Half Day Evening 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 evening half day course keeps your day free for temples or a trip out of town, then gives you a market visit, five dishes and a dinner you cooked yourself. It suits people on a short stay who do not want to give up daylight hours.

The class begins with pickup and a walk through a local fresh market, where the teacher explains the herbs, vegetables and pastes you will use. Back at the school you 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, a soup such as tom yum or tom kha, 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, which is your dinner.

Practicalities: the course runs from about 16:30 to 20:30 daily, with pickup between 16:00 and 16:40 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.