Monday class snack: Chinese mochi from the Noodle Company in Oakland Chinatown
... filled with sweet black sesame and peanut paste
medium-wide dried rice noodles for making "pad thai"
additive-free dried shrimp for "pad thai"
sweetened salted radish strips for "pad thai"
garlicky preserved Tianjin vegetables for the "garlic" noodles
packaged fresh rice noodles for pan-frying
best quality fresh rice noodles from Oakland's Yuen Hop Noodle Co. on Webster Street
dry toasting dried red chillies with salt to keep down irritating fumes
stirring with chopsticks for even browning
breaking the brittle toasted chillies into a spice grinder to pulverize
condiment set for the table
"charsiew" Chinese barbecued red pork
Barbara separating the packaged fresh rice noodles into individual strands
fresh rice noodles ready for cooking
Tom cutting chicken
Jenn slicing cucumbers
Thai coffee
Thai tea
steeping Thai coffee and Thai tea
Thai tea steeping in a cotton tea sock
dried rice noodles soaking to soften
making fresh tamarind concentrate for the "pad thai" sauce
various prepared ingredients for the evening's dishes
slicing "charsiew" barbecued pork into small thin pieces
Gayle and Vigi slicing barbecued pork
smaller than bite-size pieces so that the pork can be eaten together in same bite with noodles
sliced "charsiew" barbecued red pork for the "garlic" noodles
frying chopped garlic to make garlic oil
garlic pieces browned and crispy
good-quality fresh egg noodles from the Noodle Company (also available at the Berkeley Bowl)
boiling the noodles until they're cooked to your liking
draining the cooked noodles
Barbara tossing the noodles while still warm to wilt the bean sprouts, green onions and the preserved vegetables
adding the garlic oil – both garlic pieces and oil
the hand is a most useful utensil for tossing a large amount of noodles
tossing in some ground toasted dried red chillies
two hands making sure the ground chilli is evenly distributed
Nathan in the Tuesday class tossing the garlic noodles
evenly mixed garlic noodles
tossing in the lettuce
layering chopped roasted peanuts over the plated noodles
topping with the sliced "charsiew" barbecued red pork
dry-style garlic noodles with barbecued pork ("bamee haeng moo daeng")
pan-frying the fresh rice noodles coated with black soy sauce and fish sauce in a hot wok
... until the noodles are seared with the seasonings and browned
pan-fried noodles transferred to a serving dish
stir-frying the marinated chicken with garlic in the wok to make the sauce
Lucas stir-frying in the Monday class
Megan stir-fries in the Tuesday class
fermented soybean sauce and Asian broccoli added
mushrooms added
adding hot water to make the sauce
Kasma seasoning the sauce to taste with fish sauce
Kasma showing how to thicken the sauce with tapioca starch
sauce thickening
Jen making the sauce in the Tuesday class
spooning the sauce over the pan-fried noodles
covering the noodles with the chicken and broccoli sauce
pan-fried fresh rice noodles topped with Asian broccoli and chicken sauce ("gkuay dtiow rad nah gkai")
taking turns self-serving the "rad nah" noodles
spicing up the noodles with ground toasted dried chillies and pickled fresh chillies in vinegar
sauteeing fresh shrimp in the wok for "pad thai"
sauteeing garlic, shallots, dred shrimp and chopped sweet radish
adding ground toasted dried red chillies
adding the drained soaked dried rice noodles
tossing the noodles with the flavor ingredients in the wok
pushing the noodles up the side of wok and cracking in the eggs
scrambling the eggs on the cleared area in the wok
... until the eggs are set before tossing in with the noodles
adding the sweet-sour-salty tamarind sauce
tossing the noodles and eggs with the sauce
Kasma demonstrates how to make "pad thai"
continue to stir-fry until sauce is absorbed and noodles are cooked
adding bean sprouts
... and the garlic chives and previously cooked shrimp
adding chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
tossing well until bean sprouts and garlic chives are wilted
a large platter of garnished "pad thai" served with chilled trimmed young green onions
an individual serving of "pad thai" with accompaniments
hot-and-sour cucumber salad
serving up the garlic noodles with the barbecued pork
