Curry Cooking Course

As part of my decision to try and take some opportunities to learn some new skills before I go I went on a Curry Cooking Course at a restaurant in Manchester this weekend. I went with my mate Kirsty who introduced me to the fantastic Mancunian tradition which is Rice and Three. He is a curry monster just like I am.

Ready for the course to start

Upon arriving we were sat down and given some traditional Chai Massala while we waited for the course to start. This was surprisingly lovely and consisted of boiling milk and steeping tea leaves in the milk (normally loose leaf, but they admitted to using tea bags for consistency reasons) and then adding a couple of other ingredients which I am trying to remember as I type this.

Starting the Rogan Josh

They split us into two groups with one learning the two starter dishes and the other going into the kitchen with the head chef to learn the two mains. I was in the group which went into the kitchen first to see how to cook Lamb Rogan Josh, Chicken Jalfrezi and Pilau Rice. We were not actually each going to get a chance to cook at a station and prepare our own meals (probably due to space limitations) rather the head chef was preparing the dishes on one of the big gas hob stations but while allowing us to get involved stirring and mixing and adding the ingredients.

Stirring the Rogan Josh

Both the mains started with a similar base, where a load of vegetable oil was poured into the bottom of the pan and then, when it was really hot, onions and garlic were added and stirred, until browned. What was noticeable, and probably the first thing I learned, was the sheer amount of garlic that was added, and also the high temperature at which the oil was heated; this meant that the garlic disintegrated during the stirring, and the onion browned off really evenly. The smells were incredible.

The chef was cooking his own dishes and there was no measuring device in sight as he just took a spoon of this, and two of that, while building up a flavoursome and colourful sauce. The chef started another big pan with a load of water in it, and added a couple of other spices to the boiling water then put the lamb in it to boil off for 20 minutes or so. He also put a substantial amount of ghee into a pan and heated it up until fully melted, then added a few other ingredients and then poured a load of water in. This was for the rice.

The Chicken Jalfrezi

It probably took an hour but it felt like a couple of minutes and he had pulled the Jalfrezi off the heat and we were getting our first taste. It was amazing! He had added a large amount of rice to the water which was boiling hard, and then reduced the heat under the pan while putting the lid on with weights piled on top.

One other little tip I did spot was when he added the egg white to the Jalfrezi he did not stir at all, allowing the colour of the eggs to distribute itself through the sauce as it wished. This is a small tip but explains the interesting striations I have seen when eating Jalfrezi before.

The Rogan Josh was ready next and I must say it is possibly the nicest curry I have tasted; I am normally a Jalfrezi man but I reckon I may introduce this as a bit of variety next time I am out for a proper Indian meal. So many flavours, so much subtlety, and a flavour which lasted long after the mouthful had been swallowed.

This is the rice

The last thing to be served to us was the rice and this also blew my mind; it was so tasty and so fluffy and delicate. Amazing. I will be buying ghee and using it from now on to make my rice!

So with the mains observed we moved onto the starters and here we were hands on and actually preparing the dishes ourselves. We were to make Chicken Tikas and Lamb Chops which were to be BBQd over coals and flames.

My Chicken Tikas

The main part of this was preparing the marinade and then coating the meat and putting on a metal spike in a kebab style arrangement. It was great fun getting our hands coated in oil and spices and then learning how to best arrange the meat on the spike.

Kirsty very proud of his kebab

Each marinade was very similar involving either a teaspoon or a table spoon of ingredient and with some picked particularly for flavour and some for colour, once again the colours and smells of Indian cooking brought a smile to our faces.

Cooking the starters over flame

Once again we weren't actually involved in cooking the dishes, probably for insurance purposes as the flame grilling station was very hot and probably dangerous for all of us to crowd around trying to turn our own spikes however as they were finished the chef handed them out so we got to eat them fresh and really hot off the cooker. I have rarely tasted chicken as tasty and juicy as those Tikas, and the Lamb was beautiful both juicy and crispy from the flames. Wow.

I got a pot of each main, and a pot with a couple of the starters in, to take home with me and I will be enjoying them today (as you read this) at work.

I am deliberately not revealing the ingredients as if you want to learn what I did, you should go to Zouk in Manchester and get on one of their excellent courses.