My culinary journey began with a visit to the local market with the chef from the Anantara Hua Hin Resort in Thailand.
Taking me around the tables, she explained what each of the spices were (they look different fresh than they do ground up and put in a jar like you would find in the US) and the different types of fish that were indigenous of the area. Sea bass and prawns were both ingredients that I would need that day.
She also showed me the different types of curry and how they buy it. For some reason, I didn’t expect curry to come in a past that you buy by the ounce. I always thought it was powdered. She asked the person selling to the let me smell each of them so I can see the differences between them all and how each of them would compliment certain dishes.
From there we went back to the resort to start cooking. On the menu were Green Papaya Salad, Spicy Prawn Soup and Steamed Sea Bass, and this wasn’t one for those “watch the chef” do it journeys. They actually let me cut, dice and even de-vein my jumbo shrimp for the courses. For me the hardest part with removing the seeds from the little chilies and mincing everything together.
Everything was made from scratch including the broth. And the number of ingredients that went into everything was an interesting learning experience. All ingredients were fresh and in most cases it was the combination of sugar, fish oil and different chilies, onions and lime juice that transformed the dish from bland to amazing.
It also didn’t take much to make a dish too spicy to enjoy (lesson learned – little green chilies are killer spicy).
It was truly a great experience and half day of learning.
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