Mogwai Soup

I said a few days ago that I was going to post about Thai class I took at Gygi. This class was really awesome. Everything we made that night was delicious, and it was a real pleasure to be taught by Meiling Dawson. Some of the dishes we made were Pad Thai, Panang curry over salmon and Thai beef salad. And no matter how much I love Pad Thai, my absolute favorite was spicy chicken with Thai basil. I made it many times since and everyone just loves it!
Here are some pictures of the class and on the bottom the recipe for the spicy chicken.

Chicken skewers ready to go in the oven.

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Peanut sauce. All ready for the skewers!



Seared salmon fillets



The tastiest Panang Curry sauce for the salmon.



The Thai beef salad station.



Delicious salad dressing made with Thai chilies and no oil!



Salad ready to be served.



Pad Thai station



First we seared the shrimp



Adding the sauce to the noodles





Adding the egg



As I already said, all of the dishes were so yummy. The panang curry diserves a post on its own (and will be getting it in the future). But here is a recipe for my favorite Thai dish, and it wasn't easy to get there considering how much I love Pad Thai!


Spicy Basil Chicken
by Meiling Dawson


3 chicken breasts, cut into 2" long strips
3T. cooking wine
3T. soy sauce
2T. cornstarch






Marinate the chicken with all the ingridients above and set aside for 20 minutes. Drain the marinade sauce and add 2T. oil to meat mixture just before cooking, to prevent it sticking together during cooking.




Sauce:

3T. oyster sauce
2T. sugar
3T. fish sauce
1/2t. black pepper

To make the sauce, mix all the above ingredients in a bowl together and set aside.

4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Thai chilies, chopped
1 small yellow onion, sliced
1C. fresh Thai basil
2T. canola oil

Heat the wok and add 2T. oil to the pan. Be sure the oil is hot enough and then carefully add the marinated chicken to the hot oil. Cook until the meat is brown on both sides. Remove the cooked chicken on the plate.



Heat the wok again and add 2 T. of oil to it, then add the onions and garlic to the oil. Stir-fry for 3 minutes on medium high heat. Add the Thai chili pepper to the wok and mix all together.





Add the cooked chicken and fresh basil to the wok, and then pour the sauce over the top. Quickly mix them all together. Then place in a serving dish. Serve with warm rice.

So guess what? I suck. I'm still not really back, but I am still really trying. I've been busy, aren't we all...? But! I found a place here in SLC where you can go for cooking and baking classes. It is Gygi and it is really awesome. It is a locally family owned and operated restaurant wholesale and kitchen supply store. Also, they offer fun classes like Thai Cuisine, Specialty Sushi, Christmas Eve Dinner all the way through six week cooking series: The Fine Art of Cooking. Me want.
My favorite part of all is that other than taking some of the classes, I started volunteering there. I really love doing it. I am learning how things work behind the scenes, and it makes me so happy that I like it. It is my happy place.
I will put some recipes and photos of the Thai class that I took in a few days. Today I wanted to share some Christmas gift ideas with you that I learned at Gygi. They are all so incredibly simple and affordable.

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Chocolate covered popcorn! Pretzel sticks dipped in caramel and chocolate! White chocolate peppermint bark!





And my favorite, the one I made last night for my little gifts, Chinese cookies dipped in Chocolate.




There really is no recipe. Just get some good chocolate, melt it in a microwave with a 30 seconds method (heat 30 seconds at a time and mix well in between until all the chocolate is melted). Get pretzels, popcorn, or whatever else you would like to dip and have fun with it.









I got a big bag of Chinese cookies with Christmas messages inside. I love it so much I will make extra ones to put on the table after Christmas Eve dinner, for all of us to open. I never ever compromised on my traditional Christmas Eve menu. But this is just simple and fun enough to include this year!