Thai Cooking Academy - Bangkok

Up until last week, I hadn't seen Tal, one of my closest friends, for 2 1/2 years. She lives in Israel, and I in the U.S., so it's not easy to get together. However, her family just moved to Thailand, and mine is finishing up their post in Taiwan, so this Christmas we grabbed the opportunity to make the relatively small hop to see each other.

Her family knows me so well. While I was visiting them, they signed us up for a cooking class at the Thai Cooking Academy! We had a really fun time learning some new Thai dishes and making new friends.

We met our group and teacher at the metro station, then walked together to a nearby local market where the teacher explained some Thai ingredients to us. I hadn't realized before how many ingredients were so specific to Thailand! Replicating some of these dishes will be a challenge.

After seeing the market, we walked a few minutes down the road to the Thai Cooking Academy. We had already picked out the dishes we were making, and they had the ingredients waiting for us by our stations, ready to chop up. We each made five dishes, and there were about four options to choose from for each dish. I made massaman curry, pineapple fried rice, stir-fried vegetables, coconut chicken, and mango sticky rice. All of the dishes I made were beyond delicious--except the coconut chicken (granted, I don't really like coconut and I'm not really sure why I chose to make it).

I was afraid that all nine of us making five different dishes would be chaotic, time-consuming, and confusing. However, the teacher named each dish and which ingredients to chop up as we went along, so it was clear what to do and we were busy most of the time. A few ingredients the cooks helped us cook or chop to save a bit of time as well. While chopping, we had plenty of time to chat with the other people taking the class, which was fun because we had a very international group.

Once everything was chopped, we went over to the cooking stations and made our dishes. The desserts we mostly watched how to make. It only took a few minutes to fry everything up, then we got to eat! We made so much food, some people opted to take leftovers home, but I was starving and lacking self-control after a few hours of chopping and smelling food. I devoured everything I made, except, of course, the coconut chicken.

All in all, I would do this class again in a heartbeat. The teacher had good English, was very helpful and knowledgeable, and it was an organized and fun class with lots of different dishes to choose from. Not to mention good food! The dishes were fairly customizable to individual tastes, and we were given the recipes afterwards. It ended up being about three hours total, and required only basic skills. Hopefully I'll be able to replicate some of these dishes at home!

Thai Cooking Academy Links
Official website: http://bangkokthaicookingacademy.com
TripAdvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293916-d2037980-Reviews-Bangkok_Thai_Cooking_Academy-Bangkok.html

Almond Poppyseed Bread

How has your summer been? Hot? Sunny? Full of trips to the lake or pool? Lots of eating ice cream out of the tub while no one's looking?
I hope so!

I've had a great summer. Super-duper-uber busy (which is why I haven't blogged in awhile...) and full of successes and fails, but great all the same.

Successes include learning how to say "go to the fingerprinting window" in Chinese, biking an hour to work in Taiwan's intense heat a few times, and surviving my trip to Japan (which was my first trip abroad in which only my sister--no grown ups--accompanied me, and which we planned ourselves).

Fails include making frosting with cornstarch instead of powdered sugar (sooo not tasty), milk not curdling during an attempt at homemade ricotta, going waaay past our bus stop resulting in a taxi ride, aaaand not writing any blogs.

All in all, it could have been worse.

But what's always a success is this poppyseed bread. It's a family recipe--we've been making it for years. Last summer I made it for dessert when some guests came over, and they were just amazed that 1) we served bread for dessert and 2) that it tasted so freaking fantastic!

I think what makes this poppyseed bread stand out is the combination of the almond extract in the bread and the orange juice in the glaze. It makes for such a surprising but tasty combo!

So, without further ado, here is the recipe for what is definitely one of the best poppyseed-filled foods I have ever eaten.

Almond Poppyseed Bread
Makes: 2 loaves

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups milk
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup + 2 Tbs. canola oil
1 1/2 Tbs. poppy seeds

Glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tsp. melted butter

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and beat with an electric mixer on medium for 2 minutes, or until combined.
Pour into 2 greased small loaf pans.
Bake 1 hour at 350ºF.
Cool for 10 minutes in pans while making glaze.
Remove loaves to wire rack and pour glaze over loaves while still warm.

Basic Hummus

Happy New Year!

Actually, I don't really like New Years all that much. Shocker, I know.

It's just that it's an entire holiday revolving around staying up late, loud noises, and crowds. And if you know me at all, I can't stand any of those things. This year, I stayed up just late enough to go up to the near-empty roof of our apartment and watch fireworks go off at midnight, then I went to bed. That was enough to satisfy me.

Also, last complaint, it's pointless to make resolutions just to break them. Do you know how many people do that?! Plus, is one big decision to change really going to be very effective??

Ok, I'm done ranting. And I've got a recipe for those of you who made the resolution to eat healthier: hummus!
In case you haven't heard it before, this mediterranean food has fantastic health benefits including—but definitely not limited to—being high in fiber, protein, and iron, helping lower cholesterol, and even helping prevent some cancers. But remember, all things in moderation: it's pretty high in calories (I definitely don't take my own advice on this point...).

Hummus is surprisingly easy to make—basically, you just toss all of your ingredients into the food processor and BAM you've got hummus. This is a simple, basic hummus recipe that my family really likes. We've tried some more elaborate recipes that just weren't as good. But that's our tastebuds—yours may be different, which is why it's such a great thing that hummus can easily be adjusted to spice it up! And, have extra hummus? Just throw it in the freezer.

Plus, it's super versatile. Here's some ideas on what to eat it with:
-Dip pita bread, pita chips, or veggies in it
-Spread it on a sandwich or wrap
-Dollop it over your salad
-Put it on a burger

I've used Smitten Kitchen's whole wheat pita bread recipe a few times before, and it's turned out pretty tasty every time. Ours didn't puff up as much as the pictures, but that is probably because we skimped on a lot of the rising. We probably rise it for about an hour in a very warm place, then pretty much completely skip the second and third rises after they are shaped into disks. To bake, we use a baking sheet, sprinkle them with water, and do not let the oven reheat each time we open it. I don't have time to wait for pita to puff...so they may not be perfect, but they are tasty!

Isn't hummus just about the perfect food???

So, whether you've made a resolution to eat healthier or not, hummus is a good option!

Hummus
Time: 15 minutes
Makes: 2 1/2 cups

Notes:
-I have successfully used limes instead of lemons in this recipe.
-I have also successfully used homemade tahini (sesame seed paste) in this recipe.
-Do not confuse Mediterranean sumac with poisonous American sumac.
-There is a way to use dried chickpeas if you have those on hand.

Recipe from: http://altonbrown.com/hummus-recipe/

Nutritional information from: http://www.naturalnews.com/049453_hummus_iron_fiber.html