Earlier this year I headed of to Puglia in Southern Italy to spend a week at an Organic Masseria (walled/fortified farm), learning how to cook local food, taught by a local Italian lady with centuries of knowledge handed down through the family. This experience really opened up my eyes to how much can be learnt from ‘the locals’ so to speak, cooks who have learnt from their parents and grand parents, and growing up in their nation’s land.
It was with this in mind that I booked up to go on Sumayya Jamil’s Confluence Of Spice & Flavour course at the Central London Cookery School, hoping to gain some insider knowledge on food from Pakistan, which is not greatly understood in this country. Sumayya appeared on Madhur Jaffrey’s Curry Nation TV series a while back, and is also a prolific food author. I came across this amazing cook on Twitter, where there is a thriving foodie and blogging community.
Before the cooking started, we were taken on a journey of spices, helping us to understand the impact of each on a dish. Pakistani cuisine is made of ‘layers’ of flavour, and having confidence in using the spices is critical to getting a dish right. Some spices are quite difficult to use, such as Fenugreek Seeds, which should be used to flavour oil, before removing completely and Black Cumin, who’s flavour gets stronger when you cook it, so be careful!
The 1st dish we prepared was Phirni, a pudding made of ground Rice, Cardamom, Saffron and Rosewater. Served cold it is beautifully fragrant and tasted absolutely delicious, and preparing it taught a fundamental skill that is needed in Pakistani cooking, food is about observation both texture and aroma. You cannot learn to cook properly just by reading a cookery book, you have to observe someone else doing and feel when a particular dish is ready by looking and smelling. In this case making sure the mixture was of the right consistency was critical to the success, along with making sure the flavour balance was spot on.
We also prepared Moong Daal with Curry Leaves & Cumin, again absolutely delicious and another skill to learn, the art of ‘Tempering’ known as Tarka or Chaunk. This again is something you need to observe and smell to get right, in our case we used a tablespoon of Ghee, Cumin seeds, slivered Garlic and Curry leaves which were ladled over the Daal when ready and imparted some amazing flavours into the dish. Learning from Sumayya was a real pleasure, as we prepared each dish we learnt lots of useful tips that you only get from hands on teaching, you will have to book one of her courses to find out what!
The Chickpea Chaat with Tamarind, Pomegranate and Chaat Masala is a MUST DO dish, a real cracker. It’s very easy to prepare consisting of Yoghurt, Onion, Garlic, Chilli, Coriander, Mint and of course Chickpeas. Its more of a construction exercise but getting the flavour balance right is quite tricky, it was hot, spicy, fragrant and really woke up the senses.
As there was only 3 of us on the course, due to it being close to Christmas, we were going to cook something not normally done due to time, a Sindhi Lamb Biryani. This dish is very specific to Pakistan, and each family has it own subtle variation of spices to make it their own, passed down from generation to generation.
You can see the last stage of the cooking process before the double layer of foil and lid were firmly seated to steam the Rice layered on the surface. This is another dish that you need to observe, as it is only by seeing how the curry underneath is developing that you know when it’s cooked properly, laying the parboiled Rice on the top to finish cooking. The Lamb is marinated in a home-made Masala paste made of Coriander, Mint and Green Chilli combined with Yoghurt before the cooking process is started..
Before the lid is put on the rice is studded with Lemon Slice’s, Mint leaves, Sprinkled with Milk infused Saffron. This is another dish that needs careful spicing with Green Cardamom, Black Cardamom, Coriander Seeds, Black Cumin, Bay Leaf, Mace, Star Anise, Fennel and Anardana (Dried Pomegranate Powder).
The Biryani is dressed with Fried Onions, Pomegranate Seeds, Sliced Green Chilli and was DIVINE, this is one fella I am going to be cooking myself at home in the not too distant future, OUTSTANDING.
The Tomato Sauce you can see In the picture with the Biryani is for the Hake topped with Kashmiri Chilli and Ajwain, another taste sensation. The punchy sauce can also be used with Prawns, or even Scrambled Egg’s. Ajwain is a really punchy spice so you have to be very careful not to add too much.
The Fish, in this case Hake is marinated in a mixture of Kashmiri Chilli which is flavourful but not too hot, Lemon juice, Salt and Turmeric whilst the Tomato Sauce is made.
To complete the ‘epic’ cookery session an Aubergine Borani was prepared, layers of cooked Aubergine, Tomato, Onion and Yoghurt with delicate spicing.
In between the cooking and demonstrations we were invited to make our own Masala mix, using the knowledge we had learnt, mine was quite a surprise as it has ended up with a subtle aroma of fried Sausages! If you want to try it for yourself you will need to dry roast 3 Cloves, 1 Star Anise, 1/4 tsp Cardamon seeds, 1/2 tsp Black Peppercorns, 1 tsp Coriander seeds, 1/4 tsp Ajwain, 1/2 tsp Black Cumin. Once cooled down a bit, whizz in a spice or coffee grinder. Why not give it a go!
All the ingredients and Spices we used in the cookery class are readily available in the UK, I personally use Steenbergs mail order, and also Ottolenghi’s as they are very ‘Clean’ and often fairtrade with a known source country rather than anonymous and insipid.
I can highly recommend Sumayya Jamil and her cookery class, I came away after 4 hours feeling that I had just travelled several thousands miles to another country and experienced some amazing textures, smells and flavours. The location in central London is easy to get too, and well equipped with Gas and Induction hobs, and all the necessary cooking implements, pots and pans.
I did not receive any discount or incentive for this review, this is me, writing my own personal experience and paid out of my own pocket.
We had lots of fun and learnt loads, it was very much worth the time and money and I can now add ‘Pakistani Cuisine’ to my Italian repertoire! You can find the Pukka Paki website HERE, go take a look I am glad I did.
Julian Rolfe 