Unlike others who go for authentic taste and so far as buying gourmet ingredients for international cuisine, I take a more practical (read: cheap) approach when cooking: I look for the suitable local substitute.

Thai Kitchen is a brand of commonly used ingredients for Thai cookin. It goes without saying that in their cooking class and cookbooks, they promote their own brand. For example, in their Pad Thai recipe, it called for the Thai Kitchen Fish Sauce and the Thai Kitchen Tamarind Paste. The Thai fish sauce is easy; it’s already available in most supermarket. The tamarind paste however, left me slightly baffled.

Then I remember the pack of Thai rice noodles my brother and I were able to buy in Singapore. It comes with a pad thai seasoning mix. Then the answer hit me: it’s the most used seasoning in the house: Knorr’s pang-asim.
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One of the must-do’s of travelers in Thailand, aside from touring the temples and shopping their hearts out, is to take a Thai cooking class. After all, where else can you be guaranteed an authentic Thai cooking experience than in Thailand?

There are plenty of cooking classes available in Thailand, not just in Bangkok. Some specialize in vegetarian fares, while some even gives you a tour of the Thai markets, so you’d know how to pick the freshest ingredients.
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Popularity: 30% [?]