I was given some vouchers for Christmas to attend a course at a local cooking school, Tideswell School of Food. I booked myself on a Vietnamese and Thai course which I’ve just completed. It was fun but the first course, Vietnamese, I felt quite out of my depth. Two days later though at the Thai course I felt more comfortable. The odd thing is I spent nine years in Southeast Asia. The food was great but I never attempted to cook myself (so to speak).
East asian food can be quite sweet so I laid off pouring in the sugar and spiced it up with chilli instead. The overall effect was pretty powerful – just how I like it.
The Vietnamese menu was:
- Prawn and pork toast
- Spring rolls
- Peanut sauce
- Chilli dipping sauce
- Vietnamese eggplant in claypot (though we used a sauce pan rather than a claypot!)
And the Thai menu was:
- Thai prawn toast
- Sweet chilli sauce
- Papaya salad
- Stir fry noodles Thai style
And here are the results …
