Make Thai like David Thompson – join the celebrity chef’s masterclass

Michelin-starred chef Australian chef, David Thompson, known for his famous restaurants, Long Chim and Sailor’s Thai, will be hosting a cooking masterclass.

The chef, which has a long-standing partnership with luxury small ship operator, Aqua Expeditions will be making exclusive dishes like tomato soup, grilled chicken with Cambodian black pepper and lime juice sauce, as well as a fresh cucumber salad to accompany the feast. Unfortunately for us Down Under, the livestream will be airing at 2am on Tuesday 2 June while the Brits will be able to try their hand at the dishes at 5pm on Monday 1 June. All ingredient lists are available prior to the masterclass session so viewers can cook along at home. David is a consulting chef for Aqua Expeditions’ ship, the Aqua Mekong which sails through Cambodia and Vietnam. He has hosted several cruises before. And if you can’t wait to watch the videos, here is something you can make over the weekend.   MIANG OF POMELO WITH PRAWNS (MIANG SOM OO) Makes 10 leaves, enough for 2 or 3 people. INGREDIENTS Paste

• Pinch of salt
• 1 coriander root
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon coarsely ground peanuts
• 1 tablespoon toasted shredded coconut
• Pinch of Thai shrimp paste
• Good pinch of ground dried prawns

Sauce

• ½ cup palm sugar
• 100ml water
• 1 tablespoon toasted coconut
• 1 tablespoon small toasted peanuts
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons tamarind water

Miang

• 2 tablespoons prepared miang sauce
• 1 tablespoon roasted grated coconut
• Pinch of finely diced lime
• 1 tablespoon diced young ginger
• 2 tablespoons diced red shallots
• Handful of coriander leaves
• ½ finely sliced scud
• 10 prawns, peeled, blanched then sliced
• 10 pieces pomelo flesh
• 10 cleaned ‘betel’ leaves

PREPARATION First, make the paste: gradually pound the paste ingredients together using a pestle and mortar, adding one by one, until quite smooth. For the sauce, heat sugar with water. When dissolved, simmer for a minute or so before adding the paste and simmering until the sauce is quite thick and the fragrances of ginger, galangal and shrimp paste are evident. Make sure that you do not simmer it for too long – only a few minutes or so! Now add the fish sauce, the shredded Thai coconut and ground peanuts, and simmer for a minute. Then add the tamarind water but do not simmer for too long after the tamarind has been added or it will scorch. Remove from the heat. When cooled a little, check the seasoning: it should taste sweet, rich, sour and salty. At the very last moment, combine the remaining Miang ingredients (prawns, pomelo etc.) into the sauce and serve on the ‘betel’ leaves.