When I first stepped foot in Thailand, I couldn’t handle an ounce of spice… Much to the amusement of my new Thai friends. Yet a few months in I found myself craving the feeling that spicy food provided and hooked on conquering my chilli limitations. So during my time in Chiang Mai, I booked myself onto a cooking course at Siam Rice Cookery School.
Siam Rice Cookery School is run by Nancy, a Thai lady whose passion for cooking began during her childhood years and grew with every day she spent in the kitchen with her mother and grandmother.
That morning, I was picked up by a van along with the others and our first stop was at a wet market, where we learnt about the various ingredients that are integral to Thai cooking.
With raw meat, fresh vegetables, coffee stands and fried food being cooked on each corner, the wet market was an assault on the senses, but it was interesting to see how many local businesses could go to one spot and find everything they needed.
After getting the ingredients we needed, we were taken back to Nancy’s house to learn to cook. The house was quaint and traditional Thai and had been fitted out with a group station of cookers so that everybody could learn to cook together.
We were each able to choose the dishes we were most interested in making and were tutored in small groups on the technique and preparation.
I made Tom Yum Gai
Pad Thai
Khao Soy Gai
Chicken Salad
And (of course!) Mango Sticky Rice.
It was amazing to see the process behind some of my favourite dishes and I was amazed by how simple most of them were, with the emphasis placed on creating a really good curry paste and building the dish up from there.
The people at Siam Rice Cookery School were friendly and courteous and I’d 100% recommend them. The pace was slow, and fun and the instructions were easy to follow. They even gave us a cookery book filled with recipes and instructions on making curry pastes from scratch! Which I’m very much looking forward to recreating at home!
Siam Rice Cookery School
211 หมู่ 13 กุหลาบ Soi 2, เมือง Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
Their website is no longer in service, but their facebook page can be found here.
