At a recent fundraiser auction at school, I was delighted to win an Indian Cookery Class. As a lover of Indian food, I was very keen to learn how to cook curry.

Now, I do cook quite a lot and with a reasonable amount of success. And have even been able to throw together a kind of Quorn & Chickpea Curry that even fussy-eating little kids will devour. But it’s not really Indian cookery. And I really wanted to learn how to cook curry properly. A real curry. An authentic Indian curry.

And I’m very keen to, one day, be able to take the kids to a local curry house and order proper Indian food. Not just fill themselves up on Mango Lassi and Popadoms which is what they did last time.

And, ultimately, I’d like us to take a family trip to India. But they do need to appreciate Indian cookery first!

So, step forward the lovely Nila of Nila’s Kitchen and show us how!

But first, a little bit about Nila’s Kitchen…..

Nila’s Kitchen provides an intimate and unique catering service, whereby I can cook authentic Indian food in your home for dinner parties or teach you how to cook your own traditional Indian meal. A genuine experience that is tailored to your tastes.

When you’ve finished reading here, do pop over to the Nila’s Kitchen website to get a flavour of what she can do.

How to cook curry: The Menu

Before the cookery class, Nila asked if I had any particular dishes I wanted to cook. So I spent a while looking at www.nilaskitchen.co.uk to see what kind of dishes she offers.

And I had a couple of key requests.

One was that we learn how to cook curry that wasn’t too spicy. I was very keen to maximise the chance of the kids eating it. And, as with many 5 year olds, spice is like a swear word in our house.

And I wanted a vegetable rice dish just in case it all went wrong as the kids wouldn’t eat it. A culinary back-stop, if you like.

Add into the mix that I’m vegetarian. Or, was vegetarian, but now eat some fish too.

…but, so far, I eat fish like a fussy toddler …. nothing too dense, nothing too meaty, nothing too slimy, nothing too sweaty.

Nila came up with a great menu to suit all our slightly-fussy criteria.

Mangalorian Fish Curry

Chana Masala

Saag Paneer

Vegetable Pilau Rice

Aprons on, let’s learn more about Indian cookery!

The kids were very keen to explore all the exotic and unusual spices and mixes that Nila had brought. So we had a good deal of sniffing and describing how the spices smelled.

And Nila entertained them and had them utterly enthralled while she did the chopping.

My kids love to help around the house, particularly to help in the kitchen. Given a choice of anything to do, apart from watching TV, Littlest Angel will always go for cooking or baking. However, she has become a little reluctant to try new things. Again! (These phases don’t just end, they come and go on a cyclical pattern, it seems!)

Aged 7, Big Boy is less keen to cook now, largely because he’s too obsessed with football. But he is very keen to sniff and poke new things and will happily try different foods.

And he was very happy to try his hand at Indian cookery. After I explained that we would be learning how to cook curry.

…and Curry is one of his favourite school dinners.

Big Cook, Little Cook: Learning how to cook curry

Although Nila did the dicing and slicing, she was more than happy to let the kids help at the hob.

So, after I had reiterated the whole Health & Safety Protocols – just the usual, no nose-picking, no touching the hob, no snatching and grabbing near the hob – they were ready…

…Ready, Steady, Cook!

What we cooked at our Indian Cookery Class

We started off with Saag Paneer as this is one of my favourite side dishes. Particularly before I started to eat fish, I’d often choose the Indian cheese, paneer.

The kids love homemade pesto and pointed out that the spinach (already blanched and shredded by Nila) smelled very much like pesto. Of course they mean their favourite pesto, Spinach & Walnut Pesto.

To get the recipe for Saag Paneer, please click here.

We chose to cook Chana Masala in an attempt to ensure it would be tried by Littlest Angel. She is very familiar with chickpeas and with tomato in various guises.

..I always think they’re more likely to try it if they can start by picking out bits that they recognise and already accept!

To get the recipe for Chana Masala, please click here.

Now, I’m aware that this Mangalorian Fish Curry doesn’t look terribly photogenic, but let me tell you it was amazing. A beautifully fragrant coconutty fish curry made with a fish I haven’t tried before – monkfish.

Nila uses monkfish as it’s a white fish that is slightly denser and thus holds together better in a sauce.

To get the recipe for Mangalorian Fish Curry, please click here.

To get the recipe for Vegetable Pilau Rice, please click here.

An Indian Banquet!

So, at the end of our 2 hour Indian cookery class, we had learned to to cook curry. Well, two curries, a side dish and a pilau rice dish.

And I only wish that I had a Scratch ‘n Sniff plug-in on my website. The delicious aromas that filled the air were to die for!

We all had a little bit of everything on our plate to start off. Even those who are slightly fussier than others.

Some of it was a little too spicy for one of the kids. But, Nila had left us with some natural yoghurt so we could cool down the spice.

So, our slightly fussy, but very hands-on, child was happy to spoon on her own yoghurt. And, approaching it like some kind of Arts & Crafts project, she mixed it all in and tasted everything.

And Big Boy?

He wolfed it all down and gave it a very enthusiastic Double Thumbs Up. High praise indeed!

(We highly recommend that you try out Nila’s Kitchen. Either for a cookery course in your own home, or get her in to cook a special meal for your family and friends)