I don’t do a lot of cooking classes because I tend to think I’m doing alright in the kitchen and yet every time I do sign up for a class I really enjoy it and I always come away learning something new. Missknowitall? Surely not 
So a few weeks back when The Cat Lady sent me an email saying she was going along to a Curries for the Soul class featuring Butter Chicken and Rotis I thought nah, I can do that myself.
Have I ever cooked Butter Chicken from scratch? That’ll be a big fat no.
Didn’t stop me thinking Iknowitall though.
The Cat Lady is pretty persistent and kept telling me I would really enjoy the class and so when she sent me through the email about a Dahl class I relented and said OK. And it turns out The Cat Lady was right.
Curries for the Soul classes are run by the very lovely Payal Thakurani who started the classes two years ago when her family transferred to Shanghai from Hong Kong as a way to pass the time.
This entrepreneurial expat now sells her curries through the online supermarket Kate & Kimi and her time in the kitchen has turned into a full time job. And like she says, her social life comes to her. Great story right?
Ahead of the class Payal sends out an email listing the spices she will be using which gives you an opportunity to order ahead of time any of the spices you may be low on or don’t have. I immediately put my order in for black cardamom, hing {asafoetida} and dried fenugreek leaves – all of which I’d never used before.
Payal is extremely organised and you know she knows what she’s talking about and has done this many times before.
The class lasts for 2 hours and are a combination of hands on, watching and lots of questions and answers. Then you get to sit down and eat lunch all together.
For 250RMB I think it’s a pretty good deal.
On the menu this day was Dahl Makhani {made with black dal and kidney beans}, Dahi Vadas {with split white lentils} and Dal Tadka {split yellow lentils} all served with cumin rice.
There’s the black cardamon – I’ve never seen that before have you? It’s smokey and used whole. The small round container is hing – again new to me but Payal told us it helps with tummy and bloating problems and is similar to ginger in it’s medical properties – which is why it’s added to lentil dishes to offset any gaseous side effects!
One other thing we learnt was to add garam masala at the end of the cooking time not at the beginning. According to Payal only a man or someone who doesn’t know Indian food would add it at the beginning.
We were all quite smitten with Payal’s spice container:
The Dahi Verdas dish was the most intriguing one – and it turned out to be my favourite.
We were all totally baffled {and a little disbelieving} when Payal told us we were going to make deep fried fritters {yum} which would then be soaked in water {eh?}, squeezed and then marinated in spiced yogurt {what?}.
We all tasted a fritter after the deep fry and were in heaven – flecks of chilli, cumin and cashews in a light as a feather batter.
And then these little morsels of hot and spicy deliciousness were soaked in water.
And then squeezed.
And then soaked in yoghurt.
Just as Payal told us.
And there it is – the absolute stand out dish of the day. If you ever see this on a menu, order it my friends.
Unfortunately there were seven of us sitting down for lunch or I would have made a pretty good attempt at eating the whole plate. I kid you not.
Curries for the Soul classes are run 2 or 3 times a week in Jinqiao. You can get onto the class list by emailing Payal directly [email protected] or joining her Facebook page. Payal also runs Thai. Lebanese and Turkish cooking classes – all bases covered I think.
P.S. If you wondering where I’ve been hiding it’s all explained here!