My last day of Thai cooking and I'm quite sad it is almost over. We have the most people yet on the course today and it is quite chaotic (all the other days have run very smoothly).
We start the day at the market again however this time we're given a shopping list to go buy some of the ingredients we need. I'm asked to buy 10 limes and 24 Tiger Prawns. We were told the other day that the way to check a prawn is fresh is to squeeze its head, therefore I have to stick my hand into icy water and squeeze 24 prawns' heads!
While at the market I also pick up some spices from this 83 year old Chinese man (photo of him above).
When we arrive at the school, Sompon gives us a tour of his vegetable garden and we each pick some greens to go in our first dish. Sompon even has a cashew tree - I'd never seen cashews growing before!
Today's dishes are:
1. Fried Big Noodles with Sweet Soy Sauce (Phad Siewe)
I really like this dish (better than yesterday's noodle dish) as it has egg through it and is quite sweet.
2. Yellow Curry with Chicken (Gaeng Garee Gai)
This used yellow curry powder as well as Thai curry paste. I used a little extra curry powder and reduced my sauce quite a lot, so I ended up with an intense yellow sauce at the end. Nat said he preferred mine!
3. Steamed Fish in Banana Leaves (Hor Neung Plaa)
I really thought I would love this dish however I'm pleased I didn't as it uses quite a few very obscure ingredients (banana leaves, prickly ash, pepper leaves). You have to add ground rice to the mixture before you steam it and this serves to swell the filling so it resembles a heavy fishcake when it is done. The texture and sludgy brown colour put me off eating it! The photo shows it before I opened it.
4. Chicken with Cashew Nuts (Gai Phad Med Mamuang)
Every wondered why the cashews in Chinese dishes taste so yummy? Well, they've been deep-fried. This dish tasted more Chinese than Thai but it was still delicious and very easy - once you've deep-fried the nuts that is.
5. Spicy Prawn Salad (Plaah Goong)
Although I liked the prawns in this salad, the rest of it was mainly lemongrass, shallots, chillis and herbs and it just didn't have enough substance. The prawns were poached for a few seconds in coconut milk though and that's an idea I'll use in the future.
6. Bananas in Coconut Milk (Kluay Buad Chee)
Not a winner. The bananas were boiled in their skins before using them and soggy bananas are just weird!
I buy one of the cookery school's knives plus a ladle and stirrer as mementos and because the knife is a brilliant multiple use cleaver.
On the way home I stop off for some Fish Therapy. I've been wanting to try this for a few days so I can get my feet ready for the beach. The fish eat dead human skin and so nibble at whatever part of your body you put in the water. It tickles in a weird way for the first few minutes and then is oddly relaxing. After 30 minutes all the hard skin on my feet has been removed and I much prefer it to using a pumice!
Wow Beth yum, can't wait to sample your Thai cooking when you get back. You can come round to Adam's and mine and try out as many things as you like on us!! x Carina
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