Join Pea in her kitchen to chop, pound and grind as you learn to make an authentic Northern Thai-Chinese meal from scratch. You might expect your hands-on cooking class class to last about 1.5 hours before you share the meal you helped prepare with Pea at her dining table.
Start your adventure with a pick-up from your hotel and drive to Pea’s home where she will give you a tour of her beautiful vegetable garden. Discover how essential Thai herbs such as lemongrass and holy basil are grown. You will then be treated to miang kham (a local snack of fresh betel leaves with lime, coconut, and peanuts) before beginning your meal. Pea's mother was Chinese and her father was Thai, and her cuisine is influenced by the culinary traditions of both cultures. Enjoy dishes such as beef noodle soup, kaeng khiao wan (chicken green curry), kai kraphrao khai dao (stir fried chicken with holy basil), nam prik ong (typical Northern Thai pork and tomato dip) before you end your meal with a dessert of sweet coconut ice cream or mango sticky rice (when in season).
Please be sure to include your Chiang Mai hotel name on the reservation form so your host can arrange for your pick-up. Please note that a portion of Pea's teak home is under construction.
This is just a sample menu to give you an idea of the types of dishes the host cooks. Your menu will vary according to seasonal availability.
Pea lives with her son, Jah, in a beautiful teak home surrounded by gardens in Chiang Mai. Pea started cooking when she was 12. As the first daughter and fourth child in the family she remembers her mom waking her up early in the morning to buy food from the market, teaching her about the best ingredients and how freshness can influence a dish. Pea is such a good and creative cook that she can even get her sons to eat and enjoy bitter gourd, a vegetable that is renowned for people, especially children, despising!
“In our family as soon as we finish one meal, we think of the menu for the next meal. Cooking is a big part of my life, I love to work in the kitchen.”
"We had a wonderful experience visiting Pea and learning about the history of Thai dishes and then making/enjoying our own meal. Pea is a gracious, welcoming host. We really appreciate her sharing her time and expertise with us.
I highly recommend her private cooking experience."
"Pea and her son were gracious and welcoming hosts who answered all of our one thousand questions with ease! We felt honored to be admitted into their stunning, sprawling home and learn so much about fresh Thai cuisine from Pea. Her garden provides fresh herbs and vegetables for the dishes prepared, and we walked out vowing to never buy Thai Curry Paste again! Thank you for a wonderful and educational experience!"
"Authentic Thai home cooking with the most gracious host you could ask for. Pea and her family were so welcoming. We loved walking through her garden, picking fresh herbs to smell as she explained what each was used for (and most importantly of all) where to find them in the United States and what substitutes would be acceptable if we could not find the exact. (Though I am determined to find some holy basil and plant it on my balcony now!) We cooked 5 dishes and each was unique. Pea was very sensitive to helping us choose the right level of spice for our tastes and encouraged us to start small and taste each dish as we made it to adjust the spicy, salty, sweet, and sour flavors of Thai cuisine. I am sensitive to spicy foods but was very happy with the end result. My partner enjoys spicy and so his dish was slightly different. Pea listened to us and helped make sure we cooked food we would enjoy. The food we made was so fresh and delicious, but the real treat was Pea’s company. She is an amazing host and we highly recommend taking her class if you visit Chiang Mai. There is no better way to experience authentic quality Thai home cooking!"
"The host, Pea and her son are very nice and her garden and house are stunning! All veggies and herbs are picked right from her organic garden. She made sure that the recipe included ingredients that I can find in Japan so I can try to book back in my home country. I’d come back to Chiangmai just because I want to see her again and learn to cook other things."