!

Hi All! Another wonderful day of cooking with Chef Ratch. Most of the dishes today had that healthier feel to them, in taste and in presentation, as you will see. My partial stations today:

Today I made:

• Yellow curry paste (Nam Prik Gaeng Ka Ri)
• Yellow curry with chicken (Gaeng Ka Ri Gai)
• Papaya salad (Som Tam)
• Grilled marinated pork with spicy dipping sauce (Kor Moo Yang)
• Hot & sour prawn soup (Tom Yum Goong)
• Cendol (Lod Chong Singapore)
• Grilled chicken salad (Yam Gai Yang)
• Grilled pork sirloin with lemongrass (moo Yang Takrai)

This was one of these days where Everything was tasty. The traditional papaya salad and Tom Yum were amazing, the simple grilled marinated pork and grilled chicken salad was so flavorful yet felt like you didn’t eat anything because it was so healthy tasting…and really was healthy (minus eating the fat on the pork and skin on the chicken 🙂 ).

BUT…when I thought I wouldn’t be able to top my favorite dish of the whole class from yesterday, I did. I thought the massaman curry with chicken was my favorite curry dish to date…well, I need to change that today to my favorite curry is yellow curry…and specifically, the yellow curry with chicken…um, reminded me of Indian flavors…with the potatoes that were in it, oh my gosh, it was like a rich wonderful stew…pair it with steamed rice and I was in heaven…it took all of my self control to not eat the whole dish! So, that is my favorite dish for today!

For the yellow curry with chicken, you will need:

• 100 grams chicken, 1.5″ chunks
• 1-2 tablespoons yellow curry paste (prepared or bought)
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1/2 cup coconut cream
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 50 grams potato, par boiled (about 90%) and cut into big chunks, like chicken
• 1/4 cup white onion, chopped medium size
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder (unless you already put it in the curry paste you made)
• 1/2 tablespoon palm sugar
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce

Steps:

1. Add oil to wok and 1-2 tablespoons of the yellow curry paste, stir vigorously until fragrant.
2. Add coconut cream and stir well until fat separates to top.
3. Add chicken and onion and cook for about 2 minutes, add curry powder, if using.
4. Add coconut milk, potato, palm sugar and fish sauce.
5. Stir constantly until chicken is cooked.
6. Serve over rice.

And pictures of my other dishes today!

I learned two ways to make Tom Yum…the traditional way is with a clear broth, the way we did it today has the addition of chili paste and evaporated milk. This would be excellent on a winter night or if you have a cold!

Hope you enjoyed today’s healthy meals :). Catch you tomorrow!