Vietnamese cooking class

Because we had such a blast at our Thai cooking class & bc Vietnamese food is my fave cuisine back home, we decided to do a Vietnamese cooking class in Hoi An. It was a different but equally lovely experience. I do think Vietnamese food is generally much more difficult to cook than Thai food bc not only are you making the dish, you’re also making a different sauce to be served w every dish. Perhaps the coolest thing we learned was how to make fresh rice paper… It’s akin to Italians making fresh pasta as the difference vs store bought is night & day. But it’s a long process. Given 2 of the best local Vietnamese restos are within a mile of my place in Chicago, I’m unsure of the practicality to trying to make these dishes on my own but I do think the rice paper would be a great party trick.
We made the following along w accompanying sauces:

– Pancake, wrapped in rice paper

– Papaya/mango salad w shrimp & squid

– Spring roll including fresh rice paper

– Quang chicken

The Red Bridge cooking school was co-located w one of the best restos in the city out of town & accessible by both road & boat. We took a boat after our guide toured us through the local market.

Pancake w rice flour, veggies & greens, prawns as demonstrated by our chef/teacher Mimi

Rolling pankcake in rice paper w greens, basil, mint, bean sprouts, etc.

Prepwork for green papaya & mango salads (one of my obsessions)

Fresh rice paper… starts w soaking rice for 7-12 hours

It involves this contraption of a cotton tee held atop a boiling pot of water by elastic w a very important slight gap in the side (releases steam & allows you to wet the flat wooden utensil to slide under the paper once its’s steamed there for 65 seconds… that’s the most difficult part)

After removing rice paper, simply roll ingredients

My attempt… and YES, I really made the rice paper!!!

Chicken w flavorings & tomatoes ready for the stove

Mimi’s perfect tomato-rose & cucumber-fan plate garnish

My pathetic attempt… who needs a plate garnish anyway?

Thai cooking class

The farm on which the cooking class was held was a gorgeous setting with beautiful facilities including covered outdoor cooking stations, allowing for a lovely breeze to blow through. Gun first gave us a tour of the farm from which many of the day’s ingredients were sourced from. We then selected the dishes we’d be making that day. I selected the following:

1 – pad see uw

2 – papaya salad

3 – spring roll

4 – coconut soup w chicken

5 – green curry paste

6 – green curry w chicken

7 – mango w sweet sticky rice
We cooked 1 first and promptly ate it (& everyone commented on my great knife skills as I had the best sliced carrots in our group of 6… I apparently brought my A game). We then cooked 2 & 3 and ate those together as course 2 and after, took a 1 hour break on the lovely grounds. Amy & I played cards and chatted while the cooking school staff prepped for the afternoon’s meals.
Amy & I made the green curry paste – she diced the veggie/flavor additions & I crushed peppers and then her ingredients in a massive mortar & pestle. I hadn’t realized I’d get a good arm workout in cooking class as this was hard work to crush everything into a fine paste… Prob took 20+ minutes, all the while Gun continually demanding “stronger, faster, not ready yet” w a devious smile. We each made our own soups and then I volunteered (yes! In a cooking class!) to cook the coconut sticky rice for everyone and knocked it out like a pro. Haha
Everything tasted incredible (compliments to the chef) but there was far too much to eat. Our instructor Gun was amazing… great chef (he learned from his grandma and said that all Thai people are good cooks), great teacher (amazing how he keeps track of all different dishes for each person in group and where everyone is in cooking process, what to add/when, when to increase/reduce heat, etc) and great sense of humor. Returned to Chiang Mai with a full belly by 5:30.

Ingredients for Thai welcome snack, meang kum (sweet syrup, roasted peanuts, toasted coconut, ginger, shallots, chili peppers, sliced lime w skin, lettuce)

Eat by wrapping a pinch of everything in lettuce. Delicious!

Curry ingredients (green, red, massaman)

Local Chiang Mai food market

We signed up for a full day Thai cooking class at Asia Scenic out on their farm. After an 8:30am pickup, we stopped by a local Thai food market. Our instructor for the day, Gun, led us through the market to familiarize us with the main ingredients we’d be using that day… Very helpful for future shopping in a Chicago Asian market. Then had 15 minutes to explore. That’s when we stumbled upon the “back room”… Essentially the meat/protein room where they sell the typical stuff plus pigs heads/feet as well as fresh live eels, fish & frogs (yes, jumping around). Pretty amazing (if you’re into eating animals, sorry Sar). Pics and video links follow.