Birthdays, Baos, Blondes and Blends
Saturday, the end of our first week of classes came along and what a busy day it was!
Birthdays and Baos
It was Anishaa’s birthday and also the birthday of my nephew Bharath in Kuala Lumpur. Anishaa was hankering for some tofu sambal and with the help of the Academy staff, we decided to make it happen. Gave a shopping list to the Academy team and I decided to come in by 8 to finish the cooking before class. I decided to be adventurous and go and get the vegetables myself at the market nearby.
It was quite an adventure. Left the hotel by 730am to be at the market which was a side street just off Linking Road (the main road in Bandra). I had seen fruit and veg sellers here set up shop every morning.
I had a field day picking out the vegetables and was floored by how cheap it all was (at least compared to KL prices). A whole cauliflower for 50 Rupees (around rm3). 6 tomatoes for 20 rupees (less than Rm1). Tender fresh green beans. You name it, they had it- al neatly arranged and looking so pretty and inviting. Got to practice my Hindi too though after a few blank looks, the vendors started telling me the amount in English !
Rushed to the Academy and Sanskruti, one of the students came in early to help me. The rest of the ingredients were there. Found the local tofu a little hard but made do with it.
We prepped and cooked and managed to finish most of the items before class at 9.30 as we were waiting for 1 more ingredient-fresh coconut!
Lunch was made-it was Tofu/Mushroom Sambal, South Indian style Beans and Carrot with coconut and Spinach and Mung Dhall Kootu (South Indian style) all made by yours truly. We all sat together and had a lovely lunch and the chefs and interns said they liked the taste of the sambal. (Phew)!
The Academy had made a cake too and it was a beautiful Chocolate Eggless Cake (photo) which was oh so delicious. Looking forward to learning how to make that.
Anishaa and I later went for dinner at The Fatty Bao, a dim sum restaurant for dinner. We had Dim Sums and Sichuan Dry Stir fried green beans which were both yummy! Impressive that in spite of how India may feel about China , the Indians have embraced Chinese food with a gusto, giving it their own twist and making a new cuisine genre out of it by the name of DesiChinese (or Indian Chinese) with its own accompanying spice mixes etc.
All in all a good birthday celebration!
We knew we are truly into class mode when Anishaa started making Brunoise (a style of vegetable cut) out of the chopstick wrapper while waiting for the food!
In the meantime, back in Kuala Lumpur, Dash and my sons Rishi and Harish and Dashs cousin Sundar and Vaneesha had put together a nice birthday celebration for our nephew Bharath with lunch, dinner and movie! Missed joining all of you!
Blondes
Now to the morning class which was all about Mother Sauces. Learnt how to make Bechamel, Veloute and Espagnol sauces using white, blonde and brown roux. Learnt about clutes or studded onions and the immense patience required to make a brown roux. This was a very useful class for me and looking forward to learning about how the sauces can be applied in making meals.
Blends
From classic french sauces we jumped to Indian masala blends in the afternoon. We learnt to make garam masala, Tandoori masala, Chole masala and Kadai Masala powders from scratch. Move over Everest and Shakti (masala brands), I am going to make my own ones now!! Learnt new spices (at least for me) like Mace, nutmeg and Shahi Jeera. The fragrances were so tantalising!
We finished class by making some Chole from scratch and the final result was delicious! We were too full to eat it though!
This bring to an end of Week 1 of our classes. Though tiring, I am settling into a routine and the days, though long, have been enriching and fulfilling. On to Sunday and the start of Week 2!