Cooking With Pon! Green Garden (Hot Pot) Cooking School, Bangkok

How do you like your chillies in the morning?

Thai cooking courses are rated as some of the best experiences you can get whilst exploring Thailand, and something not to be missed if you're a foodie or a host. I did a lot of research into different cooking courses and, in my opinion, it doesn't get much better than Green Garden (previously known as Hot Pot) Cooking School! A lot of schools recommended widely cost the same or more, but only offer 3-4 dishes - today I cooked and ate 10 over 5 hours and loved every second of it!

I turned up at 8.50 for a 9.00 start and was picked up by my teacher Pon on a Tuk Tuk and taken straight to the market to get fresh ingredients for cooking! I was joined by another girl from Bangladesh and we moved through the market as Pon described all the different foods and what they're used for in Thai cooking, what they go with, and how they're different to foods we knew - for example, Thai eggplant looks like a courgette rather than the purple lightbulb I'm used to! Fresh food markets in Bangkok run from 0400 - 0930ish and then they're changed over to thing stalls or cooked food stalls. Very surreal to see the end of Khao San Road full of lettuce and eggs rather than fisherman trousers and hair braids! 

Bossing the groceries 

We moved to Pon's cooking school which is a beautifully open but covered kitchen, which is also a restaurant and guesthouse. There's space for 6 students but today we just had 2! Pon gave us a recipe booklet for everything we were going to cook so we could repeat them at home and got us straight into cooking! Pon is a great teacher - she shows you what to do by doing it with you and then is very hands off so you are doing all your own work but with her supervision. Super for anyone who wants to get really into the cooking! She's also super flexible, so if you want to cook super spicy, vegetarian, mild, more salads or more curries then she's very accommodating! 

Absolute highlight of the day: real life, human, paying customers came in and ordered food, which Pon told us to make for them! Such a privilige to be able to make fresh spring rolls, pad thai, and fried spring rolls for a beautiful French family.

Pon's kitchen of glory - space for 6, and then a restaurant out front too

Thai mashing is a lot more bump than grind, apparently

Here's what I made today:

1. Green chilli curry paste - intense flavours and a wake up call to my tastebuds!
2. Tom yum soup - coconut and water based soup with prawns/chicken, mushrooms, veg
3. Peanut sauce -  amazing combo of spices and sauces to deepen any dish, really good on Spring rolls
4. Massaman curry - yellow curry, mild and gorgeously silky
5. Thai green curry - light but incredibly fragrant green curry which packs a mega punch
6. Spring rolls - veg and chicken fried parcels of happiness
7. Thai iced lemon red tea - sweet and sour iced tea
8. Sticky rice and mango dessert - dark, steamed, sticky rice with mango and crushed peanuts and coconut milk 
9. Super spicy Thai salad - chicken and prawn salad with a lot of kick!
10. Fresh spring rolls - non-fried Spring rolls with tofu 

Details

Booking: I turned up the day before I wanted to cook and that was fine!

Price: 1500 bhat (~30 GBP) - includes transport and ingredients 

Duration: 4-6 hours, depending on group size 

Group size: 1-6

Dishes: 6-10

Times: start at either 9am or 1pm

Location: Samsen Soi 5, Bangkok, 10200

Email: pon.jaiong@gmail.com

Facebook: Green Garden Cooking School

Loving life with a wok