When you visit Chang Mai you have to do a Thai cooking class. We went to Ning’s Kitchen to do a Vegan cooking class. Did you know it’s very easy to eat vegetarian and vegan in Thailand? They cook with coconut milk and barely use any dairy if you change the meat for tofu, BAM it’s vegan. When making Pad Thai just leave out the egg and it’s all good.
Ning’s Kitchen is situated in the Old City of Chang Mai, it’s a small area beneath a yoga studio (Hidden House Yoga). A maximum of six people can participate in the cooking class and Ning gives the cooking class herself, she is a gorgeous yogi. An older lady (known as Mama) helps her to clean up the dishes in between courses. The best part of the class is that you can eat each dish straight after you make it.
When we arrived we saw the fresh veggies laid out ready. We got given some fresh fruit to eat a little cook book that had all the recipes from the class.
The green Curry is our favourite curry of all time. Each person got given the ingredients to make one portion each. Ning explained how to cut the veggies and herbs. When you have everything to hand, it’s so easy to make. After we chopped up our fresh foodies, we went to the other side of the table, where the woks are installed.
First you add a little olive oil in the pan, then the green paste and mix it with some coconut milk. You can make it as spicy as you want, I (Marthe) love me some spice, so I put some extra paste to it. After a tablespoon of sugar, a half tablespoon of mushroom powder (didn’t know that this was a thing), some soya sauce, maybe add some more coconut milk and there is your base. Just add the veggies and herbs afterwards, stir for about 5 mins and it’s done! To be honest, it was one of the best curry’s I have ever had.
This is my (Marthe’s) favourite Thai dish, I order this almost everyday when I am in Thailand. Tash made the coconut version of it, called Tom Kha. You use the same ingredients for both soups, just leave the spicy chilli paste out of the Tom Kha soup.
We found out that for every base, you use the same ingredients: coconut milk, tablespoon of sugar, half tablespoon of mushroom powder, soya sauce and a little salt.
For this soup it’s the same, you start with some boiled water, add the chilli paste to it and then the ingredients described above. You can make it as spicy as you want! The result was a little foodgasm.
Same same but different. Pad Thai is so easy to make, just be sure to use glass noodles instead of egg noodles if you want it to be vegan. First add veggies and flavour them up with same ingredients we use for every dish. If using wet noodles then you can add them directly into the pan. Fry until the noodles are done and you are ready to eat.
The Stir Fry is done in a few minutes, you chop up the veggies, keeping them quite chunky, throw everything into the wok, flavour it up and done! Easy does it.
Also very easy, you can make this at home and it’s a fun and healthy starter. First make the sauce by chopping up tomatoes, making them REALLY small. Fry them in a pan, add some chilli paste, some peanut crumbles, coconut milk, and sugar of course!
The spring rolls are the easy part. Beforehand you chop up many veggies (make them long and stringy), any veggies you want and like. A famous saying of Ning: ‘You don’t like, don’t put’. We also added coconut flesh, yummy! Put the rice paper in lukewarm water for a minute or so, until it’s flexible. Shake it out and put it on a big plate. Quickly put the veggies in and start rolling the paper quite tight until you have a veggie cigar. Divide them into four pieces and done!
Our guilty pleasure and favourite Thai desert. Ning didn’t show us how to make the rice, because you have to make this the day before. It involves soaking the rice overnight to remove the starch before cooking and adding melted sugar and coconut milk.
Using a very ripe mango, cut it in half, make a square pattern, making sure you don’t cut through the skin. Push the flesh out, making the signature mango sticky rice presentation. Add the rice on the side, cover with coconut milk and some crispy mung beans and done!
If you want to have any of the recipes described above, let us know and we can send you the full recipes. If you need more information about Ning’s kitchen, we can sent you that too. Check out her website if you want to book a class and mention our name 🙂
Read more about travelling and eating Vegan HERE!
Originally from Amsterdam, I am now living in London with Tash, after we finally ‘Broke the Distance’. I love travelling and want to visit as many places as possible.
Originally from Amsterdam, I am now living in London with Tash, after we finally ‘Broke the Distance’. I love travelling and want to visit as many places as possible.
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