We had a group of 9 ladies cooking so we paired up with a buddy and Kay assigned each group to one or two recipes. A friendly Aussie named Jane was my partner and by the end of the morning, we were certain we had drawn the short straws because we were in charge of two of the most time-consuming dishes. The good news is that I liked both recipes so I was able to get hands-on practice with an instructor guiding me. Jane and I made Falafel, which consist of garbanzo and fava beans, cilantro, parsley, a variety of spices and breadcrumbs. After a couple rounds in a food processor, one has to form this mixture into firm balls and pan-fry. We quickly learned that forming the little falafel balls isn't quite as easy as it looks. But once we figured it out, the falafel turned out great, especially when covered with the yogurt sauce.
Our second dish was Tabouleh, which is a salad featuring more parsley than I had ever seen in a dish (4 cups!), onions, mint, tomatoes, couscous and a fresh dressing of lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Kay added one more item to the salad that everyone enjoyed - pomegranate seeds. I had no idea what to do with a pomegranate and was surprised at how easy it was to remove the seeds. The seeds added amazing color and texture to the salad. I look forward to making that again because it would be a refreshing side dish on grill night.
Another favorite of the day was Chicken Tagine. A tagine is a Moroccan ceramic pot with a cone-shaped lid. We layered carrots, marinated chicken and assorted vegetables inside this pot, put the lid on it and cooked it on the gas burner on the stove. While I'm not sold on adding a tagine to my kitchen equipment just yet, the dish was delicious and incredibly easy to make.
Similar to witnessing the miracle of cheese-making last time, my revelation for this session was learning how to make homemade yogurt. Kay brought her own yogurt for the class and explained that you can take a glass of milk, heat it in the microwave, add a teaspoon of old yogurt, let it sit on the kitchen counter for 4 to 6 hours and voila! you have created yogurt. I'm going to attempt it one of these days because it just sounds like a fun science experiment.
After a couple hours of chopping and preparing our dishes, it's such a treat to sit down at the table together to feast on our creations.
Our Middle-Eastern Menu (Clockwise from Top Left):
Tabouleh, Baba Ganoush, Falafel, Hummus, Yogurt Sauce and Chicken Tagine (inside the tagine)
So, that sums up today's Middle Eastern culinary adventure. I made some tasty Tandoori and Butter Chicken last week from the Indian class so I am motivated to continue practicing what I learn from each class before I forget the techniques. We scheduled our next class for the beginning of May when we will explore Thai flavors. Above all, I love that I get to spend an occasional morning with a fun group of ladies creating delicious food together.
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