วันพุธที่ 4 มิถุนายน พ.ศ. 2557

Food in 4 elements of Traditional Thai medicine

“Tard-chao-ruan” or the dominant element of the body

According to Traditional Thai Medicine , the human body is composed of four elements (or ‘tard’ in the Thai language), i.e., earth, water, wind and fire. The balance of the four elements leads to a person’s good health. In contrast, if an imbalance of these elements occurs, e.g. under-function, over-function and malfunction in any of the four elements, a person will fall ill. In addition to such imbalance of the 4 internal elements, illness may result if the four internal elements do not correspond with the external element, i.e. environment. An individual has one dominant element called “Tard-chao-ruan”, which is determined by month in which you were born or your personal characteristics.
     At Small House Thai cooking school Chiang Mai, we offer Thai herbal drink by your individual elements of Tard-Chao-Ruan which are pandan leaf, lemongrass, lime-blue flower and beal in Thai and Northern Thai cooking class. See all cooking courses  
Fire (People born in Jan- Feb - Mar) 
     These people usually have thin bodies, fairly dark skin with freckles, wrinkle skin, soft hair & facial hair, gray hair at young age, loose muscles and joints, bad breath and body odor. and moderate sexual desire. They tend to be bald, impatient, short-tempered and have good metabolisms leading to their being frequent eater of large portions. Their appropriate diets include cool, bitter flavored or bland food such as water melon, cucumber (cool); Siamese cassia, gourd (bitter), radish, eggplant, cabbage (tasteless), etc.
Drink : pandan leaf, watermelon, chrysanthemum tea 
Wind (People born in Apr - May- June)                 
     These people usually have tall and thin bodies, dry skin, sleeping problem, low voice, unclear speech and low sexual desire. Their joints crackle when they make any movement. They are envious, timid,  talkative and always intolerate to cold. Their  diet should include spicy flavored food such as ginger, galangal,  lemongrass, pepper, chili pepper, basil, holy basil, fennel, garlic, etc. 
Drink : lemongrass, ginger, galangal
Water (People born in Jul - Aug - Sep)               
     These people usually have nice bodies, healthy skin, beautiful eyes, thick hair, clear voice, steady stride walk and good sexual desire. They are slow eater, slow worker as well as tolerant to heat, cold and hunger.Their ideal diet include sour and bitter flavored food, such as orange tomato, pineapple, kaffir lime, lime, young tamarind leaf (sour);Chinese bitter cucumber-chinese, bitter gourd (bitter), etc. 
Drink : lime, tamarind, orange, roselle, tiger herb
Earth  (People born in Oct - Nov - Dec)             
     These people usually have tall and large bodies, fairly dark complexion, thick hair, loud voice, strong bones and joints and healthy organs.Their appropriate diets include astringent, sweet or salty flavored food and starchy vegetables such as guava (astringent); rambutan, mangosteen, banana (sweet); salt (salty); taro root, yam, potato (starchy vegetables), etc.
Drink : beal, sugar cane, coconut, soymilk, orange
Ref: Faculty of Traditional Thai Medicine, Prince of Songkla University
Ref: Institute of Thai Traditional Medicine, Ministry of Public Health (Thailand)

วันศุกร์ที่ 2 พฤษภาคม พ.ศ. 2557

Khao Soi (yellow soup with egg noodle)

Khao Soi (yellow soup with egg noodle)

     
Khao Soi - Chiang Mai food
Khao Soi (yellow soup with egg noodle) is one of the most popular dish for tourist who visit Chiang Mai. It's made from Khao Soi chili paste and coconut milk with egg noodles and chicken or beef. If you use beef it should be cut and boiled until it soft before adding to a soup.You can also add sugar, lime juice, chili and pickled cabbage. Khao Soi is available on street food vendor and restaurant throughout Chiang Mai and Northern Thailand.
It's introduced by muslim people who live in Chiang Mai. By using special spices, each house and restaurant have there own recipe so when you visit Chiang Mai, you will see many tastes of Khao Soi.
Khao Soi recipe at Small House cooking school is more creamy soup and rich of aroma.
If you plan to travel to Chiang Mai and would like to join a small & personalized cooking class. Teacher is well trained from Thai culinary school and 5-star hotel in Chiang mai.

วันอังคารที่ 1 เมษายน พ.ศ. 2557

Thai cooking equipment & facilities at Small House cooking school

In Thai food, we use very common equipment such as pot to make soup, wok to make stir-fry and curry, mortar & pestle to make curry paste and salad, steamer to steam sticky rice and vegetables.
I would like to introduce you to some of the utensils that are commonly used in Thai kitchen and also used at Small House cooking school.

Rock mortar  clay mortar
  Mortar & Pestle
     A rock or granite pestle and mortar is used for making curry paste or chili paste. Thai families  always have one in their kitchen and it can also be used for grinding dried spices.
     A wooden and clay mortar and pestle are used for making papaya salads, mango salad.
  Wok
     The most used cooking utensil in Thai kitchen is a wok. They are very versatile and can be used for all sorts of cooking. They distribute the heat evenly and are excellent for stir-fries. 
     Woks can be made of iron, aluminum, stainless steel or brass. I like to use an iron wok and it is normally used in Thai restaurants & hotels as well. Woks come in various sizes. The size you get should depend on the portion of food you normally will be cooking each time. 
     A brass wok is quite expensive for Thai people and common use for simmering coconut milk or cooking rice flour in Thai desert because a brass wok is heat more evenly. 
Iron wok Thai
  Tamarind cutting boardPapaya shredder
 Knife & Cutting board
     A round wood cutting board. It is made from whole round tamarind tree in one piece. It is about 2 inches thick. We use it to chop a bone and mince pork, chicken, beef with a bone cleaver (knife).
     A Wave Decoration Knife is specially designed for the decoration of fruits and vegetable. The blade is made from stainless steel with razor sharp scallop edge.
     A papaya shredder is great for papaya, cucumber, mango to make a long texture by a sharp stainless steel blade.
 
  Steamer
     A steamer or double boiler is used to steam sticky rice, fish, banana leaf and vegetables. There are various types of steamers, but the most common are the aluminum steamer and the bamboo steamer.
     The aluminum steamers consist of two or three steamer baskets and a bottom pan. The steamer baskets consist of holes which allow steam from the bottom pan to rise to cook the food.
     A bamboo steamer is also used to drain the water out of the sticky rice after it has been soaked.
 Stainless steamer ThaiAluminum steamer Thai
See our Cooking Classes click here ! the smallest cooking class in Chiang Mai
 
Pot
 
 
Electric rice cooker
 

Fly net
 
Mosquito spray
 
 
Seasoning

  
Clean toilet
 
 
Pick up by air conditioning car
 
  
Get free a Cook book, Recipe book
 
 
Free Wi-Fi at my house
 

Wooden toys for children
 
  
Home organic garden

  

วันอาทิตย์ที่ 30 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2557

A day at Small House cooking school in Chiang Mai

Learn how to cook Thai food at Small House cooking school.
When in Thai, do as the Thai do – and the Thais do delicious food. Learn how to cook your own so you can continue eating Thai food long after your vacation ends.
In a group of no more than four people, you’ll receive highly personalized cooking instruction from a knowledgeable food expert.
# Highlights
1. We are the smallest Thai cooking class in Chiang Mai.
2. Full service: pick up and drop you off at your hotel or other place in the old city by air-conditioning car.
3. We cook at my house so you can see real Thai people live in a suburb area of Chiang Mai.
4. We offer variety Thai cooking dishes: Thai , Northern Thai ,Vegetarian , Street food , Seafood , Royal Thai and Private.
5. Instructor, Arm is well trained from Thai culinary school and 5-star hotel in Chiang Mai.
5. We use organic herb & vegetable from my garden such as sweet basil, culantro, chive, coriander, pandan leaf, better eggplant, mint, kaffire lime leaf.
6. All cooking ingredients are well selected and prepared by me which is concerned about food safety.
7. I will explain and demonstrate in every step. While you're cooking, I will stand next to you make sure that you have a good cooking experience.
# Photo of Cookery Courses
 # What You Can Expect
We will start with I pick you up at a hotel's lobby then we will visit "Ruam Chok" local Thai fresh market just 15 mins from the old city, where you will see many food vendor here: butchers, rice shop, coconut milk, vegetables, ready to eat food, Northern Thai food, fruits. I will explain you aroud market and we will choose Thai fruits together.
Then, head to my home just 5 mins from the market, where your excusive Thai cooking class begins. You will learn how to prepare curry paste or chili paste by pounding the ingredients  together with a mortar and pestle.
In this hand on cooking experience, the food we've cooked, we will eat dish by dish while it still hot to get its best flavor.
In the end, you will get an easy-to-follow recipe book.
 
This small-group Thai cooking class is a great way to make your trip to Chiang Mai extra special: it's a mush for foodies and cooking fans.
# Reviews from our guests
San Diego, California 
My boyfriend and I wanted to take a cooking class, but wanted to make sure we weren't in a large class. It was just us two and it was amazing!!! Arm is so sweet and knowledgable. We have been telling everyone we see about him. We went to the local market which is so much better then the tourist trap markets that are out there. We went to his house which had a really nice set up. We got to meet his dad who was taking pictures of us while we were cooking and we saw his garden. We were very happy with what we made also. So much that I ate all of the first dish and didn't share it with my boyfriend or Arm...oops LOL. Great class and I wouldn't have changed anything about it. Thank you Arm!!!!
Seattle, Washington
We were very impressed with Arm’s cooking class. We cook quite a bit at home, and Arm was able to tailor the class so that we covered techniques and dishes we were interested in learning. He kept us thoroughly engaged throughout the day. Everything was very straight forward, and the food tasted great. He also made sure we tried a few food items we had never tried before. Arm is extremely friendly, and his class is a great value. We really couldn’t have asked for a better experience.
Eugene, Oregon
I took a private class with the Small House cooking school and was impressed. I travel to Chaing Mai every year or so (for seven years) to improve my Thai cooking and this is the first time I took a class at Small House. Arm was great gave me really good insight into the dishes we made and bent over backwards to fill my strange little requests. If you are traveling to Chaing Mai put Small House on your list of things to do
Paris, France
We found this school on tripadvisor and went because of all the nice reviews. Nobody lied : the chef is friendly and patient, the ingredients are first choice and fresh, you'll have some bonus which are not mentioned ahead (like dessert or fruits you'll like to taste), you'll cook in his charming house in a calm residential area and the prices are very reasonables. Try, you'll love it.
San Diego, California
I had a great time and learned a lot from Mr Arm at the cooking class that I signed up!
Mr Arm took me to the market and showed me all the items essential to cooking Thai Food.
I only had time to learn three dishes (they tasted great!), but will be back on my next trip to
learn other types of Thai food! This is was one of the best experiences I had coming to Chiang Mai! Highly recommend it!!!
More Reviews On TripAdvisor
# Make a Reservation Click Here !
# Visit our website ChiangMaiThaiCooking.com