Cooking with Class

This post picks up where my trekking post left off.

Cooking school was one of the highlights of the trip for me, and I definitely recommend it if you have any interest in learning to cook thai food. Most of the schools cater to those looking to have fun and eat rather than learn much, but you can still get a lot out of it if you have a basic understanding of cooking techniques which you can apply to the other recipes that are given to you.

As a bonus, here’s that recipe for Cashew Chicken:

Ingredients
-cooking oil
-1/2 cup sliced chicken breast (tofu or shrimp could easily be substituted)
-1 cup cashew nuts
-1 tsp soya sauce
-1 tsp fish sauce
-1/2 tsp sugar
-dried chillies to taste (1/2 to 1 tsp)
-ground pepper to taste
-salt to taste (skip the salt if using salted cashews)
-1/4 cup green onion sliced to 2 inch pieces
-1 cup onion cut to 1 inch pieces

Method
Fry the cashew nuts over low heat with a good amount of oil (3/4 cup recommended, but I don’t use nearly that much). Remove when lightly browned, trying to keep the oil in the wok.

Add more oil if necessary, increase heat to medium/high and fry the chicken.

When the chicken is fully cooked add the soya and fish sauces, sugar, dried chillies, salt, pepper, and onion (not the green onion though).

Cook for two to four minutes until onion becomes translucent. If things are sticking to the pan then add a small amount of water.

Add cashew nuts and green onions. Cook another minute or so.

Remove from heat and serve with rice. If you’re making this for more than one or two people then make another dish or two (a curry or something) and serve everything in its own bowl. Thais will order several different dishes along with a pot of rice and then eat a bit of everything with their rice.