Silom Thai Cooking School

I’ve done a few cooking courses in the last couple of years and all of them were good fun but the one that really stands out was Silom Thai, in Bangkok. We were met by our teacher at a hotel near the sad but popular Khaosan Road and walked to a market around the corner where we explored the stalls and ingredients on sale. There were about 6 doing the course and each of us was given a list of a few things to buy. After strolling to a house nearby we started preparing ingredients and putting them together into different dishes, like a spicy chicken galangal coconut soup, some zingy fried fish cakes and a fiery red chicken curry. We had plenty of time to not only understand what we were doing but also to appreciate the importance of the beautiful fresh ingredients, the balance of salty, sweet, spice and sour, and the colours and textures of Thai cooking.


Don’t be lazy – make your own Red Curry Paste

Ingredients:

- 5 dried chillies, soaked in water
- 3 tsp shallots, chopped
- 4 tsp garlic, finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp galangal (Siamese ginger), grated
- 2 Tbsp lemongrass, chopped
- 2 Tbsp lime rind, chopped
- 1 Tbsp coriander root, chopped
- 20 peppercorns
- 1 tsp shrimp paste
- 1 Tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds

Method:

- heat a dry pan to a low heat, roast coriander and cumin seeds for 5 mins
- grind the seeds to a powder
- add the rest of the ingredients and bash to a paste
- refrigerate in a glass container
- the paste will keep for a few months

Make sure you check out the Silom Thai website.