Vietnamese & Thai Cooking Classes Asheville, NC
Vietnamese & Thai food are not always
time-consuming and complicated
It is believed that Asian cooking is complicated and time consuming. That is partially true. Like any world famous cuisine, French or Chinese...there are complicated recipes and there are simple recipes.
If you love Thai and Vietnamese food and want to have not only delicious food but, also wholesome and healthy meals for yourself and your loved ones, you can learn to cook Vietnamese and Thai.
Asian people, just like most everyone else have to work. The family dinner must be cooked in less than one hour. Organize and have your basic ingredients ready in the pantry or freezer at all times. There are recipes that can be done in 15 minutes, and a meal that can be ready in ½ hour.
Long and complex recipes are very much
rewarding and satisfying
and can be done over the weekend. I often use one complete dish like “Pho ' or 'Grilled pork with Cold Vermicelli” along with a vegetable side dish and I have an Asian feast ready with friends.
The freezer, a modern amenity, is a busy person's friend that help you to have good meals whenever you want . Just get organized and cook.!
Distinctive traits of Vietnamese and Thai food and Cooking
The food of mainland South East Asian countries: Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam are amazingly similar, with only minor variations. This is no wonder, as they all are located at more or less the same longitude and latitude in respect of the equator. The same historical fate, migration and geographical location has brought so much similar food.
South East Asian Flavors: the Five tastes.
SE Asian food is never boring. It is fresh and explosive.
Different with the Western cuisine where there are mostly two tastes, salty and sweet. Vietnamese and Thai foods typically have 5 tastes: salty, sweet, sour, bitter and pungent (hot chilies), that mostly derive from plants and herbs. Occasionally there is also the sixth taste: the Astringent taste. This taste derives from young unripe vegetables or fruits such young persimmons or green bananas.
Any cuisine in the world has three components: The taste of the main ingredients, the texture of these ingredients and the seasoning of them. While the main ingredients remain quite the same for many cuisines: meat, fish, pasta, vegetables, the seasoning differentiates largely between SE Asian Food and the others. Generally, most of cuisines of the world employ 2 or 3 ingredients for seasoning and flavoring, for example: Emeril Lagasse calls the European food seasoning Trinity: Garlic, onion, and celery; the South American cuisine has also three: garlic, onion and bell pepper...sometimes there are five if you add bay leaf or dill and coriander...
Thai and Vietnamese food have a bewildering range of spices and ingredients, moreover, the ingredients employed are mostly strong and fiery like ginger, galangal, garlic, lemon grass, fish sauce and shrimp sauce. Sometimes there could be 15 to 20 ingredients in a dish. Yet, when combined artfully, these ingredients, together in harmony, will result in a fresh and explosive dish. That is the main characteristic of Vietnamese and Thai food.
