Cooking in Hoi An

The weather is cooler here than in Thailand, so I feel my energy levels are higher than usual, and I actually want to do stuff other than sit at home with the AC on. So I booked a Vietnamese cooking class for me and Alex. He was skeptical of course, but I promised I would do all the chopping.

About a 30-minute taxi ride from Da Nang is the city of Hoi An.
It's super cute, with a famous old quarter that is very quaint and lovely to walk through. The streets are overflowing with tailors and beautiful handcrafts.
It's probably a good thing we don't live there, or I would have blown our budget completely.

Before meeting up with our tour group we wandered around and found this old beauty.

Then we went to our meeting point, The Red Bridge Cooking School.

They split us into smaller groups and then we went with one of the chefs to the local market.

The chef took us around, showing us different foods and produce.

Our guide told us what to look out for, such as how to distinguish between yesterday's shrimp and the freshest ones (milkier color = older shrimp!)

Then we boarded a boat to reach the actual cooking school, which turned out to be not where we had met that morning.

After a 20-minute boat ride on the river, we arrived at our destination.

Then we had a 2-hour cooking class with a mix of watching, listening, and a lot of hands-on cooking.

Here I am in the midst of making a Vietnamese pancake which turned out super tasty.

But perhaps the most interesting thing was witnessing how they make rice paper. It's a lengthy process involving soaking the rice overnight for the batter. To cook them, you place a piece of cotton fabric on top of a pot with boiling water, tightening and securing it with a rubber band. Then you pour the batter onto the cotton, spreading it thinly using a circular motion with a spatula before covering it with a lid. After about a minute, it's done, and you lift the rice paper off using a stick.

Back in Sweden, I want to host a Vietnamese dinner. I'll prepare the batter and all the fillings for the spring rolls, and then people can cook their own rice paper. Who wants to come?!

Most of the food we cooked was quickly eaten in the kitchen, but some items were saved and savoured at the end, accompanied by this lovely view.

Thank you Red Bridge Cooking School for a fun and delicious day!