Thai Food – Cooking Class and Market Experience (Dec 15)

One of the experiences we were looking forward to before coming to Thailand was taking Thai cooking classes.  This wish came to fruition a few days ago – and it is an experience we will not soon forget!  Grandma and Grandpa took the morning to do some shopping and left the cooking to the Boyums J

We met our cooking instructor, Khun Pooh (Khun is a title of respect used for Mr., Mrs., and Miss here in Thailand) and her assistant, Khun Noy, at a meeting place in Bangkok. 

Her husband transported the 8 of us right away to the Klong Toey market (Klong means canal in Thai – and there are a ton of them – Bangkok is often called the Venice of Asia).  The first hour of our class was spent in the market; I don’t think you can really understand Thailand or its cooking without a visit to a market.  I am glad I have some pictures to show you because my words will be a feeble attempt at describing our experience!  But I’ll give it a go…

Zach, Kev, Elise, Christina, Josh, me and Khun Pooh

First of all, the market opens at 2am!  Many people shop that early because the weather is cooler, it is less crowded and they may need the food for their work (ie food stalls on the street, catering, restaurants).



Khun Noy, our 2nd instructor, leads us through one of the more open walkways of the market...



The market – As soon as we entered, we were met with a thick, warm, steamy wall of SMELL.  It wasn’t necessarily rancid, but most of our family was taken aback by the sheer thickness and offensiveness of it.  Josh began to get pale and queasy and we all felt the steamy heat as we stepped further in to begin taking in the new sights, sounds and smells…



A few observations:

·      Animals were butchered right there in the market -- guts, blood, the works.



Note: if you are into entrails, those are tidily packaged in the baggies on the bottom rack...

Or, you could buy pig parts....



But if you are choosy and just like the pig skin itself...

For the very choosy -- try a pig head instead, complete with its hooves :-)

And remember, you can always just purchase the snour and a bit of the forehead for that special soup...

• The ground was wet everywhere (which would explain why many people were wearing galoshes – even in 85 degree heat with about 185 degree humidity).  The “wet” was contributed to by these butcher stalls as well as many others, and the spraying down of it all.  We walked gingerly through the puddles for fear we might be wearing pig entrails on our backside from “splash up.”
• The fish/sea creatures were often still alive!  We saw a fish jump right out of a 2 ½ foot high bucket – the fish sellers were enamored with the excitement shown by our boys as this occurred.





The fish in this tank are still swimming... though they are not the ones that hopped out of the tank.


• The Thais (and other Asians) eat frogs!  Not just frog legs like we do in America.  The WHOLE kit and caboodle.  We saw them, full bodied and dead with skin, full bodied and dead without skin, chopped and fully alive (yes, jumping and croaking, but in tidy little bags so they couldn’t escape).  The market frog sellers occupy themselves as they await customers by skinning and often chopping the frogs.  Note: they chop the whole thing – no entrails are removed.  So when you purchase chopped frog, you don’t get jipped of any part of the animal (insert smell and visual of frog guts here J )  This is about when Josh looked pleadingly into my eyes and asked how much longer we would be in the market, trying valiantly to hold on to his breakfast.





Live frogs for those who like to consume freshly killed croakers...





Hard to choose... skinned or still croaking?



Chopped frog parts on top, partially skinned below...

 


Normally into blood and guts, the smell of the market made this picture far more posed than it might appear...



• Crabs on a stick – doesn’t get fresher than this.  The crabs were still alive and kickin’ – just on a bamboo skewer (like you can find almost any food served in Thailand) ready for you to plop right on the grill.





Khun Pooh and Christina ready to BBQ


• Mealworms are a delicacy – live of course.  They cost 1000 Baht/kilo (about $15/lb) !!




Insect alley -- see if you can find: water beetles, mealworms, grasshoppers...

The stall “alleys” where shoppers walk are very crowded.  With what?  Shoppers, vendors, children (read: toddlers, preschoolers), tourists, dogs, cats, people with hand carts, bags, people on motorcycles!

Interesting items (just a partial list):

• Fried/steamed fish in bamboo baskets
• Chives which have already flowered – complete with roots as most veggies are sold)
• Pork skin and intestines – both fresh and fried
• Mussels/clams – fresh
• Whole quail – skin removed, but feet still intact
• Fish heads – very freshly beheaded
• Pig heads – they are in high demand around Chinese New Year, we hear
• Lemon grass – not the tender small shoots like in Jamba juice – about the size of a large green onion
• Pandan leaves (used in sticky rice and other desserts to give flavor and scent)
• Fresh chickens – “stiff-legged”
• Morning glory – different than our flower – an asparagus type green shoot
• Eggplant (only about 1 ½ inch in diameter and completely round and green)
• Mini eggplants – about the size of a super mini cherry tomato
• Ant larvae & ants





Ant larvae... yum





Or just go for the live thing... ants, anyone?

Signature Thai Chili peppers -- they are awesome and used in almost all Thai cooking!

Tons of fruit and veggies!

• Eels – alive
• Catfish – live

There’s so much more to share, but I likely painted a bit of the picture for you.  Stop by sometime and we’ll show you the video – but the full experience must be had in person for the full multi sensory experience!

We were picked up by Kuhn Pooh’s husband and transported to their home, with our purchased items in hand (Josh was thrilled to have purchased a pineapple (completely free of frog entrails) all by himself – he has fallen in love with Thai pineapple).  Their home wasn’t far away, still in the Klong Toey neighborhood, just past the “slum” part of it (though I am not sure what delineated it – they themselves call it the slum).  Both the neighborhood and the market were along the Klong, or canal, aptly described by my boys: “the canal was stinky.”

The neighborhood alley, of sorts, was narrow.  There were people at outdoor stalls of sorts, and tables in the walkway.  There was a drain under part of the alley that didn’t smell so good.  Overall, the alley was well kept and the people were friendly, though it was a bit run down.

Kuhn Pooh’s kitchen was really just a long room with 2 sofas on one long side, and a long counter of sorts on the other side.  At the far end was a sink and a bathroom as well as a fridge. 

We cooked three separate menu items.  Each time Khun Pooh demonstrated the recipe and then we each cooked a single portion ourselves. She had prepared some of the ingredients ahead of time (i.e. sliced chicken, deveined prawns), leaving the fun part of the cooking to us.  Kev and I and all 4 kids took part, even Zach. 

Actually, the instructors were amazed that Zach did so well and loved the experience so much – for that matter all of the kids.  The diced, sliced, pounded and mixed right alongside the two of us.

Here are the menu items:

1)      Som Tum – Papaya salad

2)      Tom Yum Goong – spicy prawn soup

Kev's favorite dish -- he loves spicy and he loves seafood!

3)      Tom Kah Gai – coconut chicken soup

Josh LOVED this soup!

4)      Pad Thai Gai – Thai noodles with chicken

Zach and his Pad Thai Gai

Each course was sooooo good!  When we did the som tum, we could change the ingredients a bit.  For example, more or less chili, prawn, lime.  As 2 of us finished, we sat down to eat what we had made while the next set of us stepped up to the cooking station.  Basically it went like that until all the menu items were prepared and eaten.

Doing what Boyums do well -- enjoying good food.

We of course didn’t skip the dessert course, but those were purchased at the market.  We enjoyed:

·      Sliced fruit – rose apples and jack fruit

·      Custard filled pumpkins

·      Mango sticky rice

Top left, clockwise: mango, jackfruit, custard filled pumpkin, sticky rice.  Middle: sauce for rice.

We Boyums LOVE mango sticky rice.  Kuhn Pooh beamed like what I think an Italian grandma would as we devoured each and every grain of the sticky rice and the kids were asking if it would be impolite to lick the plates.  She quickly ran out and came in with more sticky rice, sliced another mango or two, provided us with some more sauce and told us how happy she was that we enjoyed it so much.  Apparently the Boyums and Khun Pooh should hang out more – we make one another so happy! J

Take aways from this experience?  I’d love a huge wooden mortar and pestle to make som tum in at home.  I’d love to continue experimenting with Thai foods – the flavors are incredible and it’s not too hard!  I am so glad we took the time and paid the money for this class – not just for me or me and Kev, but for all 6 of us.  It was super for them to learn alongside us and use the chopping skills they have been honing in our kitchen.