A couple weeks ago I took a cooking class in Thailand, and decided to make a couple of the recipes from the class last night.

Tom Yam Goong (Traditional Thai sour and spicy prawn soup)

Ingredients:

• Medium to large prawns
  
• Straw mushrooms
  
• Cilantro
  
• Cherry tomatoes
  
• Small chilis
  
• Lemongrass
  
• Kaffir lime leaves
  
• Galangal
  
• Roasted chili paste
  
• Lemon juice
  
• Fish sauce
  
• Chicken stock
  
• Sugar

Based on my own preferences I replaced lemon juice with a squeezed lime and used brown sugar as my choice of sugar. My local Asian grocer didn’t have any kaffir lime leaves so I left them out.

1. Boil chicken stock
   
2. Add lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, roasted chili paste, sugar, mushrooms, chilis, mushrooms (if they aren’t pre-cooked)
   
3. Add mushrooms (if pre-cooked), shrimp, cherry tomatoes
   
4. Add lime juice and fish sauce
   
5. Garnish with cilantro

My preference is that a cherry tomato is sliced, but that’s a personal preference. Heat of the soup can be increased by slicing the chilis in half so the seats are exposed to the soup. It was delicious!

Gai Phad Med Mamuang (Sauteed Chicken with Cashew Nuts & Dry Chili)

Ingredients:

• Chicken
  
• Veggie oil
  
• Garlic, chopped
  
• Roasted cashew nut
  
• Dry chili thin slice
  
• Onion slice
  
• Spring onion
  
• Soya sauce
  
• Dark soya sauce
  
• Chicken stock
  
• Oyster sauce
  
• Cilantro (garnish)

1. Toast cashews (if untoasted)
   
2. Heat oil, add garlic
   
3. Add chicken
   
4. Add cashews, onion, dry chili, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, chicken stock, oyster sauce
   
5. Garnish with green onion, red chili and cilantro

Once the chicken is fully cook, everything goes rather quickly. After adding all the ingredients and chicken stock I probably let the dish reduce too long on the stove — it was quite wet when I learned it — but it was delciious nonetheless.