Iron Chef: Thai Challenge

The contestants: 

Felix Chill
Specialties: carbonara and brownies
Food philosophy: The more the merrier (referring to food quantity, not number of dinner guests)

Angela
Specialties: anything Mexican, fried eggs, and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
Food philosophy: Put some cheese on dat!

the contestants take there positions

Round 1: THE SOUP SKIRMISH

Phil made chicken in coconut milk 

Angela made tom yam soup (sweet and sour) with shrimp

Result:  These soups are very dissimilar and therefore hard to compare, but if a decision must be reached, and it must, the soup skirmish round goes to Angela and the tom yam for having a bit more kick and diversity of flavor than the chicken in coconut milk.

Made but not judged:

papaya salad

sticky rice & mango

Round 2: THE SPRING ROLL OFF

If only judged on taste alone, it would've been a dead tie.  Based on the desired criteria laid out by Permopoon Nabnian, course instructor and master Thai chef, Phil won in the presentation category for his ability to wrap a longer  roll.  However, it should be noted, in the shit talking department, Angela stole the show in this round.  A point awarded to each contestant.

Round 3: THE CURRY COLLISION

Angela - green curry with chicken

Phil - red curry with chicken, spicy hot like dynamite!

Result - although both were extremely tasty in their own right, the green takes the cake as an all-around superior curry

Round 4: THE NOODLE KNOCK OUT

Angela expertly flipping pad khi mao (drunken noodles)

Phil makes an omelet casing for his pad thai

Result - the tried and true classic, pad thai, wins

Round 5: THE FIRE FIGHT

Ang starting out with a clear lead, but hard to determine the winner as there is no photographic evidence of her fire's apex.  

However, Phil produced very impressive results in the 

pyro portion of this competition and is awarded the point.

Also made, but not judged, was chicken with cashew nut by Phil and sweet & sour chicken by Angela.

The Final Result: A tie! 

We had such a good time making so many interesting and tasty dishes.  I would definitely recommend taking a cooking class if you're ever in Thailand.