Adventures in the Ordinary: Learning to Cook

Okay, I already know how to cook.  But I won't be able to have Dahl Makni, Chili Crab and Pad Thai at my beck and call when I get back to the states, so I'd better learn how to make them myself.  I started taking cooking classes from an Indian lady named Kay, and even though my (and David's!) waistline has suffered a bit, it's been great fun.   It's not all Indian food, too, she teaches Thai, Chinese, MIddle Eastern, Japanese, Indonesian, and Singaporean.

First, today's menu:

Mushroom and Pea Pillau

Tandoori Chicken

Prawn Marsala

Palak Paneer (Spinach and Cheese)

Stir-Fry Mix Vegetables

Tomato Chutney

Gulap Jamun (Dessert)

And this is Kay, our awesome cooking instructor (if she looks familiar, she's the one who took us to India):

She goes over every single ingredient and how to pick it out, prepare it, and what you can and can't substitute for the stuff you can't find in the US.  Spinach, potatoes, onions, most spices are easy:

This... might be a bit more challenging to find.  It's a certain type of food coloring that goes into the Chicken Tikka to make it red.

Or this stuff, called Asafoetida, which smells like feet.  You put a pinch of it in any bean or lentil dishes and it's supposed to help not make you gassy.  It's the Indian version of Bean-O.

After all the chopping and preparing, comes the cooking.

You're not part of the class until Kay grabs the spatula out of your hand to show you the right way to toss the food around the wok.

Chicken Tikka!

And last is the Gulap Jamun.  Basically, it's deep fried dough soaked in sugar syrup.  Best. Dessert. Ever.  I should try to bring them to the State Fair, I'd make a fortune.

And then we eat everything...

And then I roll myself home.  And diet until class next month.

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Secretly my favorite perk is checking out other people's houses.  This one was at Julie's, who's done some extensive traveling and has some great stuff around her house.

This is the sign outside her gate:

Here's what you find inside.  He ignored most of us as we walked in the house, and kept trying to shake my hand while I was taking his pictures.  I think the sign was basically wishful thinking.