Chiang Mai Culinary trip - Cooking experience

When I first wrote this post ... I started by writing .... Just came back from Chiang Mai... a trip for just the two of us... me and enche hubby... bla bla bla.... somehow the post remained as draft thus my opening sentence became irrelevant... now, here I am struggling to finish it.... I shall continue and aim to complete this post.

okay friends...Let the Chiang Mai journey begin...

Our trip to Chiang Mai with one thing focused in my mind.. going there for Cooking Class... Chiang Mai is very famous of their cooking class... you can choose from more than 100 cooking class in Chiang Mai... I just can't decide which one to go .. after putting so much thoughts on it, I still can't decide.. then end up enrolled for two classes.... it is truly a worthwhile experience... experience I can't forget ... experience for life.. we put aside the elephant show for this trip...we may be coming to Chiang Mai again Insya Allah....

We took the earliest flight to Chiang Mai.. arrived Chiang Mai at about 8.00 am local time. 2 hours and 15 minutes flight from LCCT to Chiang Mai. Distance to airport is less than 10km.. you can take airport taxi cost you THB120 to get to downtown.

One thing about joining the cooking class in Chiang Mai is that you need to source your own halal meat for the class. After renting a motorbike, we went around town to get the halal chicken. My cooking class is in the afternoon. We almost gave up.. and Allah know what's best for us.. so happen than I met a girl wearing hijab in the market. Asked her about the chicken but she couldn't tell us.. then we ask, is there any halal stall in this market... she showed us the way... then while having our lunch, we asked the cook where can we buy halal chicken. She mentioned the name of the road... again we're on our motorbike circling around the road for more than 5 times looking for the place she mentioned guided by the local map.. still can't find. Then enche hubby suggested we headed to the mosque and we're so relief to see a Muslim market selling all halal food. We finally found the chicken.. I bought the whole chicken.. and the next day and the day after, we went to the same spot to look for the market... but the area was empty.. and the lady selling friend chicken at the road side stall told us that the market is only open on Friday....

If you ever go to Chiang Mai and looking for Halal Chicken, go to Hedaytul Islam (Baan Haw) Mosque . You can get your chicken from there but it's only available on Friday.

So with the success of sourcing the halal chicken, my mission for the cooking class was accomplished.

psssttt...

I will share my 3 days journey in Chiang Mai in 3 main parts with lots of pictures I have picked and none of them I felt should be missed.….. in fact I am very tempted to add more to the list.. imagine all these photos were captured using my I Phone 4S only....crazy women..well… yawn if you feel bored or click x on right hand corner to close and stop reading..

Cooking class at Cooking @ Home

At 3.45pm, as scheduled we were picked up by a rep by the name of Tak from Cooking @ Home for our cooking class. I took the dinner class and with me were 5 young American friends from USA. As part of the package, we were brought to the local market and Tak showed us the basic ingredients commonly used for local Thai cuisine. Even though I am familiar with the ingredients, I still gave my full attention to Tak hoping to hear more tips from her...

Then, we headed to the venue where the class should be and we were welcome by Pom . Taking a 10 minutes break for refreshments while the instructor preparing for the ingredients.

These are photos compliment from the school.....

The dishes I cooked

Pad Thai

Pad Thai is a very famous dish in Thailand.... it took me less than 5 minutes working with the wok on the flame to get Pad Thai ready to be serve... Simple but delicious... great dish for appetizer

Pad Thai in the making

 Green Curry

Most complicated dish I learned.... but very satisfying... making the green curry paste from scratch is a challenge and worth the sweat when you taste the first sip of curry from the wok. We used a special wok made from copper... i bought one for my kitchen ... smell of basil, kafir lime makes this dish so special...

Green curry in the making

Tom Yum Goong

Most famous dish from Thailand.... evergreen and a must learn dish .... but question really, can you make the Tom Yum with a real, original , authentic taste...if i may emphasize it...what is the secret of cooking the dish... to me learned from the expert  is simply about the balance of taste sour, sweet , salt, spicy....the technique, sequence and heat control.... follow the rule strictly... and you can never be wrong.... keep it basic and that's it..

Tom Yum in the making

Sticky Rice with Mango

This is the best part of the entire cooking session.... The mixed black and white glutaneous rice cooked and steamed with thick coconut milk.. served with mango and coconut milk poured on top of it.. sprinkle of mung bean and garnish with mint leaves....the mixture of salty, sweetness...hmmm i am speechless.. we didn't do it personally.. it was done on demo basis due to time constraint.. nevertheless I must say this is my favourite of all... have been repeatedly doing this at home and it is superlicious yummy...

A special thanks  to Pom and Tak for the thoughts and tips ..endless sincere smile throughout the class add to the unforgetable special moment...

  

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a bonus to learn how to carve a rose from a tomato....

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photos with the rest of the participants...

 

Cooking class @ Siam Rice Cooking School

Pretty excited for the second class.... i chose the same menu that i learned the day before but it's good to learn from different school.... it will make me remember coz i am doing it twice but i added more dishes to the list.... what you cook is what you eat... enche hubby didn't join the class but he became my photographer and get to join us during the "makan-makan" session..... one thing good of having enche hubby on board.. i got to receive a direct feedback or comments yes/no on dishes i cooked.

Session started with visiting local market ....again the rest of participants were all the mat salleh.....

In this school, you can choose what you want to cook from the list... it's your choice.... so let's go through my list...

Dish 1 - Tom Yum Chicken with Coconut Milk

 Basic ingredients to make all types of TomYum

Ingredients : Tomato, chicken, kafir lime leaf, lemongrass, chilli padi, galangal, lime juice, coriander leaves, onion and mushroom and other ingredients to taste... not in picture

 Make one bowl : Serving for 1-2 persons

 

 Dish 2 - Pad Thai

Ingredients : Chicken/prawn, garlic, tofu, beancurd, kuchai, kuyteow, egg,  and other ingrdients to taste... not in picture

 Dish 3 - Green Curry Paste



 Ingredients for green curry paste... as above

Tumbuk sehingga lumat....

 Dish 3 - Chicken Green Curry

Ingredients : Chicken, green curry paste, eggplant, basil leaves, long bean, baby corn, carrot, terung pipit, coconut milk  and other ingredients to taste... not in picture

 

 Dish 5 - Spring Rolls

Ingredients : Chicken, bean curd, carrot,kuchai, glass noodle, garlic, popia skin and other ingredients to taste... not in picture

Roll the filing with the popia skin

Bonus session : Carrot carving

 the thinner carrot on the left side was carved by enche hubby..well done... and next to it is mine...


 Dish 5 - Chicken with Dried Chilli and Cashew Nuts

Ingredients : Chicken, mushroom, dried chilli, cashew nuts, spring onion, onion, carrot, baby corn and other ingredients to taste... not in picture

 Dish 7 - Sticky rice with young coconut...

 Ingredients : Coconut milk, sugar, salt, cooked sticky rice, young coconut flesh....

Here you go.... too tired already....... I finally got my certificate....

I guess that was enough of cooking.......we did have a little spare time to ride around Chiang Mai city... we rented a motorbike ...so we can go where ever we like.. stop where ever we want.. yesss it's free and easy... cheapest mode to get around city if you are couple travelling.....

Sightseeing around Chiang Mai city

We didn't do much homework on Chiang Mai city... it was a last minute searching.... but one thing we search is where to get halal food..... that is very important right....

We stayed in a decent boutique hotel by the name of Another Sis located in an old city surrounded by the brick gates.... the hospitality was great and people in Chiang Mai have a unique culture known as Lanna is super polite and have great hospitality. Very famous of their spa and massages

First stop is at Chiang Mai Gate....

 

 

and to another gate within the city...... 

 Tha Phae Gate

 

A sip of fresh coconut juice as a thirst quench...

One of Chiang Mai’s most famous contributions to Thai cuisine is khao soi, (or soy), noodle soup. The classic version combines two noodle varieties: flat wheat noodles, (tagliatelli-ish in form) and deep-fried crispy noodles, in a spicy coconut chicken curry. The soup is served with a slice of lime, roast chilli paste and pickled cabbage.

We were so lucky to be in Chiang Mai over the weekend... so by night time, we got a chance to go to the Night Market at the Walking Street , Wua Lai Road... a good place to buy souvenir here.... famous of their handmade craft....

 

Something unique found here....

Gac Fruit...health fruit

and on the last day in Chiang Mai.... we continue to ride around the city..maximising every single hour we have..... bought grocery from the local market..... I bought palm sugar, wok, steamer pot, carving knife, plastic bag, mung bean, chilli powder, dried garlic... all these were bought in preparation to my cooking back home in Malaysia.... as far as possible I want to have those ingredients that contribute to the authenticity of my dishes....

 

Apart from the gate... there also famous corners around the city.... we went to one of them.... Katam Corner... this would be our last stop for photo session.....

Still have time to do the final shopping before we went to airport leaving for Phuket... Our trip this time is a combo of 2 cities..... we were having a relax time in Phuket.... another lengthy post ahead.... at least I'm done with Chiang Mai .....

Overall, Chiang Mai is a peaceful city, and things are still cheap here compared to Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.... but muslim food is limited ... they have nice scenery, weather is just fine and a repeat trip to Chiang Mai will be highly considered..