Indian Cooking Class

Last weekend Daniele and I took an Indian cooking class at Naveen's Cuisine. The course was planned and promoted through the physical sciences departments at the University of Chicago, and students were offered a special price. D and I decided to check it out. I mean, why not!

We are so glad we did. Naveen's Cuisine has ONLY five star reviews on yelp and I am not surprised. The class was fantastic. It was hands on, entertaining, and fun. Not only that, but I feel confident in replicating any of these recipes at home. The food was great!

If anyone out there is itching for a good cooking class, this is it. Naveen also offers Thai cooking classes. Our menu for that night included: shrimp tikkas, gobi matar, kachumbar, and murgh curry. In case you need a translation, we basically had curried shrimp, an Indian inspired salad, chicken and rice in a curry sauce, and cooked cauliflower and peas.

We learned so much throughout the course of our class from how to appropriately cut a lemon to get the most juice out of it, how to make ginger or garlic paste, how to butterfly shrimp or chicken, where/how to sharpen our knives, when to use or not to use wood cutting boards,  the advantage of having a flat iron grill for your stove, how to safely cut an onion, where to buy Indian spices in Chicago, and how to mince ginger or garlic, among other things. I also love the way Naveen cooks: he advises to try a recipe three times before you decide whether or not you like something, because that gives you time to adapt the recipe to the way you like and make it truly yours.

Take a glimpse at our photos below and if you want any of these recipes, feel free to ask me. We will likely cook them at a later date for posting on our own blog.