Spent my Friday evening at Ayesha D’Mello’s house, learning how to make “Butter Chicken and the Works” with a group of seven other people. I’ve tasted her amazing cooking before (when Brad Bryan and I filmed her Video Bite), so I’d been looking forward to her Indian dinner all week.
We spent about two hours watching D’Mello demonstrate how to make murg makhani (Butter Chicken), bombay aloo (seasoned, sauteed potatoes), kachumbar (spiced cucumber, onion, and tomato salad), roti (flatbread), basmati pilaf with peas, seviyan kheer (vermicelli pudding dessert), and masala chai (spiced Indian tea).
- Roti, basmati rice pilaf, bombay aloo, and butter chicken
D’Mello does several things simultaneously, as you would in your daily cooking. Her kitchen is not any kind of custom-made demonstration set up, but she arranges it so that the class can sit on chairs along one wall of her kitchen and watch her work.
- Kambuchar: Spiced cucumber, tomato, and onion salad
She’s a natural teacher, and really conscientious about showing and explaining to everyone as she cooks. We helped her roll and cook the roti, and we all gasped like delighted kids when we saw the roti puffing up on the wire rack.
Afterward, we ate all of the aromatic dishes that had been tempting us for two hours, along with as much lassi as we wanted, under the chickee hut in D’Mello’s backyard. The butter chicken lived up to my expectations. We lingered long after the dessert, because all of the people in the class had a lot to talk about and D’Mello is a great hostess. D’Mello offers a variety of classes in Indian cooking and I want to “collect them all.” The next class is “Vegetarian Delights”, which D’Mello will teach on Saturday, April 25 from 11 am to 2 pm.
When: “Vegetarian Delights” - Saturday, April 25, 2009
Where: Ayesha’s Kitchen, 9105 SW 115th Terrace, Miami, 33176
How much: $75, advance payment required
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Trina, this inspired double jealousy in me: for what I’m sure was a fun and informative experience with Ayesha, and for what I know was tasty butter chicken! Ayesha was such a joy to film and eat lunch with, I’m sure her class was awesome. Thanks for the shout-out!