On Wednesday my english classes were cancelled due to the students preparing for testing the following days which meant I had the day to prepare materials, hang out with my students or get a impromptu cooking lesson from a lady that comes to cook lunch for the students on certain days. She doesn't speak a word of english but was excited to show me around our little school kitchen and let me help out. Almost all thai food in my village is cooked with nothingless than a camper like stove, wak and rice cooker. For lunch that day we were having Pak Kah pow sia moo (vegetable basil with pork), Bla pad (fried fish), and the teachers get extra dishes of Pad See-ue and Pad Pak si Kia (fried vegteble with egg). Of course this is all serve with Kao Neio( sticky rice) which also doubles as the eating utensil that you roll up in a ball and grab the food with. Lunch time at PlaPak Noi is one of my favorite times of the day due to the wonderful array of dishes served at lunch that I have yet to get bored of and the company of my co-teachers. I'm not going to lie when I say one of the reason I chose to come to Thailand was because of how much I enjoy their food! I have had very few cravings for western food ( except maybe a good cup of coffee and my favorite trader joes peanut butter!) and have enjoyed my daily consumption of rice.
Here is the cook at work in PlaPak Noi's humble kitchen
The fish that was served at lunch was caught in the school pond by my third graders the previous day! The fish was seasoned (I didn't see what was put on them) and tossed into a wak full of boiling oil. I love how substainable the schools are here with almost every school having their own garden full of vegetables and herbs that the students tend too.
For the Vegetable basil Pork dish I helped pulled the leaves off the freshly picked basil leaves from the garden and slice up a few heads of cauliflower to throw into the wak. But first one of the most essential ingrediants needed to be added chili peppers and garlic. For this I used a clay type bowl and pounder utensil to extract the flavors. I'm thinking of getting on of these once back in the US since they are very effective and also are used to make one of my favorite dishes of papaya salad.
For the Vegetable basil Pork dish I helped pulled the leaves off the freshly picked basil leaves from the garden and slice up a few heads of cauliflower to throw into the wak. But first one of the most essential ingrediants needed to be added chili peppers and garlic. For this I used a clay type bowl and pounder utensil to extract the flavors. I'm thinking of getting on of these once back in the US since they are very effective and also are used to make one of my favorite dishes of papaya salad.
Once the vegetables were adequately cooked the pork was thrown in. Two sauces that you'll find in a majority of thai dishes are Fish sauce and oyster sauce. They sounded kind of gross to me at first but they really make the dish complete and add lots of great flavor. And one more thing of course, SUGAR. Sugar is added to all dishes as well. I've seen my Thai friends and teachers add spoonfuls of sugar to their soups, noodles, and just about anything!
Finally I learned how to cook Pad see-ue, a dish containing large rice powder noodles, chopped lettuces, and fried egg. This is also one of my favorite dishes that you garnish with fresh squeezed lime and chili flakes. Along with the noodles there was a small dish of fried vegetable, I'm not sure of the name but it looked like some sort of asian cucumber and egg. While all this preparation and cooking was going on the sticky rice was being soaked in a pot of water for an hour and finally put in a basket to steam on top of the stove for the last 20 minutes of cooking. It was a delicious lunch and makes me hungry just by writing about it again.
However I must add that not all my lunch are as "normal" as this menu. Many times items such as baby frogs or whole chicken feet will show up in the soups, which are some of my teachers favorites. Recently I had a veggie dish with ant eggs, they weren't that bad except I'm not too fond of the idea of what I'm actually eating! Also they might pick up a basket of fried crickets to snack on through out the rest of the afternoon. The culinary experience has been especially wonderful with the exposure to some many great new foods and tastes. I'm hoping to pick up a few more cooking tips and recipes before my time is up! In my next blog I'm planning on going into more detail with pictures about my favorite dishes here in Issan so far...Arroy Mak (thai: very delicious) Sap eely ( Lao: very delicious), the two words that you will learn first when moving to Issan!
