What to Expect from a Chiang Mai Cooking Class at Asia Scenic

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Asia Scenic offers a morning and an afternoon class at their downtown location. We’d booked the 4pm class – which was a blessing, as we ended up at Zoe in Yellow with some new hostel friends pretty late the night before!

As part of the experience, we were picked up at our hostel and taken to the downtown cookery school. (you can also book to take the class at their farm location, just outside of the city – but this does cost a little extra). Welcomed by Olive, our instructor for the day, we enjoyed a welcome snack and introduced ourselves to the six other people on our course.

What’s on the menu?

Once we’d sat down and enjoyed our welcome snack, it was about time for the most important decision I’d make all day: what would I be cooking?

Everyone gets to choose five dishes to cook (it’s listed as six, but this includes the curry paste which I wouldn’t count as a dish, personally). Olive went through the menu and explained each dish to help us choose.

• Appetizer: Spring Rolls*, Spicy Chicken Salad, Papaya Salad*
• Stir Fry*: Fried Rice, Pad Thai, Hot Basil Stir Fried
• Soup*: Tom Ka, Tom Yum, Tom Sab
• Curry*: Red Curry, Green Curry, Massaman Curry, Panang Curry, Khao Soi
• Dessert*: Sticky rice with mango, Banana in coconut milk, Deep fried banana

_{*vegetarian option available}

Obviously, being the type-A foodie traveller that I am, I’d checked out the menu beforehand so I already had an idea of what I wanted to cook…

Herb Garden and Market Tour

Before getting busy in the kitchen, we had an opportunity to learn more about the ingredients we’d be cooking up a storm with. The ingredients are a vital part of any Thai dish, and certain ingredients like Thai basil can only be found easily in Southeast Asia.

All up to speed on the home-grown side, Olive led us out of the school and down the street to a local market. You’ll see plenty of these all over Thailand, selling everything from seasonings to fresh vegetables. As well as spending some time learning about unique Thai produce from Olive, we also had time to browse the stalls.

Cooking our Thai dishes

Back at Asia Scenic with aprons on, it was time to get cooking. We cooked and ate our stir fry dishes first, as they’re super quick and simple to make. It was appreciated, as by this point, my mouth was watering and my stomach was rumbling…

Both of us had opted for Pad Thai, as we were really keen to learn how to make it for ourselves. Olive took us through the step-by-step process before cooking, including the best way to measure out the seasoning for a truly authentic Pad Thai. The meat eaters used chicken, while I was given extra tofu for a vegetarian Pad Thai. I have to say, it might have been the best thing I’ve ever cooked…

For my appetiser, I chose perhaps the easiest of the bunch as it involved no actual cooking. The sharp citrus tang of a Papaya Salad had become another firm favourite while travelling in Thailand, and it’s the easiest dish EVER to make. All I had to do was mix some ingredients, add lime juice, and gently mix and press to help the flavours soak in.

My partner chose to be a bit more adventurous with some spring rolls, which he wrapped impressively. As my salad was done, I offered some moral support during the deep-frying process. By ‘moral support’, I obviously mean ‘having a taste when they’re done’, and I can confirm, he did an excellent job.

The final three dishes were made at the same time, so we could sit down and enjoy a meal with soup, curry and dessert. I was a little nervous about managing all three dishes, but Olive made it easy, effortlessly directing us as to what needed to be done next.

I’ve made Thai curries at home in the UK before, but I’ve only ever got as far as picking up a Blue Dragon curry kit from Tesco. There’s no cheat codes here though – even the curry paste is made from scratch!

As it involves quite a lot of work, the group teamed up to make enough curry paste for everyone’s choices. Some of the curry pastes have a similar base, adding slightly different ingredients towards the end to hit the perfect flavour. After some chopping and mixing, the pestle and mortar came out and everyone got busy bashing their paste into shape.

(yes, I had a sore arm the next day.)

The soups were by far the easiest dish to make, and was also one of my favourite dishes! My Tom Kha simmered away calmly to an elegant and fragrant end product. Another great thing about this class is that the instructor is happy to help you tailor a dish to your tastes. I absolutely hate mushrooms, so I had some extras to give my partner, which he was more than happy to accept.

Once we had the curry paste down, the curry itself was very simple to make, frying off the paste and adding our ingredients. While our dishes simmered, we worked on our desserts – I chose the mango sticky rice, and my partner the deep fried banana.

Adding the finishing touches and wiping the sweat from our brows, we finally took off our aprons and sat down to reap the rewards of an evening’s cooking. The soup and curry were absolutely delicious, and I was slightly convinced Olive had swapped out my efforts for one she’d made earlier!

At the end of the session, we were given a lovely Asia Scenic cookbook with all the recipes for the class. It’s a wonderful souvenir, and will definitely be of use for my future cooking efforts!

I’d absolutely recommend Asia Scenic for an authentic Thai cookery experience in Chiang Mai. The recipes were easy to follow, and Olive was patient and supportive – a natural teacher! The class gave me a lot of confidence cooking Thai food, and I learnt SO much about Thai cuisine.

Still can’t get enough of Chiang Mai’s foodie scene? Check out these food tours:

• Michelin Guide Chiang Mai Street Food Tour
• Food Tour by Songtheaw