Q1-E-G1 went Curry
On Thursday 5th March, our English GK class had the chance to cook and taste some Indian food as part of group presentations about India and Indian culture.
The class divided itself into groups and was allowed to choose a topic to do with India, about which we were to do a presentation on. The format wasn’t given, but most groups decided to do posters, projector slides or PowerPoint presentations. Our group - Merlin, Nick and Liam - chose the topic “Indian Food” and were working on a poster on the topic when we were struck with the idea of cooking our own food. After discussing this with our teacher, we agreed to come up with two or three recipes and bring in food for the following Thursday; Frau Wahl would book the kitchen. As the class also thought this a good idea, we spent the remainder of the lesson finding suitable recipes for the allotted time of a double period the next Thursday. We needed to take into account the time needed for preparation, cooking, eating and, of course, cleaning up. The recipes we used can be seen below.
In preparation, one of the group members bought the ingredients and brought them to school on the day. It was easier that way, since then we didn’t have to divide everything up between us. In total, we bought about €40 worth of food, which was split between the 22 people in the class. This meant that the meal was roughly €1.90 per person.
Much to our surprise, everything went very smoothly and we had cleaned up even before the bell went for the 7th period. First, we split the class into three roughly equal groups and made sure, that at least one or two people per group had some experience cooking. That way everything was slightly more organised. Then the ingredients were split between the three groups and the cooking began. One group was making a dip, the second a curry and the third a dal, which is a very popular lentil dish in India. Liam made some rice to go with the dishes.
Everything was pretty much finished within the first period. Someone organised plates and cutlery and then we all ate together. By the time everyone had had enough there was hardly anything left apart from some rice, which Liam then took home with him. Cleaning up was then done very quickly and efficiently (again, much to our surprise!) and we were just putting the cutlery back in its place when the bell went.
All in all, it was a fantastic opportunity to try some Indian food, which has helped us to understand Indian culture better.
Liam Megill, Nick Neikes, Merlin Kühn (all Q1)
Here are the recipes
The dal and the curry are best served with rice; the dip with na’an bread.
tsp. = TL; tbsp. = EL
Cucumber Raita:
SERVES 6
Preparation and cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
250g natural joghurt
150g / ½ a cucumber
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp sugar
10 pepper corns
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander, to garnish
Method:
1.) Mix the yoghurt in a bowl until smooth. Peel the cucumber and chop finely. Add the cucumber, salt and sugar to the bowl.
2.) Heat up a small, dry, frying pan on medium heat. Whilst stirring, quickly fry the pepper corns and the cumin seeds. After about 30 seconds take the seeds out of the frying pan and crush in a peste and mortar or on a cutting board with a rolling pin.
3.) Add the spices to the yoghurt. Garnish with finely chopped coriander.
Dal bhat:
SERVES 4
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
1 onion, sliced
3 dried red chilies, left whole
1 cup / 200g red lentils
3 cups / 720ml bouillon/stock or water
2 tsp turmeric
1-inch / 2.5cm piece of fresh garlic, chopped
2-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
Oil
Salt
Method:
1.) In a saucepan, heat the oil and then fry the onion for a few minutes. Add the chilies and continue to cook gently until they begin to brown.
2.) Put the lentils in and pour on the liquid, adding the turmeric. Bring to the boil and then simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes until the mixture thickens.
3.) Add the garlic and ginger, stir, and cook for 5 minutes before serving with rice.
Chickpea curry with peppers and potatoes:
SERVES 4
Preparation and cooking time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
100g chickpeas
2 large peppers
4 medium potatoes
4-6 spring onions
Handful of fresh coriander
2 tbsp olive oil
4-6 tsp curry paste
200ml vegetable broth
200ml coconut milk
2 tsp lemon juice
Salt
Method:
1.) Wash and deseed the peppers, then cut into lengths. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small chunks. Wash the spring onions and the coriander then cut the onions into lengths of about 1cm, the coriander into small pieces.
2.) Heat the oil in a saucepan. Fry the peppers, potatoes and spring onions then add the curry paste and mix together. Pour the vegetable broth and the coconut milk into the saucepan and simmer for about 10 minutes.
3.) Serve with rice and coriander.