Cooking With Swarn

Last week I started my first Indian cooking class. Scott thinks I need to be honest, and say I did not take a class, but attended a class, as I didn't really cook. I did measure out some ingredients, encourage others, drink some wine, take plenty of pictures, and of course, ate!

Swarn is a great teacher. She had all the ingredients laid out for us, to make searching through her huge pantry, an easy task.

This week's menu was Nan. We made plain ones, and some were stuffed with potatoes and chilli. We also made Murgh Cholay (Chicken with Chickpeas) and Simia Mirch Raita (Capsicum Raita).

Lara decided she would conquer the bread this week. She got her hands in there, kneading the dough, and even practised making the balls before rolling it out (Swarn showed us how to roll it into lovely circles.)

The raita was a lot of fun. Swarn explained how raita is used to cool the spices of the curry, yet somewhere along the line chillis are added, so how cooling is it really? The best part of Indian food is how  pretty it all looks.

We made two batches of Murgh Cholay. Kate's allergic to garlic, so one was made without any. I never knew what to do with chickpeas. Asides from using it in hummus, what can you do with it? Throw in some spices, tomatoes and chicken, and let it simmer, and tahdah, you've got an awesome curry!

Add some chillis and coriander leaves, and check it out.