One of the best aspects of traveling is experiencing a wide variety of foods, often ones you don’t have on a daily basis. And an even better aspect is learning how to recreate those flavors at home, in your own kitchen. It’s a great way to relive memories of places long after the event.

Chiang Mai, in Thailand, is known for its unique North Thai cuisine, inspired by Burmese, Chinese and Laotian flavors. It is famous for its bold flavors, aromatic herbs and unique combination of sweet, sour and spicy tastes.

For this reason, it’s the perfect place for a cooking lesson adventure. You will have a chance to take advantage of all those fresh herbs, smell, taste and enjoy the perfect dish that you just cooked.

Don’t know how to cook? No problem at all, the cooking teachers there teach classes in such a way that you’ll be surprised what masterful dishes you can create.

There are many places in Chiang Mai that offer such activities. I, based on reviews and general knowledge, chose a cooking school: Zabb E Lee Thai.

Two options to choose from: a morning course or an afternoon course. We opted for the one from 9 am to 2 pm.
The cost is 1200 Bath (~€33).

How did it come across?

A van from the company came to the hotel to pick us up. First, we drove to the local Ming Muang market, where the instructor discussed the use of various fresh vegetables and herbs. She explained what went with what, how to cut, and showed the unique Thai varieties of vegetables and plants that we were to use in our cooking. At this point, we had to choose 4 main dishes + 1 curry paste that we would like to cook. There were about 20 dishes to choose from. Each participant could, of course, choose other options, depending on taste, allergies or curiosity.
All the dishes could be prepared in vegetarian or vegan versions, and could be customized for spicy or mild versions on their own.

At this market, we also had a moment to look around on our own. There is a variety of spices in Chiang Mai, plus they are already prepared in packages so that they look good if you want to give someone as a gift. There are ready mixes for soups, for sauces, for curries. And most of the items did not exceed €4. If you’re there, it’s worth making a purchase, because in Chiang Mai some products are their local, you won’t find them later in the south of the country.

There were also sets of 10 different spices for about €3, sets of herbs, teas. The king, of course, was chili peppers.

For my part, I recommend buying dried lemongrass (at home in the summer, perfect as a cold, cooling infusion). Nuts coated with Tom Yum flavored mix are also delicious.

After several minutes, we gathered at the car and headed to our destination.

First impression? – wow!

It was cooking in an outdoor kitchen surrounded by a beautiful garden. Each station was well-equipped.

At the beginning, they treated us to tea and coffee, and we were able to walk around the grounds of the center, meet the other cooking companions.

Well, and then we set off.

Each of us had a station with a gas burner. We were given an apron and clear instructions on knives and how to store the blade under the cutting board between uses to prevent accidents.

Since we were choosing what we were going to cook in advance, we already had the proper portions of vegetables/meat/herbs to be cut, fried and cooked.

For an appetizer, we served fresh spring rolls with tofu and vegetables, garnished with a purple edible flower and sesame mixture.

In my case, the next choice was, of course, pad thai. In this aluminum wok, the dish was ready in just 5 minutes.

We were able to adjust the spiciness of each dish to our personal tastes, adding either 1 or 10 super spicy peppers.

After preparing the first two dishes, we took a break, during which we all sat at a long table and ate the first batch of our creations. Then we went back to work, pounding the ingredients in a mortar and pestle, preparing the base for the curry and the next dishes.

We sat down again to taste the dishes we had prepared. It was a lot of food. What was also cool was that we were able to talk to the other members of the class while eating, we exchanged travel stories, where we had been, what we recommend and where we are going.

It must be said that the organization was great. All products, accessories for cooking were already prepared. And the ladies who helped took the dirty dishes from us on a regular basis and substituted another clean one. This created a seamless cooking experience. I wish I could cook like this in my own kitchen at home!

I recommend reserving a spot for the class several weeks in advance, as they fill up quickly. You can do this by sending an email or a message on Whatsapp. You can find all the information from them on the Zabb E Lee Thai Cooking School website. If you want to be picked up from your hostel/hotel, let them know. If you live some distance away, you can be picked up and dropped off after class at no extra charge.
Water, tea and coffee are free, but have cash with you if you want to buy a soda or coconut.

On that day, we acquired a lot of knowledge about Thai cuisine.
We left there feeling more confident about making our own food at home – and with a colorful cookbook with step-by-step recipes that we could take home to practice each recipe (even the ones we didn’t make in class). As a gift to you, I’ve included a recipe for Pad Thai, downloadable below:

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