A Few of My Favourite Things !

This weekend, I decided to pull out a couple of old recipes from the time I visited the Baipai Cooking School in Bangkok. I haven’t made these in a while but I really should keep them in my current repertoire – they are winners. The pictures aren’t as pretty as they ones I took at the cooking school but the flavours brought back memories of my visit to Thailand. The recipe cards that Baipai gave us for these recipes serve one – yes, one (1). I know that some people do need to only cook for one, but I have NEVER seen a recipe that provides measurements for serving one. So, I did some guess work and threw in what I thought was reasonable for serving six, however as I didn’t write the measurements down, you can do the sums for yourself if you’d like to try these recipes!

(Please note that I haven’t poured the tamarind sauce on yet in this photo)

Pandanus Chicken

(makes 5 pieces)
70 grams chicken thighs, cut into 5 bite-sized pieces
5 scented Pandanus leaves
1 clove garlic
1 coriander root, roughyl chopped
10 black pepper seeds
1 lemon grass stalk, cut into pieces
1 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp oyster sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp white sesame seeds
2 cups vegetable oil for deep frying

1. Pound garlic, coriander root, black pepper seeds and lemon grass together well
2. Mix the wet ingredients and sugar and sesame seeds with the chicken pieces and leave to marinate for at least 1 hour
3. Wrap each piece of chicken with a pandanus leaf
4. Deep fry the chicken on medium heat, turning regularly until cooked. Remove and rain well. (NB. I shallow fried them for a minute on each side then drained and put them in the oven to bake until cooked)
5. Serve with a dipping sauce of 1 tbs ketchup manis and 1/4 tsp roasted sesame seeds if you wish.

Prawns in Tamarind Sauce

3-4 medium prawns, shelled and deveined
1 tbs wheat flour
1 cup vegetable oil for deep frying
1 tbs shallots, finely sliced
2 tbs tamarind paste/sauce
1 tbs palm sugar
2 tsp fish sauce
2 tbs water

1. Coat prawns with flour and deep fry until just cooked. Set aside.
2. Stirfry shallots until crisped
3. Add tamarind paste, palm sugar, fish sauce, water and stir well until sauce is thickened
4. Arrange prawns on a plate and top with tamarind sauce. Serve with coriander leaves and chilli

I was fortunate to have two full-time babysitters in mum & dad while staying in Bangkok so I took the opportunity to get away for some much-needed shopping therapy. I also watched a movie (and suffered motion sickness as a result) and took a half-day cooking class. The dishes were pretty straightforward but, of course, the best part was not having to do any of the washing up. We were a group of 8, ranging from first timers at a cooking school to two men who were taking a week’s worth of lessons.

Panadanus Leaf-wrapped Chicken

Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad) served with carved vegetables

Prawns in Tamarind Sauce

Roast Duck in Red Curry Sauce

I had some amusing dining companions, three from the airline industry. They have awarded the Japanese as the best passengers ever – ever polite, never requiring any special attention – and the gong for the worst go to Indians – 2 hours to board with a few still missing by the end, “are you trying to starve us?” if the flight staff don’t get the food out quickly enough.

There are a number of cooking schools to choose from but I went with Baipai because I had heard good reviews and their menu sounded more interesting and authentic than some others.

What is not obvious from these photos is that the rider’s helmet is covered in matching pink fur. His girlfriend didn’t appear to have a helmet so I’m assuming that he is the one with the Hello Kitty obsession. Interestingly, we also spotted quite a bit of Hello Kitty paraphernalia being sold in Spain & Portugal. Is she making a bid to take over the world?