Half Day Afternoon Thai Cooking Class - Thai kitchen Cookery Centre

Thai Kitchen Cookery Centre calls itself the first cooking school in Chiang Mai and has been teaching since 1995 from a house near the Night Bazaar. Classes are fully hands on: you chop, pound and cook everything yourself, including the sauces and curry pastes, using the family's own recipes. The afternoon half day course is the one to pick if you want a free morning and an early evening: it goes straight to the cooking and skips the market visit that the morning and evening classes include.

After pickup you settle in at the school and cook five dishes from five menu groups: a curry paste pounded by hand, the curry made from it, a stir fry such as pad thai or cashew chicken, an appetiser such as papaya salad, chicken satay or a glass noodle salad, and spring rolls. You choose your dishes from the list in each group. Every dish can be made vegetarian or vegan, and you set your own spice level. You eat what you cook as you go, so you will not need dinner early.

Practicalities: the course runs from about 13:40 to 16:30 daily, with pickup between 13:00 and 13:40 from accommodation within about 3 km of downtown. Tea, coffee, water, herbal drinks and snacks are provided, and there is an optional Thai cocktail. You leave with the school's full colour recipe book.