Attending Thai cooking classes was probably one of the major highlights of my recent holiday.  As much as I am familiar with Thai food, there is nothing like getting to the grass roots of it all and gaining a better understanding of how this cuisine works.  The wonderful people at the Sareeraya resort hold cooking classes in the hotel’s main dining and kitchen area.  Three of us decided to have a go and it was definitely a learning curve and a lot of fun!  Led by the hotel’s head chef Phillipe, and his trusted team we were set for a busy day ahead of us.

We started off by taking a trip to the local Koh Samui fresh food markets.  The whole idea was to get a better understanding of how the locals shop (and eat) and to see a lot of the produce provided by the island. We saw a whole array of seafood including some live catfish, and various meats and poultry.  Let’s just say the Thais take a “head to tail” approach to eating and there was not a single element of an animal wasted.  The fruits, vegetables and spices were my favourites.  Green papayas, fragrant limes and powerfully, pungent mangoes were the stand outs.  We stocked up on the ingredients for the five dishes we were to produce and we purchased some black sticky rice to enjoy with mangoes and coconut milk as dessert.

A quick trip back to the hotel and we were ready to start our culinary adventure.  We chose five dishes to prepare.  They were Green papaya salad, Tom Ka Gai (a chicken and coconut broth), fish cakes, a local, Samui style duck curry and a chicken and cashew nut stir fry.  First off Phillipe talked us through the produce and we were invited to smell and feel a little of everything.  I’ve said it many times before but I absolutely love Thai food.  It manages to marry all the elements of the food spectrum and bring it together so harmoniously.  In it’s basic form (and I mean this lightly as there is nothing basic when it comes to cooking it!) you could easily break it down to four things.  Spicy, sweet, salty and sour. The spicy comes through the use of the many chillies, the sweet is derived from the use of palm sugar, the salty is definitely the fish sauce (my favourite!!!!) and the sour is represented through the use of limes.

Let’s not forget everything else either!  Coconut milk, cream, water and oil.  Snake beans (long green beans), eschallots (both fresh and fried), garlic, garlic chives, mushrooms, peppers, cucumber and cashews!  Phew!  I could go on but you get the idea!  The sous chef (stupid me forgot his name!) prepared the dish and we copied him exactly.  The ONLY variation we made was the amount of chillies we added to a dish.  When a Thai person ask you how HOT you want a dish you have to really be careful how you answer, as their version of HOT is definitely very different to my subdued Western palate!

After each dish was finished we then tasted ours and compared it to the chef’s.  Everyone did a great job and again it was fun watching everyone connect through food.  My two cooking companions and myself virtually “took over” the restaurant and kitchen!  We were quite animated through the whole process and we had certainly gained the attention of the other guests!  I had set up my camera and tripod and turned the cooking area into a mini food styling and photography shoot.  Beware of food bloggers!  It was funny hearing Phillipe, the head chef, call me “chef”.  I have this habit of being very serious in the kitchen and having a prep towel over my shoulder as I cook!

After a good three hours of cooking we sat down to enjoy our newly created delights!  The fish cakes were the favourite on the day.  I think we made forty five in total and we couldn’t stop gobbling them!  The Som Tum (green papaya salad) was probably the easiest to prepare and it was so fresh!  The duck curry was a little too sweet for my liking as it included palm sugar, fresh pineapple pieces and grapes.  The Tom Ka Gai (chicken and coconut soup) was the dish I prepared and I was quite surprised at how subtle I had made it.  Nonetheless it was consumed with everything else, accompanied by steamed jasmine rice and cold beers!  I think I’m the happiest when I cook and can share the efforts with friends.  For me it was truly a memorable day!

Today I’ve given you a snippet of what we achieved.  Over the next few weeks I’ll sneak in the recipes for each of the dishes we made.  I think it’ll be more fun that way.  I also have a few more posts covering my holiday, namely the second place we stayed at and I’ll be highlighting that at some point next week with a whole lot more pictures!  I also have a few recipes in my draft folder and I’ll get onto those asap.

If you really enjoyed that post you might also like to check out one of the following:

• Seafood Barbecue On The Beach (18)
• Swimming in Samui (15)
• Koh Samui (18)
• Beef Stifado (24)
• Rack of Lamb-Greek Style (43)

I wanted to take a break from my current Thailand postings to bring you a recipe that I created for this month’s Royal Foodie Joust.  The RFJ, for those of you who don’t know is in my opinion, the web’s most friendliest cooking competition.  Run by the lovely Jenn from the Leftover Queen it allows bloggers to sign up and put their creative culinary caps on, to invent a dish using three ingredients. If you haven’t already joined, please head on over there and do so immediately!   The ingredients are chosen by the previous month’s winner and this month we were presented with apples, cayenne pepper and maple syrup.  As usual, I found myself thinking up all sorts of creations and in the end I decided to make these healthy-ish mini cakes/muffins.

In their simplest form these are basically mini carrot cakes.  What I did was grate an apple into the mixture and add the cayenne pepper to the “spice mix” which also included nutmeg, cinnamon and  ground cloves.  I utilised the maple syrup by making a buttercream frosting that went on top.  I tried doing “fancy swirls” but unfortunately the pastry chef in me wasn’t feeling it, so I simply spread the buttercream on top in a “rustic manner”…ahem!  If you take away the frosting the rest of the cake itself is very healthy.  I found the apples added an extra sweetness and I also used a little olive oil, Greek yoghurt and a combination of wholemeal flours and almond meal.  Basically stuff I had lying around the pantry.  If you plan on making these make sure you end up with a wet mixture and keep your oven at an even 170 deg C.

RECIPE FOR  MINI CARROT AND APPLE CAKES WITH A BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

*Depending on your muffin pan you may end up anywhere between 8-12 of these.  I used a thin one (I bought it at IKEA)*

For the cakes-Part 1

• 1 cup of wholemeal flour
• 1/2 a cup of plain flour
• 1/2 a cup of almond meal
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 a cup of soft brown sugar
• 1 tsp of ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp of ground cloves
• 1 tsp of cayenne pepper
• 1 grated carrot
• 1 grated apple
• 1 cup of raisins or sultanas that have been softened in some boiling water

Part 2

• 1 cup of low fat milk
• 1/2 a cup of Greek yoghurt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• a splash of vanilla extract

(mix these together in a separate large jug or bowl)

For the  maple buttercream frosting

• 125 grams of softened, unsalted butter
• 1 cup of pure icing sugar, sifted
• 4-5 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
• 1-2 tablespoons of milk

1. In a large bowl, mix the ingredients form part one of the recipe quite thoroughly.
2. Add the wet ingredients from part two and mix until just combined.
3. Spoon the cake mixture into a pre greased muffin pan and bake in a 170 deg C oven for about 20 mins or until a skewer inserted through them comes out clean.
4. Once cooked invert them onto a cake cooling rack and allow them to cool completely.
5. For the maple buttercream frosting-using a mixer, cream the butter until it becomes completely soft and gradually add your icing sugar and maple syrup until well combined.  Add your milk and allow the mixture to become soft and creamy.  This can take anywhere up to 10 mins depending on the amount of butter used.
6. Spread the buttercream onto the cooled cakes and serve.

If you really enjoyed that post you might also like to check out one of the following:

• Greek Yoghurt Panna Cotta with Poached Prunes (37)
• Blueberry Pikelets (33)
• Blueberry Cream Pies and Strawberry Lemonade (20)
• Halvas (31)
• Tea Cake with a Sticky Tangelo Syrup (20)

After a “hard” day’s swimming around the islands located in the Gulf of Thailand there was really no better way to end it than with a private seafood barbecue right on the beach!  Ok…let me clarify.  It wasn’t a traditional “bonfire” type of barbecue.  It was a beautiful table set up for dinner on the sand for the six of us.  The folks at the Sareeraya really know how to lay out a spread!  We had our own personal waiter, who was amazing and efficient in keeping us hydrated and fed the whole evening.  Very luxurious and very five star!

It was a balmy 26 dec C and there was a slight seaside breeze in the air.  The moon was bright and provided additional lighting to the mini fire torches placed around the dining area on the sand.  We started the evening off with cocktails and proceeded to enjoy a fabulous array of beautiful cooked seafood.  To be honest, I’m not really a seafood person.  But how can one say no when such a beautiful island is surrounded by waters that provide an abundance of fresh seafood daily?

And boy did I eat with “hungry” abandon.  We began with individual green salads and a selection of breads, including some very popular grissini!  And then it began!  Whole crabs, lobsters, prawns, mussels, snapper, squid souvlaki and oysters.  Except for the oysters and mussels everything was barbecued to perfection.  And let’s not forget the dipping sauces that were provided to enjoy our seafood with.  The favourite of the night was the mango salsa.  Thai mangoes are a little smaller and sweeter than the regular sized mangoes you find here in Australia.  The flesh was diced into cubes and mixed with a little palm oil, chopped coriander and lime juice.  My personal favourite was the Thai “prik nam plah”.  Diced baby, red and green  chillies (which are fiercly hot) mixed with fish sauce and lime juice. It’s a bit of an acquired taste but I believe it offset the sweetness of the shellfish especially.  In the end we were stuffed but some of us couldn’t resist and ordered desserts!  Oh well…when you’re on holidays ……  Apart from the Thai food we ate (which I will cover in my Thai cooking classes post…bear with me..its coming!) we rated this seafood barbecue as one of the highlights of our gastronomical adventures.  The atmosphere was perfect and dreamlike and the seafood was super fresh and prepared immediately.  A great night!

The photo below will give you an indication of how bright the moon was that bathed us that evening.  And in the water you can see the fishing boats that were leaving to go and catch another haul for the next day!   I won’t be forgetting this night in a long time!

If you really enjoyed that post you might also like to check out one of the following:

• Swimming in Samui (15)
• Koh Samui (18)
• Thai Cooking Classes (19)
• Off on holiday… (17)
• Prawn Cocktail (23)

One of the activities we set out to do whilst in Koh Samui was to hire a boat and explore the local islands.  We were all keen to leave the comfort of our resort chairs and go snorkeling, swimming and seek a bit of adventure on the high seas!    After much research we decided to hire the services of an operator, a few metres up from where we were staying.  I was a little worried about hiring these guys as they seemed a little “gung ho” for my liking.  And they seemed to say “yes” to everything we asked.  Aaah!  the pleasures of not speaking the local language.

So you can imagine the look on my face when they showed up the next day with the words “FUN TAXI” on the side of the boat.  I went into “Greek Mother panic mode” immediately!  The boat itself was larger than a speedboat and it operated using “twin engines”.  I’m not really into nautical terminology much but basically the boat could make its way to our destination in quicker time because of the two engines.    So off we went-the six of us, our captain and his first mate.  A choppy one and a half hour ride later we were at the Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park.

The Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park is located to the north west of Koh Samui.  It consist of about forty two islands covering an area of 102 km² of which only 18 km² are land.  The park itself is the gateway to the area and you have to pay a fee to enter.  I was mostly impressed with the beauty of this region and how beautifully blue and calm the waters were.  Very much a paradise.  What I didn’t like were the hordes of package tourists who descended onto the island in droves, all talking at the top of the voices basically causing mayhem to a peaceful environment.  Our captain looked at me and ensured us we were going to escape from here and head around the archipelago for some smooth cruising and snorkeling.

Again, I can’t begin to emphasise how beautiful, calm and serene the journey around the islands were.  Everywhere you looked there were little coves and places to relax, swim or snorkel.  We settled on a nearby island where we enjoyed a Thai lunch of chicken fried rice, fresh coconut juice and fresh fruit. We took it in turns to snorkel but I have to be honest, it wasn’t very clear.  I did mange to get bitten by sea lice though!  That’s another story….(who even knew that sea lice existed????!!!)

After a little swim and snorkel we relaxed on our own private island and let the worries of our lives back home slip away.  I was truly in relaxed holiday mode by now…until it came time for us to leave and the captain explained that one of the engines wasn’t working and we would have to wait for a replacement boat!!!!  Thankfully one arrived half an hour later and we made our way back to Koh Samui safe, sound and a little sunburnt!  After all, there was no way we were going to miss our own private seafood barbecue that was planned for us on the beach….(I’ll cover that tomorrow).

If you really enjoyed that post you might also like to check out one of the following:

• Seafood Barbecue On The Beach (18)
• Koh Samui (18)
• Off on holiday… (17)
• Thai Cooking Classes (19)
• One Night in Bangkok (0)

I’m back from paradise folks!  I’m recharged, relaxed and ready for the rat race again!  Admittedly, I was only away for about 9 days but it felt longer than that.  Koh Samui was a wonderful experience and I’m keen to go back again sometime in the near future.  I’ve been to Thailand many times but I had never ventured onto any of the islands before.  I’ve been a traveler most of my adult life and I’ve certainly done my fair share of trekking around the world.  This holiday was a “resort” type of holiday.  The type of holiday where you get out of bed early and enjoy a sumptuous tropical breakfast.  You then lay in the sun and swim in the beach or your infinity pool.  You have a light lunch delivered to your  beach chair and then you indulge in whatever you feel like doing.  Some people in my group chose to go kayaking and jetskiing, whilst the girls indulged in beauty and spa treatments.  Me? I chose to read my book, drink a few beers and photograph.   Every night we ate somewhere different and I’ll be covering that in some future posts.  We did  however manage to hire a boat for the day and go snorkelling in the nearby archipelago and some of us did a Thai cooking class.  The Thai cooking class was a real highlight. Be prepared over the next few weeks to see a lot of what I did.  Most of my posts will be photography “heavy”.  I’ve been editing pictures for a few days now!   I hope I don’t bore you..

I stayed in two places whilst in Koh Samui.  The majority of my stay was at the Sareeraya resort.  (we’ll get to the second place much later on).   It’s  located on the Northern end of Chaweng Beach and I think the best way to describe the place is “boutique”.  The resort is made up of individual villas and suites and is decorated in a blend of Thai and modern interiors.  The grounds are groomed to perfection surrounded by little wooden bridges with lush lily ponds.  There is quite an emphasis on dark, heavy, chocolate woods which really adds to the whole atmosphere.  Simple, stylish and not a single cliche in sight!

The resort is quite new having only been in operation since December.  The staff are wonderful and we made some very new friends whilst we stayed there!  Nothing was a problem and it was a pleasure to enjoy some of that famous Thai hospitality.

The Sareeraya faces the Northern end of Chaweng Beach.  This is the longest stretch of beach on the island with many resorts scattered alongside including many bars and restaurants.  I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful it was to enjoy drinks and dinner on the sand on many a balmy Thai evening.

And yes I did eat a fair bit!  I had my fair share of Thai food but we also ate Italian, Portugese and Brazilian!  I also got to eat a lot of fresh seafood.  However, I would have to say my favourite part was waking up before the others and heading down to the beachside restaurant for breakfast.  A strong coffee, fresh tropical fruit and the view of the calm ocean really put me in the holiday mood.

If you really enjoyed that post you might also like to check out one of the following:

• Swimming in Samui (15)
• Seafood Barbecue On The Beach (18)
• Off on holiday… (17)
• Thai Cooking Classes (19)
• One Night in Bangkok (0)

Just to let everyone know, I’m off to Koh Samui in Thailand for a week.  Looking forward to some sun, food and relaxing.  And of course I’ll be taking lots of photos!  Look out for them this week.

Take care!

Cheers

Peter

PS I also wanted to let you know that Carol from Simply Gluten Free has posted an interview on her blog that she did with me.  I have to say it was quite flattering and a lot of fun!  Head on over there and have a read!  You can find it here.

I find myself becoming more and more of a breakfast person as I get older.  Don’t get me wrong, I always eat something in the morning but these days I make a little extra effort to fuel my body for the days activities.  Funnily enough, I can’t stay loyal to one brand of cereal long enough to really have a favourite but I do enjoy a hearty oatmeal in the winter months.  With the very early arrival of spring here in Sydney I’m really enjoying getting out of bed early, whipping my favourite pot of coffee on the stove and planning my day ahead. And it was during this time I decided to make crumpets for breakfast.

“Why crumpets?” you may ask.  Well I used to love them as a kid and perhaps I was feeling a little nostalgic.  And besides I’ve had a recipe bookmarked for ages and it was about time I gave it a shot.  The recipe comes from Val of More Than Burnt Toast.  She’s had an interesting discussion on her blog about crumpets and pikelets recently.  Whilst I believe they are both quite similar, the major difference is that crumpets contain yeast and this gives them a bread like quality.  Mine turned out really well except I was hoping for more holes on the surface!  I enjoyed them with lots of honey and a side of fresh strawberries.    And to continue with the nostalgia I decided to photograph this setting using an old 35mm film camera of mine. (aaah! film!)

RECIPE FOR CRUMPETS

(reprinted from Val of More Than Burnt Toast, who in turn adapted them from a recipe from the book titled The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Berenbaum)

The recipe is reprinted from Val’s blog with permission.

• • 1 cup plus 1 1/2 tbs unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 2 tbs dry milk
  • 1 tsp instant yeast
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 plus 2 tbs water divided
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp butter

If you really enjoyed that post you might also like to check out one of the following:

• Weekend Treat (26)
• Blueberry Pikelets (33)
• Tangelos (18)
• Pretzels (4)
• Tropical Fruit Cups (0)

Hey everyone! This is another photography post.   Just sharing some images that I photographed for a bar…

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND.  STAY SAFE AND MOST OF ALL BE HAPPY!

If you really enjoyed that post you might also like to check out one of the following:

• Off on holiday… (17)
• Crumpets For Breakfast (30)
• A Little Story…That Ends With A Burger (19)
• Weekend Treat (26)
• Monkey and Leo (29)

I promised myself recently (right after the roast pork actually) that I would be attempting dishes that seemed relatively “easy” but were ones that had caused me a lot of mayhem in the kitchen.  One of these “classics” is definitely chocolate cake.  I cannot tell you how many times I have made this, mostly for others mind you, and have ended up with a usually dry cake.  I know there’s a lot of scientific specifics involved with baking.  Measuring correctly and not deviating (well most of the time!) and oven temperature are two that come to mind.  I think primarily it’s been my past oven units that have let me down.  Don’t get me wrong, the cakes were edible but they were missing a “moist” factor.  When I eat cake I like to pig out.  I want to feel the need for a second piece!  Call me greedy but if I’m going to indulge, I’m gonna go for it!

There is something really comforting about chocolate cake. Childhood memories come to mind of after school snacks and glasses of full cream milk.  Birthday parties filled with children, balloons and home made chocolate cakes covered in whipped cream and dressed in “Smarties” (the Australian version of M&M’s).  Except that none of these memories are mine!!!  I think they belong to a sitcom of the 50’s!   As I got older I tried the adult version of the chocolate cake a.k.a “Flourless”.  Whilst these were delicious when I ordered them out, whenever I tried to recreate them at home they would turn into a soupy, molten, mess!  I mean I ate them but they were still missing that “oomph”.

Which brings me to my best friend Paul. He makes a mean chocolate cake.  It’s the type of cake that you wished you had baked.  For years I had hounded him for the recipe and he wouldn’t share!  It was only recently that he decided to give up his recipe and when I finally saw it I was a little disappointed.  I was half expecting a list of semi exotic chocolates and all sorts of things.  Nope.  Everyday ingredients (except for the Dutch cocoa).  His biggest piece of advice to me was to watch my oven temperature and timing.  When I asked him how long I should cook the chocolate cake for his response was “about 50 mins”.  Which I think equates to about one hour in my oven.  So I took his master chocolate cake recipe and it worked!  I was ecstatic to say the least!  The only thing I did different was to cover the cake in a chocolate ganache made with olive oil.  For this I used the remainder of my Green and Black’s chocolate supply from when I made cookies.

RECIPE FOR CHOCOLATE CAKE

(Adapted from Paul B my good friend who in turn adapted it from a Sunday newspaper magazine!  Can you believe it??!!)

*I used a 18cm “ring” cake tin for this*

• 125 gr unsalted butter
• 1 and 1/4 cups of brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsps vanilla extract
• 5 tbsps of Dutch cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup of water
• 1 and 1/3 cups of self raising flour

RECIPE FOR CHOCOLATE AND OLIVE OIL GANACHE

• 100 grams of good quality dark couverture chocolate broken into pieces
• 1/4 cup of cream
• 1/4 cup of olive oil

For the cake: (all done in a mixer)

1. Start off by pre heating your oven to 170 deg C.  Grease your cake pan/tin and dust lightly with flour, ensuring to shake off any excess.
2. Cream your butter and sugar ensuring it is all mixed well-about 2-3 mins.
3. Add your eggs one by one ensuring they are incorporated into the butter/sugar mixture.
4. Add your vanilla extract and then add your cocoa powder a tablespoon at a time.
5. Finally add your water and flour and mix to a smooth consistency.
6. Cook for about 50 mins to 1 hour, testing and turning your cake around at about 30 mins
7. Once a skewer inserted comes out clean, remove from the oven and let it rest for 5 mins in the cake tin.
8. Remove from cake tin and place it on a cake rack until it’s completely cooled down
9. Spread with chocolate ganache.

For the ganache:

*You can either use a microwave to melt the chocolate or the old “double boiler” method.  If you use the microwave be sure to check the chocolate at 30 sec intervals.  If you use the traditional method ensure that your top container is not touching the boiling water!*

Add cream to melted chocolate and stir well using a whisk, ensuring everything is mixed well.  Add your olive oil in a thin stream whilst still whisking the ganache until it’s incorporated and is nice and glossy.  Let it cool completely before spreading on the cake.

Verdict: Delightful.  Delicious.  Moist.  And most of all success!

If you really enjoyed that post you might also like to check out one of the following:

• Chocolate and Almond Cookies (30)
• Banana Muffins with a Greek Yogurt Topping and Toasted Coconut (25)
• “Spicy” Carrot and Apple Cakes with a Maple Buttercream Frosting (32)
• A Little Story…That Ends With A Burger (19)
• “Intense” Orange and Almond Cake (35)

This is going to be an “all over the place” post.  Just wanted to share some of my recent pics that I have been taking with my new Polaroid 779 film and my new medium format camera.  There’s a whole new area of photography I want to explore.  Film just has this beautiful aesthetic about it that really can’t be replicated by digital.  So, let’s start the story with the weather…Sydney has had extremely mild temperatures all this week.  It seems spring has arrived early.  And I could definitely see it at the farmer’s markets the other day.  There were flowers everywhere and I purchased some yellow tulips and decorated the house.  Definitely a mood lifter!

I also bought some lemons and some not very “in season” tomatoes.  But hey!  If the weather wants to play around and act like it’s summer then I will too!

And I baked a delicious chocolate cake that I smothered in a chocolate and olive oil ganache.  Look out for the recipe later this week!

And today I made hamburgers!  Man, I couldn’t resist!  I love the versatility of hamburgers.  I made mine with beef mince that I seasoned with garlic, basil, fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs, a splash of worcestershire sauce and an egg.  Shape into thick patties and grill at your desired temperature.  I toasted my damper bun and filled it with spinach leaves, those tomatoes from the market, red onions and lashings of Dijon mustard.  I love this mustard!

Delicious!  Stay safe and be happy!  Enjoy your weekend folks!