Cooking Classes

Today was the last day of our cooking classes - classes that have been running for two weeks and to be honest I cant believe I haven't blogged about it yet! I'm taking it though Mayapur Academy as part of the diploma of arcanam - a full-time three month course designed to help Hare Krsnas learn about the proper etiquette and requirements of being a devotee of Krsna. Its a difficult course, and is only really for people who are ready to be seriously practicing Krsna Consciousness full time. There is a strict regime that must be kept to every day (including attending 4am worship 7 days a week) as well as all classes to be attended etc.

Its perfect for some people who are seriously committed, but I wasn't ready for the complete involvement (its kinda hard to stick to the schedule with a 4year old and a job to keep in check) but the cooking section caught my eye, so I signed up for just the cooking component of the course.


We started last Tuesday, and we'v been learning all sorts of Indian dishes... sweets, savouries, curries and all the rest. I had to take off work in order to take the course, and I've been pretty exhausted every day since I started, but its been so worth it. We've learnt Bengali dishes, South Indian dishes, milk sweets, delicious spicy curries, easy peasy drinks and quick savories.


Classes started at 10.30am every day, where we would spend half an hour discussing certain aspects of cooking - ie menu planning, different cuisines, working with certain ingredients etc. And then at 11am we would head into the kitchen, where we would have a different cook every day that would teach us certain dishes of a particular menu.


We'd spend half and hour or so chopping vegetables and preparation, and then the cook/teacher would begin by making a small amount of the dish so we were able to take notes. After watching and learning, we'd and then put into practice what we had learnt and go make the same dish. At the end we'd end up with a large amount of rice, a large pot of curry, lots of samosas, pakoras, chutney. You name it, we cooked it. I learnt how to make so many new preparations, and lots of new tips and tricks when cooking.

The class has been split into two groups and given either tomorrow or Monday for our assessment days and even though my day isn't till Monday, I'm nervous. We have to cook one type of rice, a type of dal (soup) at least two types of curries, a chutney or raita (yoghurt salad), minimum of 8 chapatis, a drink... and then we get extra credits if we make a sweet or a savoury such as samosas or potato rolls. Thats 9 dishes I'll have you know - and only 3 hours too cook them in! Not to mention we have to cook for about 30 people - pressure much!?!



I have't been taking photos of the course since i've been too busy cooking with my fellow students, but the photos here are taken from the Mayapur Academy's website (and snapped by Mandakini)



PS if you read this before Monday - WISH ME LUCK!