“Kill it”, The voice of Sally is high pitched but friendly as everybody is pounding Lemongrass and chili together with onions and a bunch of other ingredients to make their own Green Curry Paste. Welcome to a Thai Cooking class in Kata, Phuket.

Kata Thai Cooking with Sally

It is in the afternoon and Sally informes everybody of what is on the menu for lunch today. Green Curry Paste for the Green Curry, Tom Yum and Peanut Sauce with chicken skewers.
Before the cooking class starts all the attendants must first taste the Durian, a fruit that smells truly awful but tastes better. The taste leave you with a aftertaste of onion (so works fine if you are into that). Then everybody gets to work and carefully follow Sallys instructions. There is a friendly tone amongst everyone and Sally is informing everybody of what to do next, mixed with tips of how to succeed with Thai cooking.

Making Tom Yum Soup

“Don´t kill it”, Sallys voice again – this time it turns out that the lemongrass for the Tom Yum is not supposed to be as crushed as the lemongrass has to be for the curry paste.
Thai food is often spicy and in Sallys class – spicy food is a must. A woman hides a part of the chili, she is not used to spicy food. Sally will hear none of that. She needs to take at least five chilis but she does not need to take the bird eye chili (witch is the strongest one).
The group moves to the stove and everybody is making their own food. It is the sound of laughter and sizzling of the food that is mixed together.

Making peanut butter sauce

After a while the stomach starts growling and it is time to sit down and enjoy the lunch. The discussion continues on about the thai food and people start asking Sally if they can get the ingredients in their own country. A lot from Thailand is exported to stores all around the world so you should be able to buy it everywhere. A lot of the attendants are saying that the thai food is even better in their home country (Austria) than it is in Thailand. Hard to believe but who knows, that might be true.

So what is it with thai food that makes it so popular? Sally has an answer that she think might be relevant:
” Tahi food is often spicy but you can still feel the taste of the food, it is spicy but not overpowering and you can get a lot of different flavors in just one bite”.

Wether you are a huge fan of thai food or not – take a thai cooking class while in Thailand because it is a lot of fun and a great way to spend a couple of hours at during your vacation.
Is your mouth watering and your stomach languishing for thai food? We give you Sallys recipe of her Tom Yum Soup. A clear – clear version witch makes it really spicy!

Tom Yum Soup for 1 person:

1-2 sticks of Lemongrass
1-2 leaves of Kaffir lime leaf (you can buy it frozen).
1-2 shallots
5-6 slices of galangal
4 chilies (Thai chili)
1 tablespoon of mushrooms
1 tablespoon of lime
4 slices of tomato
A pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1-2 tablespoons of fish sauce
Your choice of: tofu, chicken, shrimp, pork, veggies or whatever you like.
Boil 2 cups of water and put in the lemongrass, shallot, galangal, kaffir lime leaf, mushroom and thai chili. Add your choice of “add ons” and cook them through. Ad the spices, fish sauce, tomatoes and the lime.
Put in a bowl and serve! Easy and very good!

The whole cooking class 😉

Website: katathaicooking.com. Make sure to join them for a cooking class while in Thailand. In conclusion – a great way to have fun and to learn something new. It is almost like cooking at home with friends and family. Even if you do not know your cooking friends at the beginning – you become friends during the process. Rather than eating out you get to cook your own food.