Cooking Thai at Urban Thai Bistro

Back in mid-July, I was fortunate enough to take a Thai cooking course at Urban Thai down in Yaletown. We were presented with gorgeous silk aprons and a booklet filled with all the recipes that we are making.

Here is the set-up when we first arrive. Everything you need to make an authentic Thai dinner...or lunch! The first thing we are making is Chicken in Yellow Curry. 

Pre-diced potatoes and carrots, with a bit of chicken, palm sugar, yellow curry paste, and some coconut milk awaits...with instructions and assistance from the chefs, I was able to turn the above into..

Kaeng Kari, or Yhai yellow curry! The palm sugar is very honey-like, so if you find it too sweet, reduce the amount you use. Also, instead of using salt to flavour, fish sauce is used. 

One of my favourite Thai dish is the Tom Yum Goong Soup...it's a hot and sour soup that is perfect for a cold rainy day. Ingredients include lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, chili paste, sugar, lime juice and coriander. 

There is also some chicken stock used, as well as fish sauce and galangal. Add the mushrooms and tomatoes, and the prawns, and you've got yourself something to keep you warm on a cold fall day. See...pretty good, right? 

From looking at the above ingredients...ground pork, vermicelli, shredded cabbage and carrots, as well as onions and green onions...it's hard to guess what I am making next, isn't it? 

After a quick saute of the above ingredients, we got busy missing the vermicelli into the pork and incorporating all the other ingredients. Still don't know what this is? 

It's the filling for these spring rolls! The spring roll wrap needs to be covered while you roll, but work fast, don't let them get dry! Put the filling into the wrapper, don't overfill. Simply deep fry and you've got yourself Thai House Spring Rolls!  

This is the biggest crucible I have ever seen...I thought we were making giganti mojitos! 

The base for the sauce is garlic, chillies and peanuts. Start my mushing all of them in the crucible, then add tomatoes, fish sauce, palm sugar and lime juice. Keep pounding away...it's a great stress release! 

This is the shredded papaya...after the sauce is smooth, add the papaya along with the green beans, and gently mix until everything is incorporated.

Serve the whole thing in a lettuce bowl...not just another pretty face, it's tasty too! 

All this food after about two hours of fun...what a great way to learn to cook Thai! If you are interested in taking a class, email: [panee] [at] [thaihouse] [dot] [com]. They offer four different menus, other menus include Pad Thai, Shrimp Cakes and lots more.