'Chef Hayley' strikes again....

We signed ourselves up for a Thai Cooking Course at the weekend...and what a weekend it was! My tastebuds feel alive and i'm so excited by all the delicious cuisine we created... i can't wait to get cooking! 

Watch out Masterchef...

We headed to Silom Cooking school for a 2 day course, it cost 1000 bht (£20) for the day and was well worth it. You get an afternoon of cooking lessons, a 5 course meal, a drink, a cook-book and you have so much fun!

The cooking school is about 40 min from our apartment, we met at the corner of Soi 11 in Silom and from there once registered we headed to the market. Our instructor for the day 'Jay' was just hilarious! He kept us entertained with interesting facts about Thai cooking and gave us lots of handy tips for the kitchen. At the market he showed us what  ingredients were needed (i'd never seen some of them in my life!) -we felt them, smelt them and learnt which ones to pic and then we set off in tuk-tuks to the cooking school! 

The school is located in the back streets of Silom, so it feels like you are going into someone's home to cook. Shoes off and hands washed we had another low down on basic Thai ingredients, put on our fabulous aprons and got our cook on!

Day One...

We started off with tom yum goon soup - aka - hot and sour prawn soup! 

I ordered this when i first arrived in Bangers and it blew my head off so I was a bit scared to be making one! But as the chef you decide how much little chili devils go in. (I call them devils cause they are evil!) Kev added 5, i added half a chilli and still found it hot! It doesn't take long to cook at all, once we chopped up the main ingredients (lemongrass, kaffir leaves and galangal ginger) we headed to our woks. Fish sauce is added along with a big spoon of chili paste, onions, tomatoes, prawns and stock! Bring to the boil then voila...your tom yum goon is ready! It was very yummy...but still a bit on the spicy side!

Tom Yum Goong

Next on the menu was on of my favourites... pad thai gai - noodles with chicken! 

This dish is super quick to make, you just need to make sure you got all your bits ready to go in the wok! Once we diced and sliced, we headed to the woks, flame on and hey presto... the pad thai was on the go! The only tricky part was cracking in the egg and making sure you scramble it before it becomes an omelette! I left out the chili for this dish...it was super delish!

Pad-Thai

After the delicious pad-thai! We learnt how to make spring rolls! super easy and super delicious! You can pretty much put whatever you want in a spring roll, the art is wrapping it so all the bits stay inside! I think i rolled mine rather artistically, then cut like sushi and topped off with a sweet chilli sauce we made from big red chilies, loads of sugar and rice vinegar. Mmm - I'll defo whip this out for a starter!

Thai Spring Rolls

Thai green curry -kang khiao wan gai - was up next! I'm not a fan that has anything with 'curry' in the title! But after making it from scratch, my opinion and taste buds have now warmed towards it. After cutting and mashing big green chilies (the big ones ain't spicy!) we headed to the wok to create some green curry magic. Curry paste, coconut milk, veggies, fish sauce, tamarind and voila! It wasn't bad, even could have done with a bit more spice! hehe!

Thai Green Curry

As if we hadn't eaten enough, we then ended off the afternoon with a Thai classic - Mango and sticky rice! A rather odd combination, but the go pretty well together! The mango was just perfect, juicy and super tasty and the sticky rice is sweet/ sour and chewy. 

We then received out 'cooking diplomas' and Silom Cooking School Cookbooks! 

I've hardly used my kitchen since we've been in Bangers...but now i'm strangely excited to get in in and whip up some yummy soups, noodles and curries!

- - - - -

Day Two...

The second day we headed to a different market with a different instructor, then too a different location to cook up a storm. This time it felt a bit more traditional as we sat in the floor for the lessons. Once our baskets were loaded with the ingredients, we walked a few blocks to 'very backstreet Silom', we then headed up a few flights of stairs, put the funky apron on and ready...steady...cook! We were making different dishes to the day before and had a whole new list of ingredients and met a whole new group of fellow masterchef wanna-bees! It was totally different from the day before, but just as fun and just as tasty!

First dish on the menu was tom kah gai - chicken in coconut milk! Yum! Similar to the tom yum goong we made the day before, but creamy and no spicy at all! I loved it! Thats probs cause i didnt add any chilies! Kev added about 7 and he got the upper lip sweats from the heat! It was a very yummy starter and i'll defo be making this one soon! 

Tom Kah Gai

Ever wondered what to do with your leftover rice? Make koh pad gai - chicken fried rice! The secret to this dish is 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce, then fry up any leftovers, scramble and egg, add the rice and there you have your super quick tasty meal! Add some soy sauce for seasoning and tuck in!

Khao Pad Gai

Kevs favorite - Som Tum - papaya salad -was next on the menu! I love the look and smell of this dish, but always find it far too spicy. For Kev its never spicy enough! After slicing and dicing the carrots and green papaya, we added green beans, a tomato, roasted peanuts and garlic - lots of garlic! For the sauce...again the fish sauce, tamarind and palm sugar...mix it all up lovingly and spice as you like! Yum! Yum! I'll defo be making this one.... I'll make, take out my portion, then add a massive handful of little devin chilies and that will be for Kev!

Som Tum

Another curry dish was on the menu - kaeng mus sa mum - massaman curry!

So - 5 years ago when Kev and I were last in Thailand, we were on the beach, a bit peckish so ordered a meal to share...he ordered a curry and was super yummy. The smell and flavours were amazing! Sadly we never remembered what it was called so just had the memory of this. But when we were putting the ingredients in the wok, the smells came to life and memories of that delicious curry on the beach came flooding back to me and my tastebuds.... Massaman Curry! Its sweeter that your green and red Thai curry and truly delicious! Again add how much spice you want and munch away!

Kaeng Mus sa Mum

For dessert we made kluay buad chee - steamed bananas in coconut milk. I love bananas and i love coconut milk - so this is one of my fav desserts! Kev on the other hand - can't even look at it! 

At this point, I was super duper full, but still found some room to indulge and satisfy my tastebuds. We then headed home - no dinner needed! I popped to the shops later to check out the Thai isle and found some key ingredients to for the cupboard... i'm now ready to get in the kitchen and get my Thai Cook on!!

For more information on any of these dishes please contact Chef Hayley @omgicannowcookthaifoodlikeapro.com

The Happy Tomato!

I just love living in the 'Land of Smiles' - even my lunch smiles at me!

The Happy Tomato!

Magical Maldives!

Last week we headed to Maldives! Yeah Baby!

  

Maldives is made up of 1190 Islands, 188 which are inhabited. It's somewhere I have always wanted to go but never in a million years thought I'd actually be lucky enough to visit. But, as we are living in Bangers, and it's easier to get therE from this side of the world... we thought 'why not'! So Kev got busy looking and booking and off we set for our Magical Maldives adventure! 

Trip of a lifetime!

We headed out bright and early to the airport, after a sneaky subway breakfast of champions we headed to KL for a 2hr stopover then set off to the Maldives. The Airport is on its own little island, so once we arrived we headed to the ferry to take us across to Male - the capital of Maldives. It's amazing how many people you can fit onto one island! That place is jam packed with people, cars and scooters - why they needs cars, I dunno know - the island is so tiny you can just walk everywhere! We stayed in the LVIS Hotel near the centre of Male, it was pretty basic but had just what we needed after a long flight, comfy-ish bed, warm shower, air con, free bottled water and a warm welcome from the biggest cockroach we have ever seen! Hehe! 

After a bad night's sleep (wondering if the roches buddy would sneak into bed with us) we checked out the capital before setting off  to Maafushi Island. We hit the Local Market, Fish Market and the Old President Palace...I made sure not to blink in case I missed anything. After a few photo snaps and strange looks from the locals (not many tourists visit Male!), we headed back to the Hotel to collect our bags, say toodles to 'le coca rocha' and headed to the Ferry Terminal to get our tickets . 

The Ferry was packed with people, TVs, fresh fruit and boxes filled with island supplies. It took 1.5hrs from Male to get to Maafushi - you can get a speedboat for triple the price that takes 35 min, but we weren't in a rush and the scenery along the way was just gorgeous!

Maafushi is one of the most popular local islands for tourists, it has so much character and definitely a little gem in the ocean. It's all of 1.2 km long and has a population of 2000 (800 of which are safely tucked away in the Maafushi Maximum Security Prison -Political prisoners only so it's quite safe!)

We stayed at Stingray Beach Inn - I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to visit Maafushi! It's a cute little guesthouse that's close to the beach, offers amazing tours and snorkeling trips, has an awesome little restaurant (amazing brekkie served!), hot-tub, comfy room, loads of movie channels and a parrot that says 'Hello' to you all day. Once settled in, we headed straight to 'Bikini Beach' (the designated beach for tourists wanting to sport a bikini!) to soak up some rays. The beach was white and the sea was a hundred of shades of blue...just stunning! Chill time had commenced!



On the first day, after an amazing breakfast at Stingers, we set out for a half day snorkeling trip. Once fitted with our snorkelling gear, flippers and a kiddies life-jacket for me, we set out to Banana Reef to look for Turtles and Sting-Rays... which we saw! I was a little stressed out when I launched myself off the boat- firstly i don't like getting my head wet and whenever I'm in the sea and my feet can't touch the ground the JAWS soundtrack plays in my head...panic! Once Kev calmed me down and the instructor assured me that there was no sharks in sight i put on the goggles, shoved in the snorkel and poked my head underwater for a sneaky peak! OMG... it was just amazing! the colours, the fish, the coral... then Mr Sting-ray made an appearance, followed by the Turtle dude! We saw everything apart from Nemo!
Kev help my hand the whole time.

After snorkel central we headed to 'Picnic Island' - a tiny island in the middle of nowhere that just has sand and a few bushes...stunning! At this point tho - the rain had arrived and it wasn't giving up! We were supposed to have lunch on the Island, but ended up chowing it on the boat (noodles with some unidentified meat) then had a quick swim and pics on the island. On the way back we got soaked! It rained and rained and rained...after what seemed like the longest journey ever... we eventually got back to Stingers... soaked.  

Evening Entertainment!

On day 2, we decided to tour Maafushi Island on bike! It was super fun cycling around, but after 10 minutes, exhaustion set in and my butt hurt! So we returned the bikes, put on the sun cream, set up our beach towels in a prime spot on 'Bikini Beach' and chilled! Swam for a bit. Tanned. Then chilled some more. I love island life!

 

 

On Day three we were going to do the snorkel tour again...but the weather had other plans! The rain was back... and wasn't going anywhere! There was just no-ways I was gonna get back on that boat again in the rain! So we opted to spend another day touring the Island, trying out the Hot-Tube, sampling the local cuisine and playing with Hermit Crabs on the beach.

That evening we head to the 'Naughty Boat'. 

Maldives is a Dry Country... even in the midst of a major downpour...alcohol is prohibited unless you are staying at a resort. You can buy non-alcoholic beer and wine in the stores, but if you're after something more exciting...you wanna head to the 'Naughty Boat'! It's a floating boat that hangs around outside Maafushi, they send the speedboat to collect you and voila... Once there, you sign yourself in and head to the top where you can order exciting sundowners at extortionate prices! Seriously $20 for 2 little drinks!! We made them last while we watched the dolphins swim past (see- they even know the boat to be at!) chatted to fellow tourists and watched the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen! 

Sundowner Sunset!

The next morning we woke up to the most glorious sunny weather so we booked up for the snorkel tour and set off for round 2! This time we headed out to Turtle Reef and it didn't disappoint! We saw fish galore, coral reefs, a turtle dude and dolphins! They surrounded out boat and showed off with a few flick-flacks! I wanted to jump in and swim with them (Hayley the Dolphin Whisperer!) but the guide told us they can get quite aggressive! 

After a quick shower to get the sand out my hair and ears, and have our last delicious meal at Stinger s cafe, we headed to the airport...speedboat style! I was super sad leaving my beloved Maafushi behind. It really was such an amazing holiday and i can't believe how lucky we are to have visited one of the most beautiful places in the world! I hold a very special place in my heart for the Maldives, and have a very special place on my dresser for the hermit shell I stole from the beach!

kill nothing but time
leave nothing but footprints
take nothing but pictures