Learning to Tame the Flame

I had my first cookbook probably like 5 or 7 years ago. I still keep it well and in good condition, this must be one of my gift when it comes to taking care of books. If there's a guardian of the books then probably I'll fit in that description.

The cookbook was hardbound and it contains about 1600 wok and stir fry recipes. I haven't tried most of it, simply because some of the ingredients are quite hard to find. But those that I've tried further drove my interests in cooking deeper into the realms of the hot and burning world of woks.

So, I've gone from one cookbook to another and jumping from one site to another exploring for more recipes to try on. I even evolved and became a fan of the food channels on the cable network. I used to not like it, but there must be truth in the saying food makes wonders.

This week though, like some ray of inspirations, I decided to take my cooking interest a notch up. I have signed up for a Vietnamese cooking class. I intentionally wanted to join the Thai cooking class, but the schedules were full. So anyway, it was fun and exciting. I've learned to prepare three menus, 1.  Fresh rice paper rolls with mango and mint 2. Spicy tofu with lemon grass plus basil and 3. Vietnamese crepe.

I've gained additional tips during the class, such as for the fresh rice paper rolls, you only need to dip the rice paper rolls in the warm water as quickly as possible otherwise, it will become soggy and too sticky to roll. 

If the fiber starts to appear more while you're chopping the lemon grass, you may want to peal off the outer layer and start with the fresh inner layer. Mushroom stems tend to be hard and it's not nice for cooking. They're usually chopped-off for other usage such as for soup base. 

I've learned to do proper julienne (cutting to result in longer, thinner strips), it usually starts off with cutting the sides of the vegetable such as a carrot to form angles or corners like a box. Start slicing the sides into thin layers and proceed to cut into thin strips.

I've done the right way to chop using the chef knife, holding the top of the knife with your fingers while trying to guide the middle of the knife's sharp edge to do the chopping. This is usually easier to do than using the knife's sharp edge near the point of the knife. 

I basically came to class to correct my own mistakes, learn the proper methods and perform the simple techniques, but what I got was more than what I paid for, I've met wonderful people, teamed-up and enjoyed learning together with them. That to me was priceless.

The photos above are the menus we've cooked in a roughly 2 hour cooking session. The first was the spicy tofu, the fresh rice paper rolls and the Vietnamese crepe. I am more than happy to share the recipe here, but due to copyright notice attached to the recipes, I'm not able to do so. Apologize for that guys.  

Til next time.

:)