Cooking Class

Yesterday I attended a cooking class to learn how to make a few Indian dishes. I know, it sounds crazy since I've mentioned before that I'm not a big fan of that cuisine. But, I figured if I learned something new and enjoyed the company, it would be worth the effort.

The Bali ladies have been organizing cooking classes routinely for quite awhile and I was excited to join them for "Cooking with Kay." Kay is the lady who runs the show so she organizes the menu based on input from the group, provides all the ingredients and a printout of the recipes and guides the group through the preparation.

So, of all the menus they could have chosen, Indian would not be at the top of my list and as I was trying to get everything squared away for the girls before I left, I was thinking to myself, "Why do I want to learn to cook Indian food?!" Despite those reservations, I'm glad I went.

There were 6 of us at my friend Kirsten's house and we made six different dishes: Navaratna Korma (vegetables in a cream curry), Mushroom and Pea Pillau (rice dish), Tandoori Chicken, Butter Chicken, Palak Paneer (spinach with homemade cheese) and Baigan Bharta (eggplant puree). To say I was ignorant to the menu would be an understatement but I had at least had the Tandoori Chicken and Butter Chicken before.

Kay went through all the ingredients with us so we became more knowledgeable of the spices used in Indian cooking. I learned that Chinese parsley is the same thing as cilantro, which is good information to have when trying to make Mexican food in Asia. I knew that coriander leaves were the same but I don't always see that at the grocery store. At least I never purchased Chinese parsley as a substitute for English parsley - my lasagna wouldn't have tasted so good.

Carol and I were cooking buddies and we made the Palak Paneer and Baigan Bharta. The most amazing part was making our own cheese. It was a fairly simple process and we had to speed it up since we didn't have all day for our cheese to set. Kay suggested that when making the cheese at home, to leave it inside the cheese cloth (yes, there's a reason that stuff is named cheese cloth!) hanging from the kitchen faucet over night to let all the liquid drain out. I wasn't comfortable with that image in my head and since Brian doesn't like it when I leave cheese on the counter for more than 15 minutes, he would be horrified. Anyway, we stuck ours in the freezer so we could enjoy it at lunch and when it emerged, it resembled fresh mozzarella. I felt like we had witnessed a miracle in the kitchen, being the dairy lover that I am.

Actually we did invent a new way to make Butter Chicken because Brooke accidentally added evaporated milk instead of plain cream when cooking it and everyone, including our instructor, preferred the taste so that was a cool discovery. After a couple hours, we had cooked a beautiful lunch and enjoyed dining on our creations. I took a picture of my colorful plate:

Starting at the top and moving clock-wise is Tandoori Chicken, Butter Chicken (yes, it's bright red), Palak Paneer, Pillau (rice), Baigan Bharta and the Navartna Korma is in the middle. I liked the Tandoori and Butter Chicken best and also enjoyed the Baigan Bharta but would probably tone down the spice a bit next time.

I always wondered what spice makes Tandoori Chicken so incredibly red and was a bit disappointed to learn that it's not a spice at all. It's red food coloring #284 responsible for the ultraviolet color. I suppose I could leave it out but then no one would believe it's the right dish.

It was a fun adventure in the kitchen and I hope I can make the next session that will feature Middle Eastern food. In the meantime, I joked that I could make some of these dishes for Brian for Valentine's Day and he would be a happy man. He can just buy me some Belgian chocolate for dessert.