Masterclass with Sara Koshy - Desserts Delight

After the huge success of the trial class, the next one was a little long in coming, but when it did, it was absolutely brilliant. Well, what else can you expect if Sara Koshy is teaching you! :-)

This workshop, tag lined - Simple, Easy and Tasty - truly lived up to its expectations.

Sara made a super-complex dessert like Tiramisu seemingly super easy and sinfully tasty. The Old Fashioned English Trifle is healthy yet has all the ingredients of a perfect dessert. And finally, the coconut crepe pancake - sigh - the flavor and aroma of the pandan leaves is just - well - you have to experience it to know it!

All the ingredients are available at Gormei Market. Just drop by to pick up fresh organic produce or ingredients for your baking / cooking, not to forget the fresh organic milk!

It was great meeting some new participants this time and of course the usual banter with the old timers. All in all, a fun and sweet (literally) evening, a perfect way to begin the Diwali weekend!

Some pictures from the workshop.

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Dieter's Delight - Stuffed Zucchini

Yeah, it's the same zucchini I'd picked from Gormei Market last weekend and it was wilting away in the fridge. I wanted to make some salad with it, and found a recipe too, but the sudden craving for upma last night pushed this to the background.

And this morning, as I was sipping the coffee, I saw Cheryl's post on HBG about making bread using the pressure cooker. I was looking through the website and then found this cute little zucchini recipe and I knew what I should do for dinner.

So here's how this is made. I made some alterations from the original.

Slice the zucchini into thick pieces (about 4 cm tall, I made them taller, my bad!) and scoop out the innards, leaving some at the bottom to serve as the base. Finely chop some beans and carrots. Add some olive oil in the cooker, add the minced garlic, zuzzhini innards, carrots and beans and cook well. (Alternatively you can cook this in the microwave, which is what I did).

Stuff the mixture in the zucchini.

Meantime, finely chop an onion and tomato. Add some olive oil in the pressure cooker, add the onion, tomato, some basil leaves and half cup of water. Cook for a couple of minutes. If you have a steamer, place that in the cooker, arrange the stuffed zucchini in that. If not, pour the onion tomato mixture along with the water inside a pan, and arrange the zucchini in that. (The idea is for the zucchini to absorb the flavor of the reduction). Add half cup water inside the pressure cooker. (You don't need to do this if you use a steamer). Cook on high pressure for about 5 minutes (without whistle. I did 3, and felt that this needed a little more cooking. That said, I loved the texture of the zucchini at 3 mins, crunchy yet soft. On second thoughts, may be one or two whistles could have done the trick)

Transfer to a plate and have fun! (Psst: I also did crumble some low fat feta cheese over it)

Recipe Source: http://www.hippressurecooking.com/2010/08/stuffed-zucchini-on-tomato-bed.html

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Dieter's Delight - Broccoli all the way!

Tonight's dinner - courtesy Gormei Market - Yeah I'd picked up the broccoli when I was there for the Easy cooking workshop by Sara Koshy :) It was an exhausting day at work and with the wretched traffic, I made it home really late.

So tonight's dinner is an amazingly easy to make soup and salad, with minimal ingredients.

The soup recipe is by Gordon Ramsay (Sunil - I made the soup finally and you may now call me D Gordon Iyer :-) )

Add bite sized pieces of broccoli in salted boiling water, and let cook until tender. (Pierce a knife through it and you'll know). Transfer the broccoli to a blender. Add the stock (about half the quantity) and blend well. Taste, and season as required. And yay, we are done. Drizzle a little olive oil and while you eat the soup, here's how you make the salad.

I'd read this recipe a few years ago and have been making it quite often. Perhaps my most favorite broccoli salad. Boil broccoli as above, except, let it be a tad crunchy. Finely chop garlic and ginger. Saute in high heat for under 2 minutes, until the aroma is released. Add the broccoli & a little salt, and stir fry for a minute or two until the garlic and ginger blend well with the broccoli. For the dressing, in about 3 tsp of sesame oil, add about 8 drops of soy sauce, mix well and drizzle over the salad. Toss well and serve.

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Masterclass with Sarah Koshy

As CFG continues to innovate and provide more workshops, especially after the super success of The Great Biriyani Workout Cookout, the easy cooking with Sara Koshy was more than welcome. This workshop, in association with one of my favorite stores in Chennai, Gormei Market, turned out to be exactly as I thought it would be.

If you are a big fan of Masterchef Australia, and have drooled over Masterclass and the unlimited pantry,  then, Sarah's class is a must. Limited participants, unlimited pantry and a class chef who is patient to enough answer the queries, live cooking, tasting sessions and interactions with other participants - it was absolutely worthy of a Saturday afternoon.

A three-course easy-to-cook menu was on the cards - cream of mushroom soup, fresh vegetable salad and pasta.

Sarah explained the process of making the soup and we all gathered around to take a peek into the saucepan. The soup was done in about 25 minutes, it was poured into small cups for us to taste. The milk that was used for the soup is organic cow's milk, and has a shelf life of 2-3 days (if frozen). This is procured from Erode, as Sriram explained, and is completely pure and non-pasteurized. After the milk is extracted from the cow, it is directly packed and shipped. This has to be boiled before consumption. Bhoomi milk is priced at Rs 28, for a 500 ml pack.

Next on course was the pasta. The vegetables were cut and ready for use. Pasta was poured into boiling water, and a learning here was to not add oil when the pasta is cooking. Sarah says the sauce wouldn't stick on to the pasta if oil is added. And the 8-10 min al-dente time starts not when the pasta is dumped into the pot, but when the water is in a rolling-boil mode.

Simultaneously the salad was getting ready; Fresh cut vegetables & lettuce leaves drying between layers of tissues were inviting. As Sarah said, do not chop the lettuce with a knife, because it tends to cut all the cells and turn it black. Gently tear it off with your hands. Salad dressing was made with apple cider vinegar, mustard and some olive oil.

As usual, the dishes were set in bowls so the shutter-bugs could satisfy their photo-craving and before the tummy started growling, the plates were passed around.

A great session, some good learning & tasting and not to mention the shopping post the class - all part of a bigger plan I say :-)

This is one class that you should not miss. Keep watching the space at CFG for announcements.

Update: Here's the video of the event (copyright - CFG, shot by Mohamed Ali)

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