Cooking Class at the Renaissance

Shortly after Theresa arrived, she hooked up with the Suzhou Expats Association.  Since then, there has been no stopping her.  The group sponsors a number of formal activities and the friends she's met lead to even more informal activities.

Recently, the Expats Association organized a cooking class at the Suzhou Renaissance Hotel.  The hotel's general manager is especially supportive of the group and sponsors the weekly coffee klatches and monthly meet-and-greets.  For the cooking class, she arranged for the hotel chef and his staff to demo a few dishes.

The recipes were not necessarily traditional Chinese fare.  One recipe was for noodles - the photo immediately above shows one of the staff demonstrating how to cut noodles on a rolling pin.  Another recipe was for Gazpacho in the traditional Spanish style.

The third recipe was Thai Green Curry.   If you like food with a little bit of spice, then this is heaven in a 30 minute meal.   The key ingredients are Thai Green Curry Paste and coconut milk.  The photo below shows these players before they gave their life to the chef.  

The recipe, with credit to the Renaissance staff, goes like this:

Thai Green Curry

Ingredients: 
1/4 cup Green Curry Paste  (Warning !  Use only half this amount unless you like your food really spicy)
22 oz Coconut Milk (you can use a little more...it's not an exact amount)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons fish sauce
4 tablespoons soy sauce
A dash of white pepper (or black pepper if you don't have white)
Salt to taste after making sauce

Rice

Vegetables and meat for a stir fry.  (Chicken works well for the meat.  Vegetables can be anything, but suggested are huge chunks of onion, red and/or green bell pepper, carrots, garlic scapes (if you can find them) or peas or green beans, and diced potatoes.  Note, if using potatoes you might want to precook them in the microwave or stir fry first to get them tender.

Directions:

1. Prep your vegetables and meat for stir fry.  Put aside.
2. Prepare some white rice.  (Since this usually takes 30 min or so, start it first then start the sauce)
3. Put the oil in nonstick pan (2 quart sauce pan works well)
4. Add the curry paste add cook for 10 min (stir now and then toast all over to prevent burning)
5. Add the coconut milk and bring to boil
6. After 5 minutes of light boiling, add sugar, soy sauce, and fish sauce
7. Add the pepper.  Check for taste and add a little salt if needed.
8. Let the sauce cook at a simmer to a low boil while you do your stir fry.
9. Stir fry the vegetables and meat in a separate pan until cooked.

To serve, plate individual helpings of the rice and vegetables.  Smoother with the sauce.