has been the family home and kitchen as far back as Tuhtiin‘s grandparents‘ days. It‘s largely a business concern these days. but 'l'uhtim‘s father. a silyer-haired smoothie named Awon. remains on site and on hand to greet Visitors. eyen if his son is nowhere to be seen. The cooking is taught by a gaggle of young Thai women pltis an older ringleader who exhibits a
finely tuned. cheeky sense of
humour. ‘:\l‘ter )‘ou haye chel‘lted chillies you must not touch your eyes. and the men must not touch their . . . '. she says pointing at my crotch and laughing.
With a low student/teacher ratio (three or four to one) and a working-from-scratch approach (none of that pre-prepared ingredient cheating you see on teleyision cookery shows). the cooking class is in all senses a hands on experience. The student cooks do all of the chopping. sliaying. peeling and scraping. in the process learning nifty tricks like how to remoye unwanted tendon from chicken meat and how to strip the alimentary canal and its contents from a fresh prawn. Perhaps most importantly. students are taught how to heat their dishes with chillies: two small green hirds eyes including seeds (the hottest part) being enough to heat a curry to palate-cliallenging strength. two greens and two slightly milder reds being a sweat inducer. etc. (When asked how many chillies Thai people use for a curry dish. my teacher just smiles and raises an upturned clenched list.)
102 THE LIST .37 »\t"- ’ 1 Max \‘x‘t‘
TRAVEL
Miles Fielder gets to grips with the basics of wokmanship (above); plus ‘stinking sauces and pastes’ sold by the bucketload in Chiang Mai’s markets (top)
By the end of a long days cooking. the (‘entre's class had graduated from chopping to working a wok (a liyely. not to say sal'ety prioritising experience giyen the speed and \‘igour with which ingredients are thrown in and out of the superheated
iron pots) and on to presentation ol'
dishes and appreciation of tastes and textures of what had been cooked. .-\nd. armed with a complementary
cookhook. the graduates took their
overstuffed bellies off to the nearest Singha heer emporium confident in the knowledge they had mastered something of the deceptively simple ait oI‘Thai cooking.
By getting to grips with the rudiments of the national cuisine. you learn a lot about a country‘s
culture. In 'l‘hailand. where 95‘} of
the population is Buddhist. the best food is prepared early in the morning at which time it is giyen in a daily alms ceremony to the orange robe-clad monks. The manner in which the lood is prepared (slowly. ritualised. with great attention to detail) reflects the way in which many Thai people |i\'e their liyes. The Thai (‘hocolate ('ookery (‘entre teaches its students to cook original northern-sty le family recipes that are generations old. A
single day spent in the kitchen of
Tuhtim’s teak house will probably yield a better understanding of the Thai way of life than a week's worth of outdoor adventure actiyities.
SAMPLE RECIPE Gaenq Kieow Wan Gai (Green Curry with Chicken)
Ingredients
ii) ’ ill‘ it'll n“ lttli 'r'ill" ltalivxrw ir‘ «inwn t‘iiri‘, litt‘lii‘
Willi {irati‘s I hit kw." cu? .nti flow .tiw; liofu Ioi yc- )i'iil'iitlt‘;
’ i‘tiiiés thin coconut inilk
itilt' awaken/l (illilt’flfllllt:
I) kaftii llIIIfriétil‘.‘t:11i'IIi-i‘, slime-l I 1) tablespoon "'I)Ii<)lllll tailiai I) °Eli)i(:?;lit)l)llf; ilfdl sauce mama sauce
for .ctietaiiansi
1) small green chillies
9f) leap/(3:; :et basil
Preparation Set gas to a lo.'./ heat. nut thick coconut (ZIt:(tIIt in .yok Add cuin,’ paste and mix '.'.’el|. Add chicken, turn gas up to III(2‘(illlIIl_ \"."li<‘:ii thi; chicken is; cooked add thin coconut milk, litli)(?l{llll(?. lirno leaves. coconut
\, lot if) minutes. when curry boils; lots/er hcat
sugar. fish sauce. Stir constant
to simmer for the remaining time Stir in basil and chillies. some immediately Wllii rice.
FACTFILE
Where to stay lhc inain concentration of act:oininorlatioii igood value budget guesthouscsi is handily located between the old quarter's nioat and the Ping river on the east side of the city. l or; onto chiangrlao.corn or chiangrnai ()IIllIItE.(Z()III for details.
How to get there from Bangkok. Tiléil AII‘.‘.’£I\E3 and Bangkok Alix-rays both schedule (tail, flights to Chianti Mai. Log onto hangkokanrcorn or thaiain'xayscouk.
What to do Cooker“; courses at various schools can be booked through many of Chiang Mars guesthouses. Alternater go 'Iirr:ct to the Thai Chocolate Cooker“; C :ntre
0066 53327 25>ii€i oi email that
chocolatecmik<;r l,cc‘ntre Cholinaitcorn
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CELEBRATORY SPOTS
Sir Ranulph Fienhes. who is taking part in the Talisker Trek on the Isle of Skye this month, recalls his most memorable meals.
I The North Pole, 1982 On Easter day. myself and Charlie Burton finally arrived at the NOrth Pole and. because we were the first peeple to reach both poles we had a celebration party. This consrsted of some of our extra food — sausage. baked beans and a tin of Canadian bacon, which was 28 years old and had been looted from a Canadian Base. It really was quite a feast. We then broke into a sledge box to reach a bottle that we had taken with us but sadly the champagne bottle was completely broken and the contents were frozen. So it got washed down wuth tea instead.
I The Antarctic, 1993 In February that year Dr Mike Stroud and I succeeded in crossing the Antarctic continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. After 97 days without support we reached the sea. which was frozen over. so the oniy way of telling where the land ended and the sea began was by a huge deep crack. We were completely exhausted and on half rations by then because we were running out of food. but as we camped overlooking this huge ravine. Mike relented. Instead of sharing the day's ilapiack, he actually allowed us to have a whole one each and. rather than using a tea bag for each of the two days. he allowed us to have a new tea bag.
I Cheshire, 2004 A year after the death of my late wife, I proposed to my present wife Louise. I thought she’d say no but. to my delight. she said yes. We went to a place quite close by to celebrate — the pretty village of Tarporley. where there's a fantastic Italian restaurant called Christiano's (67 High Street. Tarporley. 01829 733833 christianoscouk). There. unlike the other two spots. the food truly was delicious.
The Talisker Trek (5—7 May) is a two day guided trek on the lsle of Skye, the home of Talisker single malt Scotch Whisky, to raise funds to help plant 1/4 mil/ion trees across the UK for the Woodland Trust. For further details visit ta/iskertrek. co. uk
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