Anika cooking course

We love asian food! We love going to the restaurants and experience new flavours and new food! But the best way to celebrate it, is to learn how to prepare it yourself!

The last day on Bali we spent with Anika Cooking class. The class started early in the morning, because our chef wanted to show us the local market. He explained us the main ingredients used to prepare typical Indonesian meals.

Preparing the blessings, which attract good spirits.

When we returned from the market, it was time for morning tea.

The chef is showing us typical sweets to enjoy with tea.

The chef explain, that we will be learning to cook the following dishes: beef in Balinese sauce, grilled fish, fried noodles, fried rice, Balinese chicken satay, roasted eggplant sambal, tofu fritters, bean and coconut salad, bubur sum-sum and pisang rai. First we had to prepare and chop the ingredients.

When everything was finely chopped, we started working on chicken satay.

Next, we prepared delicious tofu fritters.

We continued with fried noodles, fried rice and other dishes.

The result was very delicious!! Our taste buds were having the time of their life.

The last thing on our menu was the dessert.

We had a great time learning how to handle the ingredients and how to cook proper and delicious Indonesian food! The owner and his aunt made sure we had a great time and bellies completely full.

The owner and main chef and his aunt.

Greetings from Anika Cooking Class in Bali,

Jerneja & Boris

Do it yourself: Petra kitchen

It was our last night in Petra. We were hungry and we wanted to eat something local, so we went to check out the Petra Kitchen restaurant.

Petra Kitchen is a very special restaurant. It is very small and open only for dinner time. They provide only local food and the best part is, that you prepare yourself. This was a true opportunity for the genuine Jordanian experience.

When we arrived, everything was ready and waiting for us.

There was 12 of us taking this cooking class: 6 men and 6 women. We were divided into two groups. Girls were making appetizer and salads and men prepared the main course and hot appetizer. And what were we cooking? The first dish was Shourbat Adas (Lentil soup), followed by cold appetizers Fatoosh (Cucumber and Tomato Salad), Baba Ganuj (Eggplant Salad or Sugar daddy as the kitchen´s owner translated it), Tahina Salad (Salad with sesame paste) and Hommos. Hot appetizers were Araies lahma (Bedouin pizza) and Galayat Bandura (Spicy tomato sauce). Main dish was Musakhan (Chicken dish with onions and bread).

When we got properly dressed the owner of the restaurant explained how are we going to prepare the dishes.

The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly and we couldn´t wait to start cooking. On the lower picture you can see lentil, which was soaked in the water. We used it for the soup.

There were two chefs in the kitchen, who carefully watched what we were doing. They also assisted with helpful cooking tips, but mainly they made sure, that the food will be absolutely delicious once it is done. On the picture below you can see the chef taking care of the men´s group...

...and the chef taking care of the girls´ group.



Once lentil was soaked enough, we boiled it with spices in chicken stock. The soup needed constant stirring.

When soup was cooking, we started to prepare vegetables for the salads.

And this is how the professionals do it.

Once the vegetables for the salad were properly chopped and seasoned...

...we had to taste them to see if everything is as it should be.

It was time to prepare Tahina Salad. We chopped onions, tomatoes, cucumber and hot green pepper. Then we added spices and of course tahina (sesame paste). The salad should have consistency of a cream and for that it needs a lot of stirring.

Bedouin pizza is pita bread stuffed with seasoned lamb meat. Afterwards it is coated with olive oil and baked in the oven.

When Bedouin pizza was baked, we had to cut it into small triangles.

Grande finale was Musakhan - roasted chicken with onions, pine nuts and bread. Firstly we put bread in to the oven pan added chicken mixture and coated with more bread. The dish was ready for oven.

And the final result:

Galayat Bandura

Tahina Salad

Baba Ganuj

Fatoosh

The owner of Petra kitchen surprised us with the desert. It was probably the only dish without onions.

Needless to say, everything was delicious. The amount of food prepared was too big and there was a lot of leftovers. We were happy to hear, that all the leftovers go to Bedouin families, who live nearby.

The owner also has a shop with traditional clothes and other souvenirs from Jordan. On the picture below you can see Bedouin scarf and rope made out of camel hair.

He was happy to show us, how to properly wear Bedouin scarf.

Greetings from Petra,

Jerneja & Boris

Še Gordon Ramsay bi obnemel

Ker oba rada razvajava najine brbončice z raznoliko kulinariko, sva se odločila, da obiščeva kuharski tečaj tajske kuhinje. Ponudba je velika, odločila pa sva se za Asia Scenic kuharsko šolo, ki jo priporoča tudi Lonely Planet - in nisva bila razočarana.

Prva lekcija je bila obisk vrta in spoznavanje začimb tajske kuhinje. Spoznali smo tajsko baziliko, limonino travo, spomladansko čebulo ter seksi feferone. Naučili smo se, da je pekoča hrana seksi, saj lahko povzroči preskakovanje isker med nasprotnima spoloma.

Sledil je obisk tržnice. Tam smo spoznali različne vrste riža, proces predelave kokosa, tajsko sadje, tofu, ribe... Seveda sta nas pot in učenje zelo dehidrirala.

Sedaj pa k stvari - kuharija. Odšli smo nazaj v kuharsko šolo in navdušeno začeli s kuhanjem. Naučili smo se, da se česen 'oklofuta' (slap) in ko smo se nehali smejati, smo lahko to tudi poskusili. Ko smo imeli pripravljene vse sestavine, smo pripravili čisto pravi tajski curry. Vsak je imel svojo kuharski postajo, kjer je kuhal in vsak si je skuhal 3 jedi, ki jih je nato tudi pojedel - curry, predjed in sladico.

Navdušeno smo vzeli svoje sestavine in odšli vsak na svojo kuharsko postajo. Tam smo spoznali še ribjo in ostrigino omako, ki sta nepogrešljiv del tajske kulinarike. Zdaj je šlo pa zares. Med ugotavljanjem, kako se uravnava ogenj na štedilniku, katero je pravo razmerje med ribjo in ostrigino omako za Kai Pad v mojem voku, je bil čas, da dodam v vok še piščanca. Kje pa je? Moj kuharski sosed si ga je 'sposodil' in skoraj zažgal svojo jed. Med iskanjem domnevno izginulega piščanca, sem pomotoma odložila plastenko z oljem na štedilnik. In jo stopila... Nakar sem morala (in moj sosed tudi) ponovno skuhati svojo jed.

Nato smo delali spomladanskem zavitke z nudelci, tofujem in zelenjavo. Ker jih imam zelo rada, sem se javila, da jih pripravim. Chef je bil zelo skeptičen zaradi prejšnjega spodrsljaja, vendar mislim, da sem se dobro odrezala. Sami pa presodite na spodnjih slikah.

Ok, skuhali smo vse, zdaj pa je bil čas, da svoje umetnine tudi pojemo, saj smo bili že pošteno lačni. Na mize smo dobili krožnik, na katerem je bil 'welcome snack - Meang Kum': list, v katerega se zavije limeta, čili, šalotka, ingver, arašidi in kokos. Njami!

Hrana je bila seveda odlična, doživetje popolno, chef pa zadovoljen, ker razen posode nismo nikogar zažgali.

Lep pozdrav iz Chian Mai-a,

Boris & Jerneja