Kitchen On Fire - Cooking Indian.

For Mothers Day I received a gift certificate to Kitchen On Fire, a cooking school in Berkeley.

I signed up for an evening class called, A Summer Taste of Punjab.

Taking that class was heavenly for me.  The chef teacher; Vinita Jacinto, who was born and raised in India, classically trained at Cordon Blue, and has tons of teaching experience, was so enthusiastic about her love for cooking Indian, it was contagious. I loved listening to her talk about her memories of watching her family cook when she was a young girl, and her passion for spices.  On her business card she calls herself a "spice whisperer".  (Her website, The Spice Whisperer.)

Chef Vinita telling us about rice.

The 28 Spice Packet.

She say she's often up late at night, mixing and experimenting with her spices.  And in preparation for this evenings class, she spent some time and came up with a unique spice mixture and made little baggies for each of us to take home.  This mixture combines 28 spices.


There were about ten of us in this class and each of us got to make one part of the meal.  I made the Indian Potato salad with Yogurt dressing, and Cumin water or Indian spiced lemonade.  The other dishes on the menu included Tangy Chickpea Curry with Daikon Relish, Gingered Cauliflower and Fresh Flatbread smeered with ghee.

Chickpea Curry.

Whole Wheat Flatbread and Rice.

After we all chopped and cooked (and you don't have to clean! The best part about taking a professional cooking class), we plated all the food and served our selves and stood at the counter and ate and listened to Vinita talk about Indian cuisine in America.  (She says that no Indian restaurants really represent true homemade cooking.  Which at first seems surprising, but then when I think about it, same goes for American cuisine or really any restaurant.  There is "restaurant" food and then there's "home cooked" food, which you can only find at home, really.)

I wish I could take a cooking class every week.  I love it, it's so much fun. 

A few days later I made my own chickpea curry with peas and tomatoes, using her spice packet she gave us.  It's easy and came out great. One big thing I took away from this class; the spices always have to be cooked first.

The start of my own Chickpeas and 28 Spices.