When my Laos director told me she had a new cooking course she wanted me to try I gently tried to bow out. Cooking is just not my thing…at all, and while I have taken fantastic Thai cooking classes I am not as big a fan of Laotian food and thought it would be a waste for me and my ‘no spice’ palate. Somehow my gentle no wasn’t enough and I was signed up. I am being honest when I say that I will not make a single dish I learned in the class, but, and this is a big but, I did have a fantastic time and would recommend the course to foodies and non foodies alike as a great way to spend a day in Luang Prabang. To get the ‘foodie’ feedback I did take my dad with me, a gourmet chef he scoffed at the idea of a cooking class, but for the opposite reasons I did, he thought it would be just too basic and boring. Can you imagine having to teach the two of us…
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We took the class through Tamarind, a husband and wife run restaurant and cooking school. We started our day with a trip to the local market where we were introduced to various ingredients and challenged to try some unique dishes like pig intestines. Happy to skip that particular delicacy, it was interesting to see the market from a chefs perspective.
Back at the school we got hands washed and aprons on. Joy, the fantastic instructor and husband (of the husband and wife team), showed us the ingredients for each dish, but then left us to our own devices to chop, grind, flavor and prepare. While this was sometimes a challenge for me (I have no idea what the heck basil looked like), Joy was always there to give a hand and check on progress. Throughout the day we tried the sauces we made, enjoyed our own sticky rice and cooked pork in a flower! The final meal was fantastic and the best part was I had cooked it all myself. I was sad that my husband and kids weren’t there to eat it, it was probably their one chance to eat a delicious ‘home cooked’ meal by me. Dad and I came from opposite ends of the culinary spectrum and we both thoroughly enjoyed the day and I am looking forward to him making me a Laos meal next time I visit!
Insider Tip: If you don’t like spicy let them know, I didn’t eat a single spicy thing all day and still had delicious food!
Tamarind Information: www.tamarindlaos.com