Whipping up scrumptious Thai dishes at a cooking class for kids

What do you give a son who is a budding chef and absolutely loves cooking and eating good food for his 12th birthday? A cooking course at the Discovery Healthy Food Studio in Sandton.

Liam has always had an adventurous palate and a Thai cooking class was just up his street. The studio assured me he and his friend Jack would cope with the assistance of their mums, myself and Tessa — and we joined a class recently.

The welcome was warm, the snacks and refreshments delicious — a great start. Liam and Jack’s curiosity was piqued, their roving eyes checked out the fancy kitchen, the different cooking stations and all the gleaming handy equipment and clever gadgets, their excitement was palpable.

On the menu was Thai fish cakes with a chilli dipping sauce, a Thai jungle chicken curry, crying tiger beef fillet with greens and for dessert bananas in fragrant coconut milk. We kicked off with the fish cakes, the chefs were super friendly and helpful every step of the way. Yum, yum  the fish cakes were really easy, so tasty and  particularly good with a good smattering of chilli dipping sauce. The boys loved it — yes even the kick of chilli.

The jungle curry was my fav, chicken thighs, green beans, baby eggplants bathed in a curry paste we’d made from scratch. The beef fillet was a treat, the boys loved massaging the delicious marinade over the steaks using their fingers. And dry frying raw rice for the  sauce was something new — and it smelt just like popcorn. That done it was time for the moms to enjoy a drink and chat to the others in the full class. The boys meanwhile  finished off the banana pud.

The meal was a feast and  enjoyed around a beautifully set table. There was lots of food, we couldn’t eat it all but could take it home.

THAI FISH CAKES WITH CHILLI DIPPING SAUCE

Makes: 8

Prep: 15 min

Cooking: 10 min

Ingredients:

500g roughly diced fish fillets — salmon, hake, trout or silvers

8 lime leaves, destemmed and finely chopped

15ml (1 tbsp) Thai red curry paste

1 egg white

2.5ml (½ tsp) sugar

10ml (2 tsp) fish sauce

10ml (2 tsp) sea salt

Olive oil for frying

Diced cucumber and fresh herbs for example basil, mint or coriander leaves

Dipping sauce:

30ml (2 tbsp) fish sauce

15ml (1 tbsp) sugar

30ml (2 tbsp) white vinegar

30ml (2 tbsp) lime juice

1 long red chilli, seeded and finely chopped

Method:

1. To make the dipping sauce, combine the ingredients in a bowl. Set aside until ready to serve.
2. To make the fishcakes, chop the fish until fine and forms a paste, or pulse the fish in a food processor until it forms a paste. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the red curry paste, egg white, sugar, fish sauce and salt.
3. Use your hands to mix and knead the mixture for about 2 minutes.  Pick up the mixture and slap it against the bowl to remove excess air.
4. Heat olive oil in a saucepan for searing. When the oil is hot, scoop up roughly heaped tablespoons of the fish mixture and carefully drop into the pan. Flatten slightly. Repeat with another 5 to 6 scoops of fish mixture (don’t overcrowd the pan).
5. Cook, turning fishcakes every few seconds, for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Drain on paper towel.
6. To serve, pile the fishcakes onto a serving plate. Scatter the cucumber and herbs over the fishcakes and drizzle with the sauce.

A COUPLE OF NIGGLES:

• The forms that needed to be completed beforehand were hugely detailed.
• According to the paperwork we had to bring our vaccination certificates but when we got there no-one even asked for them.
• As lovely and handy as it was to have all the ingredients measured out and packed into plastic zip lock bags, we were concerned about the over use of the bags that were just thrown away.
• We were so looking forward to the sweet part of the meal, the dessert, but it wasn’t great and a bit of a let-down.
• At R500 a head it felt a little on the expensive side.
• For details and courses email healthyfoodstudio@discovery.co.za or visit  discovery.co.za

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.