Indian Cooking Class: Part One

As longtime lovers of Indian food, Stephen and I were thrilled to discover that our local Whole Foods was offering a series of two cooking classes this month featuring popular Indian dishes, including sambar and gulab jamun. When we also found out that all proceeds from the classes would go toward supporting the company’s Whole Planet Foundation, which works to alleviate global poverty, we knew we absolutely had to sign up.

And now, thanks to the awesome instructors who shared flavorful recipes from the country’s southern region, we’re certainly happy we did! In fact, we liked this first class so much that we even headed back a couple nights ago for the second session, which I’ll recap next week.

Do you like Indian food, too? Here’s a quick overview of the dishes we learned to make during the first meeting, along with links to online versions that are similar to the Whole Foods recipes, which we were given as part of a printed packet. 

Sambar

Sambar is an Indian soup that can be made with lentils and a variety of vegetables, including tomatoes, carrots, eggplant and even an okra-like moringa fruit drumstick that I had never before tasted. Served hot and spicy, this dish perfectly complemented the masala dosa described below.

Masala Dosa

Along with our sambar, we also feasted upon Indian crepes filled with a tasty masala made from potatoes, onions, jalapeno and plenty of delectable spices. These were so good that I even ate two of them before the class was over, both topped with the spicy coconut chutney we also learned how to make. 

Dosa

Masala for Dosa

Coconut Chutney

Gulab Jamun

Saving perhaps the best for last, our meal ended with a taste of sweet and syrupy gulab jamun, a fried dough dessert. I was so excited to taste mine that I completely forgot to take a picture, but if you click on the link above, you’ll see exactly what they look like.

Have you ever taken a cooking class before? What types of cuisine would you love to learn how to make?