Today Katherine and I had a cooking class. We climbed the stairs to a small flat where a no nonsense Joty welcomed us. The best possible news was her roof was getting fixed and the tradesmen had laid poppy plastic throughout her house. Best house ever.
Then we got down to cooking. We made 10 dishes in just a few hours. Mostly because we had a helper who cut and chopped and did everything unpleasant. Cooking in India is different than it is in America. I asked her what cooking shows she liked and she was shocked. Cooking is not something that can be mass produced. It is something your mother in law teaches you how to do specific for your region and your husband. Your mother would never presume to teach you as she may not get it right for your in laws.
Now most of the Indian recipes I've done have a long long list of ingredients. So when she passed out her short little lists I was shocked. Surely this wouldn't taste like Indian food. But it did and it was amazing. The secret she says is to not get tied up in ingredients. You just need to seek to bring
balance to the dish (Wise this one is). All dishes need to have sweet and salt and sour and hot to provide depth.
She had a little spice tine full of unground spices that she ground freshly every month. It made me think of my spice drawer with 13 year old spices. I wonder why my Indian food never tastes as good.
We had a fun time eating our creations and talking. She is a widow too (she said we are karmakly connected...but if so shouldn't I be a better cook?) and she talked about the challenges of remaining independent in Indian culture as a single woman.
After the cooking class we went to the spice market to pick up some spices. Oh it all smelled so heavenly and was so inexpensive. While we were there I picked up another Sari for the Baat ceremony on Thursday.
Then we got down to cooking. We made 10 dishes in just a few hours. Mostly because we had a helper who cut and chopped and did everything unpleasant. Cooking in India is different than it is in America. I asked her what cooking shows she liked and she was shocked. Cooking is not something that can be mass produced. It is something your mother in law teaches you how to do specific for your region and your husband. Your mother would never presume to teach you as she may not get it right for your in laws. Now most of the Indian recipes I've done have a long long list of ingredients. So when she passed out her short little lists I was shocked. Surely this wouldn't taste like Indian food. But it did and it was amazing. The secret she says is to not get tied up in ingredients. You just need to seek to bring
balance to the dish (Wise this one is). All dishes need to have sweet and salt and sour and hot to provide depth.
She had a little spice tine full of unground spices that she ground freshly every month. It made me think of my spice drawer with 13 year old spices. I wonder why my Indian food never tastes as good.
We had a fun time eating our creations and talking. She is a widow too (she said we are karmakly connected...but if so shouldn't I be a better cook?) and she talked about the challenges of remaining independent in Indian culture as a single woman. After the cooking class we went to the spice market to pick up some spices. Oh it all smelled so heavenly and was so inexpensive. While we were there I picked up another Sari for the Baat ceremony on Thursday.
This is the part where I wish smell could be communicated through the internet. I keep pressing my nose up to the monitor where your picture of the spices is.
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