class begins with Kasma going over the recipes and introducing ingredients
Alison makes the red curry sauce for the fish mousse
frying the red curry paste in reduced coconut cream
Tom cuts tomatoes for the soup
Tim, Zack and Camille cleaning shrimp
cutting kaffir lime leaves into thin slivers
slicing shallots for the two stir-fries
Nichole pulling holy basil leaves
Alison adds the remaining coconut cream to make the curry sauce
red curry sauce is almost ready
class members prepare ingredients
Vigi cuts Thai chillies
Barbara, Camille and Nichole getting herbs ready for the soup
Kasma salts the soup stock to taste with good-quality fish sauce
dicing fresh red snapper for the fish mousse
red curry sauce cooling to room temperature
"Banana leaves are very long ..."
how to tell the top side from the bottom
Kasma shows class how to cut banana leaves into circular pieces
cutting a leaf circle
Nichole shows her banana leaf round
Alison shows hers
Beth cutting a banana leaf round
cutting a banana leaf round with a 6-inch bowl as a guide
soaking the cut leaves in water to clean
making a banana leaf cup
Nichole and Camille making their banana leaf cups
everyone makes a banana leaf cup
an assortment of hand-made banana leaf cups
adding some of the cooled red curry sauce to the diced fish
stirring until the mixture dries
adding more of the red curry sauce
stirring well until mixture thickens before adding more sauce
Camille takes over the stirring
continue the stirring until all the red curry sauce is added and thickened
Kasma prepares to add the herbs while Camille continues the stirring
adding the beaten eggs
filling the banana leaf cups
Craig filling a banana leaf cup
Zack filling a banana leaf cup
ladling the fish mixture into a banana leaf cup
filled banana leaf cups decorated and garnished and ready for steaming
Kasma shows the class how to season a wok with lard
using a paper towel to grease the surface of a well-heated wok
beginning the basil chicken stir-fry with garlic and shallots
chopped or ground chicken added
shaking in the black soy sauce, followed by fish sauce
adding the holy basil
tossing the holy basil with the chicken and seasoning mixture
... until the basil is mixed in and wilted
sprinkling mixture with ground white pepper at the end
Camille with the plated spicy basil chicken
spicy basil chicken ("gkai pad gkaprow")
a rack of steamed fish mousse in banana leaf cups
Barbara showing the steamer rack with the fish mousse
Camille stir-fries the broccoli
tossing the broccoli with garlic, shallots, oyster sauce and fish sauce
... until the broccoli is vibrant green, cooked on the outside and still crispy
plated stir-fried broccoli with super-premium, all-natural Thai oyster sauce
second steamer rack of fish mousse is done
plated red-curried fish mousse in banana leaf cups ("haw moek bplah")
prepared ingredients for finishing up the hot-and-sour soup
hot-and-sour soup ready for serving
dinner time for the Monday evening beginning class
a bowl of hot-and-sour prawn soup ("dtom yum gkoong")
