Life: Thai cookery school

I was thinking about what to write about today and then thought about where else i'd rather be in the world right now than sitting in cold, wet London. It came to me at once - Thailand. I went backpacking there a couple of years ago (it feels like a life time ago now!). While I was in Chaing Mai, I attended a thai cookery class called Asia Scenic Cookery School. It was so enjoyable cooking outside and creating authentic fresh thai flavours. It was also a real pleasure visiting their garden on site where so many of their herbs and spices grow. We each cooked three dishes and then sat down to a huge banquet. This spring roll recipe and the future recipes I will share with you all come from the Asia Scenic Cookbook they gave us at the end of the class.

Spring Rolls (Por Pia Tod)

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp fish sauce
3 tsp oyster sauce
1 cup of water
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 piece of minced tofu
2 stalk of chives, cut into 1 inch lengths
100g bean sprouts
50g minced cooked chicken
200g glass noodles
extra vegetable oil for frying
10 sheets of spring roll pastry
to serve: sweet chili or plum sauce

1. Using a wok or a large saucepan, fry the garlic in the oil for a couple of minutes over a medium heat. Add the minced chicken and tofu and cook for about 1 minute.
2. Increase the heat and add the sugar, fish sauce, oyster sauce, noodles and cup of water and cook for a minute.
3. Add the bean sprouts and chives and cook for a few seconds
4. Layout one sheet of spring roll pastry and add 1 tbsp of filling. Wrap the spring roll according to the image below. Use egg to seal the end and to stop the spring roll from unwrapping,

(image from zaiqa.net)

5. Deep fry the spring rolls in a frying pan of vegetable oil for a couple of minutes or until the spring rolls turn a light golden colour. Serve with sweet chili sauce or plum sauce.