Smell good: Crazies in Koh Tao part three

“First, oil then garlic, for smell good.”

Our cooking mentor ladled oil into our pans and dropped in several spoonfuls of chopped garlic, watching us carefully as we stirred it around. As soon as the smell of garlic wafted from the pans, we dropped in the vegetables and noodles we prepared  moments before. First on our list of culinary delights for the evening were spring rolls, followed by spicy prawn soup, fried rice, fish with pepper sauce and finishing with banana coconut milk. Our teacher was a good-natured Thai man around fifty years old. The moment we walked into the class he welcomed us with a smile, making his eyes crinkle at the corners. We were immediately at ease.

Since planning our adventure around Asia, we have wanted to take a cooking class. The only problem was, where to take it? After living in Korea for a year, with its abundance of spicy red-sauce covered dishes, we were looking forward to some variety. And, it seems there is no better place to go for food variety than South East Asia. The culinary cross-roads between countries, their intertwined histories and traditions have created an amazing array of tastes and foods. From seafood to curries, extremely spicy to richly sweet, salty to sour, there are so many flavors to try. While we considered all of the countries on our trip, we settled on Thailand, quite simply because we love Thai food, have always wanted to learn how to cook it and there are classes everywhere.

Vegetables cooked and wrapped in rice papers then fried, we started into our first course. Crunch, crunch…Mmmm! The spring rolls were simply amazing. Crisp wrappings, perfectly cooked vegetables, nice clean flavor. Perfect. I am a big fan of spring rolls and have had them on several occasions during our trip. These blew all the others out of the water. Our mentor explained that most restaurants do not make them fresh, so they aren’t as good. We couldn’t help but agree. Freshly made is the key, we learned.

In mere moments our spring rolls seemed to disappear and then it was back to the cooking table to make the soup. Upon our return to the table, our eyes immediately landed on the two giant prawns sitting on a plate. Grey with red legs, they looked a bit less than delicious. We were talked through the preparation of the broth, cutting vegetables just so, adding just enough of this and that, then we set about cooking the soup. Once it hit a boil, we poured it into bowls and sat down to enjoy, only, we weren’t exactly sure how to do that given the six inch long prawn in the bowl. I took a few spoons of broth, loving the slightly spicy, salty taste. Our mentor stopped by to see what we thought.

“Um…how do you eat this?” I pointed to the prawn.

He laughed and set about de-legging and de-shelling the prawn. In mere moments it turned from a creature ready to escape into something I could figure out how to eat. Now, I’m not much of a seafood person, but it was delicious! Just the right hint of fishy-ness to complete the soup.

Spring rolls and soup finished, I was starting to feel full, but we were just getting started. While we’d been enjoying our soup, our teacher fried two pieces of fish, which he set aside for later. When we returned to cook, we made a very simple fried rice then a pepper sauce (to go on the fish). Fried rice is so easy to make and it looks so fancy when its pressed in a cup then flipped upside-down on a plate to make a perfect mound of rice. Accompanied by the fish, it was a very pleasing main course. Unfortunately, I was so full that I barely managed a few bites before I felt like exploding. Our mentor seemed to understand and kindly boxed up the left overs for us.

After digesting a bit, we went to the cooking table one last time for the dish Andy was most excited about: banana coconut milk. Thailand, being tropical, warm and wet, has so much fruit. Stands along the road sell fruit shakes of just about any kind. Ladies with trays of sliced fruit board trains and walk the sidewalks, selling these delicious, rejuvenating bites. All the fruit is one thing I will surely miss when we leave. Of all the fruit, bananas and coconuts were extremely popular on Koh Tao. So, it seemed only logical that desert put the two together.

Banana coconut milk is exactly what it sounds like. Bananas are chopped into pieces and added to coconut milk. A bit of sugar is added and then everything is boiled together until it begins to thicken. We ate it exactly like that, but our mentor suggested trying it with a scoop of ice cream or a dash of whiskey, or swapping the bananas for pumpkin or sweet potatoes. Our minds got to whirling with ideas for making it at home.

Two hours after started the class, we were completely stuffed and thoroughly pleased. Our mentor gave us a cook book, aprons and chefs hats as souvenirs and to encourage us to try everything at home. Walking back to our bungalow, we couldn’t have been happier. It was the perfect, most delicious end to our stay on Koh Tao.