Topic: Indian Cookery Course

[976bar]

I recently went on a 1 day Indian Cookery Course and found it awesome.

The day started with an introduction to all the herbs and spices that are used in Indian cookery, including the chilli family, from mild bell peppers at one end of the scale right through to the Birds eye chilli and scotch bonnets at the other end. Did you know that it is not the seeds of the chilli that give you heat? Its the waxy flesh just under the skin that gives the heat to the chilli. The seeds which are dry merely soak up some of the waxy liquid of the chilli that then leads people to think its the seeds themselves.

Also, chilli's have more vitamin C in them than oranges...

So, when using chilli's you could use birds eye or green finger chilli's for heat, but then also use paprika for depth too.

Chilli's open the blood vessels which is good for circulation too.

We went through the medicinal purposes of the spices too, like ginger. Most people peel ginger with a knife. Wrong!! Ginger is just like a potato, it has all the goodness just under the skin, so when preparing ginger, just scrape the skin off with a spoon .

Garlic and Turmeric have good anti-bacterial properties.

So in India, where perhaps the meat or fish is not always as fresh as they would like, and refrigeration is a problem, they use the herbs and spices to treat maybe parasites which are found in shallow water fish etc.....

Mustard breaks down Amnio Acid protein, so all you body builders who pump iron down the gym should include a lot of mustard in you're diet too....

I could go on and on......

We then went onto marinades and made several different ones, for meat, fish and cheese, we were shown how to make Garam Masala and having looked at several recipes on here, we're not walking in a different direction. It is a matter of personal taste....

So we made our marinades, then added, fish, chicken and paneer and let them fester for an hour or so while we went onto making a yoghurt and cucumber raita and some original bombay potatoes.

We then cooked our food and had it for lunch along with as much wine as you want to drink

After a short break, we went onto making samosa's, vegetable bhajia's and pakoras.

The course is held in someones house and is limited to 5 people at a time, which is just right. In fact we all made a marinade and tried each others, all using the same ingredients, it's amazing how maybe less than an 1/8th of a teaspoon of a spice can change the taste of the marinade.

They do a follow up course for main dishes, which I will definitely be booking.

I believe they also do courses in Thai cooking and Sushi too.

The place I went to was in Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, but I believe they have many venus.

The company is called the Saffron House cooking acadamy.

www.thesaffronhouse.co.uk

or you can e-mail them on

info@thesaffronhouse.co.uk

Give them a visit, I would highly recommend it! 

[JerryM]

976bar,

nice read - many thanks.

i wonder if there is any connection to the infamous saffron restaurant in Lincoln and the base on this site.

ps i just grate the ginger with the skin on and well pleased i've been on the right track with it.

appreciate link to the website. would have to save up for a visit though.

[Onion B]

Very interesting, thanks 976bar I use a knife on my ginger 'not any more'. Look forward to another post when you're back from your advanced cookery course.

[FireyPed]

I'm off to Benares, Atul Kocharr's restauarant in London for my 50th Birthday present, a days Master Class with Atul in a fortnights time!!!  Will let you know how I get on.