Nepali cooking class

I had yoghurt and fruit for breakfast before heading out to the Kathmandu Cooking Academy for a class on Nepali cuisine. It was about a 25-minute walk from my accommodation, and I arrived in plenty of time. Nish, who was leading the class, was very friendly. There were 7 of us taking the class this morning - a Dutch family of four, two French guys, and me. It was good to be doing an activity with other people. We had a thoroughly enjoyable morning.

Much of the initial conversation was about the USA and Israel launching attacks on Iran on Sunday and killing their leader. Retaliatory strikes have hit several Middle Eastern countries, closing the airspace over busy international hubs like Dubai and Doha. The French guys were only at the class because their flight back to Paris yesterday was cancelled. They have rebooked and will now return home on Thursday via Bangkok, Seoul, and Munich! There are fears that we are on the precipice of World War Three - God forbid!

Firstly in the class, we had to decide what we wanted to cook from a limited menu. Fortunately, there were no vegetarians or fussy eaters in the group. We decided on aloo chop to start with. These are flavoursome potato cakes served with a spicy tomato sauce. For the main course, we chose to make chicken momos. These were accompanied by the same sauce, but we all wanted to learn how to make this classic Nepali dish. For dessert (not for me 😄), the group elected to make carrot halva.

Before starting the cooking, we went down the road to buy vegetables and chicken from the local shops. Back in the kitchen, Nish and her commis chef (I didn't get his name) were very good at delegating tasks, so that we were all involved in preparing the food. The results of our efforts were delicious. I wasn't tempted by the Big Master Mix Fruit Wine to accompany our meal, though! We came away feeling full and with a whole stack of Nepali recipes to recreate at home.Read more