Kurma

Last night's class at Aspenz cooking school in Western Australia's City of Bunbury was a grand success.

My gracious hostess Liz (right) and her associates (left to right) Heather, Kathy and Jess made it, as always, an upbeat, pleasurable and educational night.

Here's most of our twenty eager attendees, poised for their tasty night ahead.

Our menu for the night:

The Healthy Feast - Beans, Grains & Legumes

Masoor Dal with vegetables served with Turkish Bread
Mauritian-style Dal Rissoles (Gateaux-Piments) served with Home-style Tomato Chutney
Punjabi Red Bean Curry (Rajma) served with Basmati Rice
Pakistani-style Creamy Vermicelli Dessert (Kheer Sevian)

Here's the ingredients for our succulent dal dish. I explained that red lentils, or pink lentils, are very popular in India’s Muslim kitchens, where they are known as masoor (masur) dal. Their beauty is that they cook in minutes.

When Indians first came to Mauritius, they brought with them their own traditional cuisine. Gateaux-Piments (literally “chili-cakes”) are a good example of the strong Indian influence still existing in Mauritian cooking today. Sold by vendors on street corners all over the island, these crunchy savouries are wholesome and tasty. I couldn't take a picture of them - our crew polished them off too quickly.

I told the audience how our Rajma was the North Indian equivalent of Mexican chili. It was laced with cubes of protein-rich homemade panir cheese, which I made on the spot to a jaw-dropping response, and was robust, nutritious, filling and spicy.

Last but not least was our creamy almond, pistacio, cardamom, rosewater and raisin-studded dessert. Bon appetit!

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You may be interested to know that my original cookbook, 'Great Vegetarian Dishes', first published in 1990, is enjoying it's 7th print run and almost three-quarters of a millionth copy. It has been translated into a few languages, including Italian.

Here's the latest addition. The definitive Hungarian edition, "Inycsiklando Vegetáriánus ételek."

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