Arvinda's North Meets South - cooking class

April 23 2016 took a cooking class at Nella Cusina - Arvinda's North Meets South

We learned how to make 6 recipes.

Sounth Indian Vindaloo

North Indian Biryani

Garlice Cilantro Naan

Carrot and Cabbage Sambar

Aromatic Carrot Halwa with Chai Spiced Ice Cream

Overview and Notes

• Run by mother daughter team.
  • They were really great
  • Very knowledgeable, friendly, good clear speakers, lively and not boring.
  • Very approachable , easy to ask questions.

• One down-side , was that I felt we were really pressed for time.
  • The class was 3 hours from 12noon until 3 and were busy busy busy.
  • they did make a point of getting the first dish done quickly so that we could snack quickly on it. ( Sambar )

• Notes on chillies and heat
  • Fresh is hotter than dried
  • Chillie powder is ground up chillies with the seeds
  • with seeds is hoter than without.
  • Do not use mexican or spanish chillies as that will not be the correct indian flavour.
  • Note that our instructors didn't make it clear what variety of chillie should be used. I'm sure for them it's jsut chillies. But there are more types : thai chillie, green chillie,
  • google it but; http://www.saveur.com/article/kitchen/types-of-indian-chiles

• On Tumeric
  • Related to ginger
  • A rhyzome
  • easy to work with the fresh produce, found a BJ's Supermarket (1449 Gerrard St E, Toronto, ON M4L 1Z9)
  • Stains fingers yellow.
  • I'm not a big fan of tumeric, getting the right amount is key. None is not enough.

• On Curry leaves
  • Removed some uncertainty about curry leaves. Increased my confidence shopping. I could see what a curry leaf was, and how to use it in a dish.
  • We fried curry leaves in oil breifly and then poured that over the vindaloo as the last step.
  • Very fragrant and pleasing to the nose and mouth.
  • Also known as limbri

File:Curry leaves.jpg

• On sourcing ingredients
  • After a long lecture on how important good ingredients were to the final product, I asked our instructors where do you get you ingredients from. They mentioned that they had just been to india to meet with their suppliers. D'uh! That doesn't help me, so I asked: where should I get my ingredients from. The answer: Little India. Bing!, that's easy enough. After the Class I went straight to BJ's supermarket. Knowing what I was looking for helped imensly in finding it.

• On Cinnamon
  • use the bark not the curled sticks as the bark has a less sweet flavour.
  • You can find the bark at BJ's.

North Versus South

• in the south
  • the temperatures are hotter
  • seafood is more common.
  • coconut is more common.
  • the temperature levels ( spiciness of the food ) is greater.