Saturday Night with Mak

I went into the Cooking School to help out with an Indian vegetarian class last night. Mak Ghangurde was the featured Chef. He was a lot of fun. Mak was born in India, raised in Ottawa (his accent is a give-away), and now working in Austin. He spends time learning traditional fare by working in the kitchen with his grandmother in India when he gets the chance.

We had a full class and were pretty busy with prep before class began. Here's what we served: Tamarind Rice with Mustard Seeds; Saag Paneer; Dark Chick Peas; Baingan Bartha; and Cucumber Raita. I was in charge of the Baingan Bartha, served with some Naan, which turned out pretty well. All the food was delicious. We even made Chai Tea to serve at the end of the evening. In fact, I just had another cup with breakfast this morning! He also passed around a lot of spices and explained a lot of stories/history of Indian cooking.

Mila, a longtime volunteer, took care of the dishes and I didn't have to wash any! But my feet were pretty sore by the end of the night. Seven hours running around in clogs, plus it was so hot last night, the AC couldn't keep up!

Mak was great to work with, taught me a few tips, and a genuinely great guy. Rumor has it he is working on a cookbook, so we'll watch for that to come.

I'll probably help out in a couple more classes this month. I'm not on the schedule until Aug. 1st though...