Last night, David Anderson of Vindalho taught a class at In Good Taste. As all my friends know, I love Indian food so I was naturally the first person to sign up for the class. We had a great group of people. Everyone in the group loves Indian food; they love to travel and were happy to share their experiences with everyone else.
David did a great job. He shared his passion for the food of India and it's culture, and he told us lots of stories about his time in India. We all felt like we were on our own culinary adventure to the Goan region of India. His food was bright and vivid, and oh so tasty!
Some of the things we learned included the following:
- How to crack a fresh coconut (Hit the coconut with the back of a sturdy knife, all the way around the "equator" of the coconut, until the liquid pours out and the husk is cracked open).
- The easiest way to remove the white flesh of the coconut is to bake the two halves inverted on a baking sheet (face down) for 15 – 20 minutes at 375°F.
- Masala means "spice mixture".
- "Garam" means "Warm" so garam masala means "warming spice mixture"
- Use a coffee grinder to grind spices. Most chefs have two: one for coffee and one for spices.
- Clean the spice grinder by putting some raw rice in the container and grinding it.
- David finds that the Arbol chillies are the closest to the chilies he had in Goa.
- He uses the Maryhill peaches from Washington to make his peach chutney as they are firm and easy to peel.
- David served a dish of shredded beans which he cut in the Cuisinart with the slicing disk. It was so easy and so quick.
The highlight of the class was the Mussels in the most tantalizing curry sauce. David told us that the sauce works equally well for shrimp or other seafood. I can't wait for David's next class.
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