Kaffir Lime

Kaffir lime fruits from the garden

Thai Cooking Class- Melbourne

Pandan Leaf

Pandan leaf also known as fragrant screwpine, it is a long and dark green leaf with the unique scent and flavour.  It is used over Southeast Asia and commonly uses to add into various cakes and desserts. It is also can be added into the rice (while cooking), where it imparts a beautifully subtle fragrance and flavour. You can buy it fresh or frozen from Asian groceries and keep in the freezer. Pandan essence can be used as a substitute in desserts. 

Learn how to use it in Thai cooking class on 27 June 2015 (Sat). More information find in the website www.jeanasiancooking.com.au 

How useful Banana Is

How useful banana is

Did you know that all parts of banana are very useful? Fruit can be eaten or used to make cakes, Asian desserts either yellow or green. The banana blossoms/flowers can be used to make salad or cooked which widely used in Vietnamese, Laos, Cambodian and Thai cooking. Leaves are used to wrap things or as a natural plate to get aroma for dishes such as Thai’s Hok Mok Pla, Cambodian’s Amok, Malaysian’s Nasi Lemak and others. Inner part of the stalk is also edible and can be used as vegetable in Cambodian cuisine. How about the trunk? As far as I can recall when I was very young, after harvesting the fruit, I would help my grandmother to cut the trunk into long strip and dry them up and used them as strings.

Banana grows and fruits in Melbourne

Why I am talking about banana here, especially in Melbourne’s climatic conditions? Well, many people get surprise how the banana can grow in the garden in Melbourne. Yes, trust me it can grow, flower and fruit in Melbourne. I think it needs a good spot where it is protected from strong wind and winter frost and a bit of patience. It takes a bit of time to fruit because it normally goes into dormant in winter and grows between spring and autumn. One banana tree newly flowers a month ago and two other banana trees, about 3 years old, fruited last summer and the bananas are still green and not ready yet by now because they did not grow at all in winter. Once they are ready, in the next month or so, I will have around 100 beautiful, organic and tasty bananas and it will bring back my childhood memories which I LOVE. 

Banana Flower

                                Banana Blossoms salad

Melbourne's Golden Bananas

After a few weeks of ripening, our home grown bananas turn golden and ready to eat. Backyard and organic bananas’ flavour is so unique and great for sweet and warn creamy dessert – bananas and sago in coconut milk which is prefect for winter.

Asian Cooking Class, Melbourne

Butterfly Pea Flowers-Natural blue colour for using in Asian cooking

Asian Cooking Class, Melbourne

Travel Photo- Paddy Field

Asian Cooking Class- Melbourne

Our organic herbs, mints & vegetables which we use often in our cooking class.

Thai Cooking Class- Melbourne

Baby Thai Eggplants or Pea Eggplants

The egglants are  small, slightly bitter, grow in bunches and are used in curries and stir-fries.

Asian Cooking Class, Melbourne

What do I need in my pantry to begin my Asian Cooking journey?

For a beginner, I suggest to buy at least three important ingredients to keep in your pantry. They are soy sauce (also called thin/light soy sauce), oyster sauce and garlic. (We will increase the ingredients slowly in coming weeks)

I assume you already have the basic ingredients such as salt, sugar, ground pepper, and oil in your pantry. Of course, don’t forget to get some rice. 

Thai Cooking Class in Melbourne

Galangal- Is part of the ginger family. It has peppery and sweet taste. There is no real substitute for its unique flavour. 

Ginger

Different between galangal and ginger

Green Chillies for Thai Green Curry

Green Chillies for Thai Green Curry

Thai Cooking Class, Melbourne

Classic Thai Cooking Class

Green Chillies for Thai Green Curry

Green curry, as the name says, needs a lot of green chillies to get natural green colour. Some might misunderstand that all green chillies can be used in the green curry but in order to get authentic and traditional flavours you need the right variety.

The above picture is the green chilli plant grows in my garden in Melbourne. The plant does not grow as big as in tropical region, due to the cold weather conditions, and the chillies aren’t as long as grown in warm climate (I’ll put the picture on when is available). 

From my cooking experiences, getting the right ingredients is crucially important to get original and authentic flavours.

  

Holy Basil- Thai Cooking Class, Melbourne

Holy Basil

Thai Cooking Class, Melbourne

Galangal (Thai: kha or Chinese: lan jiang)

Galangal has a sharper, more peppery flavour than ginger. The fresh root can be stored in the fridge for several weeks or frozen until needed. 

After harvesting from garden

Happy New Year - Asian Cooking Class

fresh from garden

Christmas Gift Voucher for cooking class-Melbourne

I have banana to eat again this year!

Yam Bean- Chinese Cooking Class

Yam Bean

It is nearly summer in Australia. There are many kinds of 'unusual' tropical vegetables are around the corner at the fruits and vegetables shops. Last week when I was shopping at the shop. I was very happy to find yam bean in the market because it normally hard to find and even if I found it, it costs more expensive then meat during other seasons.

A couple of shoppers were looking at me while I was choosing this strange vegetable. They asked me about the yam bean and how to use it. I explained to them and quickly give them few easy tips to eat and cook. They really bought few of them and had a try. I hope they will like it.

What is yam bean? It calls bangkuang (Malay names), is a root vegetable, where also known as jicama. It is crunchy and white inside and beige skin that can easily to peel off. It is so good to eat raw with spicy dip like 'rojak' sauce (Malaysian shrimp paste mixed), or cooked until soft for making 'popiah' either Chinese popiah or Vietnamese version of 'Bo Bia' or Chinese buns; or just for simple stir fry with dried prawns and garlic. The taste of yam bean after cooked has its nature sweet and nice to eat.

Thai Cooking Class Melbourne-Pandan Leaf

Pandan Leaf

Pandan leaf also known as fragrant screwpine, it is a long and dark green leaf with the unique scent and flavour.  It is used over Southeast Asia and commonly uses to add into various cakes and desserts. It is also can be added into the rice (while cooking), where it imparts a beautifully subtle fragrance and flavour. You can buy it fresh or frozen from Asian groceries and keep in the freezer. Pandan essence can be used as a substitute in desserts. 

Learn how to use it in Thai cooking class on 23 June 2012 (Sat). More information find in the website. 

Cooking Classes in Melbourne

Harvest time!

Lady Finger Banana- Taste is good, fresh from the garden.

Fresh & Hot Chilies- Cooking Class

Fresh chilies from the garden. There are too much to finish. I've decided to make chillies sambal which can be kept in the fridge for very long. Whenever I am busy, I can just put two tablespoons of it and stir-fry with prawns, lady fingers, kankung, fish and others.