Curry For Change Cooking Classes

I am a passionate supporter of Find Your Feet, the small charity doing big work in the developing world to aid education, enterprise and empowerment. Their annual Curry For Change fundraiser kicked off in June in restaurants around the country, the supperclubs are happening in homes and other venues nationwide, but here’s something new!

Love Indian food, but feel intimidated by the many ingredients, spices and terminology? You can learn from the experts with one of these four one-off classes at School of Wok, Covent Garden London. The classes are a bargain at £35 for a 3 hour class, with Kingfisher beer, Natco ingredients and goody bags will be provided!

All you have to do afterwards is host a Curry for Change evening putting your new skills to the test in your home! (Any enquiries please contact katy@fyf.org.uk or call 0207 326 4601.)

Monday 15th August: Celebrating Freedom with Asma Khan

Chef Asma Khan hosted the superb Darjeeling Express supperclub and pop up at The Sun and 13 Cantons. Cooking wonderfully authentic Bengali food, she is a chef to watch out for in the future. In this class you can explore the flavours of regional vegetarian dishes from around India, and learn how to cook this unique food at home. Celebrate freedom on Indian Independence Day!

http://www.curryforchange.org.uk/news/event/celebrating-freedom-with-asma-khan

Monday 5th September: Street Food with Chit Chaat Chai

Indian street food, particularly Chaat, packs a massive flavour punch, leaving a lip-smacking satisfaction behind. Tania and Dhruv of Chit Chaat Chai Restaurant in Wandsworth are going to teach you some classic dishes; Bombay Bhel, Yogurt Puris and Vada Pav. These dishes would be perfect for making if you want to hold an informal evening of food, drink, chat and, of course, Chaat!

http://www.curryforchange.org.uk/news/event/learn-to-chaat-with-chit-chaat-chai

Monday 19th September: Easy snacks and canapes with Hari Ghotra

Hari Ghotra works at The Tamarind Collection of Restaurants, including the iconic Tamarind of Mayfair - the first Indian restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star, ever. She’s made the transition from supper club to pop up to the top of the restaurant tree. Hari’s class guarantees you will become a “master of spices”, and you will learn how to make simple snacks to impress your guests at an Indian inspired drinks/dinner party.

http://www.curryforchange.org.uk/news/event/easy-snacks-and-canapes-with-hari-ghotra

Monday 3rd October: A Great Indian Food Feast with the Urban Rajah

TV Chef Ivor Peters is The Urban Rajah, and inimitably stylish food writer who writes for The Guardian, Hello, Delicious, Olive and has a cookbook, Urban Rajah’s Curry Memoirs. He’s a cook, presenter traveller and lifestyle adventurer who has featured on Channel 4 and BBC London. You will learn how to make dishes from the regions of India; mountains, desert kingdoms, urban sprawl, street food, beach paradise and fearsome jungle!

http://www.curryforchange.org.uk/news/event/a-great-indian-food-feast-with-the-urban-rajah

This is a great opportunity to learn from chefs and cooks with real expertise, you’ll be impressing your friends and family with your creations in no time at all!

Chai and Chat - Curry For Change, how did we do?

I have been very vocal on my blog and on twitter about my support for Find Your Feet. It's a very small charity with a fantastic positive attitude to helping people in need - through empowerment, skill building and education and not through aid.

From the first moment I was asked to understand and support their Curry For Change fundraising campaign to pay for their work, I knew I was in. So I attended their launch event, an amazing, informative and fun evening where I learnt to cook from Dhruv Baker, Vivek Singh and Anjum Anand. Since then, I've tried to support their work through this blog, through my twitter stream and by actually donating real cash money. 


I was recently invited to a "Chai and Chat" event organised by Find Your Feet to review what has been achieved. I was only too proud and pleased to attend. 

Curry For Change has managed to raise £10,000 for Find Your Feet, with a mysterious trust benefactor (I am not kidding here!) agreeing to match that total pound-for-pound! The result is £20,000 raised to further projects in India and Nepal!

But what does the money do? Well take a look at this. Here is Teresa.

She has six (yes, six!) children. She's a member of a self-help group in her remote rural village in Jharkhand, India. When I say remote, I mean it. There are NO roads and there is NO electricity. Life is spartan and hard. Water is incredibly scarce. This means it is terribly difficult to grow enough food. 

Find Your Feet has trained her on principles of sustainable agriculture. In addition they have taught her how to make simple leaf plates. The plates are sold for use at weddings or at the village market. The extra income pays for necessities.

Teresa says: “We have learnt new agriculture techniques and have grown enough rice for all our food needs. If we get good rains next time, we will make a surplus to sell. I have also learnt to make leaf plates. I get 5 rupees for 20 plates (6p) and I can make up to 20 rupees a day (25p). Now through my crops and the plates I have sent two of my older children to school. Now we are free from moneylenders, we have money for agriculture, medicines and emergencies. But most importantly we can send our children to school.”

Yes, the ability to earn £0.25 per day is the difference between a woman's children going to school or missing out. It's a sobering thought, isn't it?

If Teresa's story inspires you, how about donating a little something right now? http://find-your-feet.org/support-us/donate-now Go on, I have!

This is Savitri Sharma, the Director of Find Your Feet's operations in India and Nepal. She wanted everyone to know just what a difference the funds would make. She spoke to us passionately about the dignity of the people she assists and how much they want a head start rather than handouts. Coordinating all of the project across two nations takes so much strength of character and determination. I was full of admiration for her poise, dedication, and kind nature. What an amazing woman!

The Chai and Chat was held in London's Anise Bar, run by Chef Vivek Singh, whose Cinnamon Kitchen Restaurant is just next door. It's a super bar with some innovative cocktails and mocktails. There's a link to their Lychee Goji Bellini below, if you want to recreate one of their lovely creations.

The other Curry For Change champions, namely food writers, cookbook authors and bloggers were in attendance to find out the progress report and celebrate Find Your Feet's success. 

This is yours truly with The Spice Scribe, Zoe Perrett. She has probably the best knowledge of Indian food of anyone I know. A bona fide journalist and writer, you'll find her writings in The Times of India and elsewhere, but her excellent blog is here: http://culinaryadventuresofthespicescribe.wordpress.com/

I had the chance to catch up with my friend Kavey. I owe her a debt of gratitude as she is the person who told me all about Find Your Feet and Curry For Change. Kavey is obviously the brains and talent behind the brilliant Kavey Eats: http://www.kaveyeats.com/
 

I was delighted to meet some amazing new people. One was the cook book author and curry expert Monisha Bharadwaj, who has long been a TV chef and cooking tutor. I had a fascinating discussion with her about west London's Indian food scene and heritage. (Her website can be found here: http://www.cookingwithmonisha.com/)

I also had the pleasure of meeting the exceptionally dapper and exceedingly charming Urban Rajah, AKA Ivor Peters. Ivor is a rising star of the Indian Supperclub scene. His book "The Urban Rajah's Curry Memoirs" is out now. His website, which includes a blog AND recipes is here: http://www.urbanrajah.com/

I had a wonderful evening nattering, munching on snacks and having a couple of long and lovely drinks. But more than anything, I felt proud and privileged to have helped something bigger and more important than me or my blog. I felt I'd somehow helped with something much more worthwhile.

My previous blog posts can be found here:

Curry For Change Masterclass: 
http://snigskitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/curry-for-change-indian-cooking.html 

Dhruv Baker's Prawn Malaba Curry: http://snigskitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/dhruv-bakers-prawn-malaba-curry-recipe.html

Vivek Singh's roast saddle of lamb with root vegetables and pickling sauce: http://snigskitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/vivek-singhs-roast-saddle-of-lamb-with.html

Anjum Anand's Pomegranate Souffle: http://snigskitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/anjum-anands-pomegranate-souffle-with.html

Anise Bar and Cinnamon Kitchen's Lychee Goji Bellini: http://snigskitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/cinnamon-kitchens-lychee-goji-bellini.html


Snigdha would like to thank Find Your Feet for inviting her to Anise.

Cinnamon Kitchen's Lychee Goji Bellini - A Curry For Change recipe (cocktail recipe)

I have recently been sharing with you a number of recipes I have learned from the Indian cooking Masterclass I attended at Vivek Singh's Cinnamon Kitchen restaurant. I was invited by Find Your Feet, a unique and very special charity which has a firm philosophy of offering assistance for the long term rather than aid for the short term. Find Your Feet were holding this Masterclass, with recipe demonstrations by Indian food luminaries Dhruv Baker, Vivek Singh himself and Anjum Anand to launch their "Curry For Change" initiative; a fundraising campaign where we, the great British public can enjoy and indulge our curry obsessions and help people at the same time. Either by eating at one of the Curry For Change partner restaurants, shopping with a partner company or holding your own Indian food dinner party, you could help raise money for Find Your Feet. The money is then spent on giving poor, remote rural communities much needed education and empowerment to help them look after themselves, their community and increase their farming potential to allow them to feed themselves. 

I previously wrote about the Masterclass here: http://snigskitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/curry-for-change-indian-cooking.html

I have also, with the very kind permission of Find Your Feet, featured the three recipes I was taught at the Masterclass. The starter, Dhruv Baker's Prawn Malaba Curry can be found here: http://snigskitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/dhruv-bakers-prawn-malaba-curry-recipe.html

The main course, Vivek Singh's Roast Saddle of Lamb can be found here: http://snigskitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/vivek-singhs-roast-saddle-of-lamb-with.html

Anjum Anand's Pomegranate Souffle can be found here: http://snigskitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/anjum-anands-pomegranate-souffle-with.html

The Masterclass was a delight, not just because I learned so much from Vivek, Anjum and Dhruv, but also because I got to meet so many food enthusiasts and fellow bloggers. We had a fantastic time chatting and swapping notes. This chat was further assisted by some delectable canapes and glasses Vivek Singh's Cinnamon Kitchen Lychee and Goji Bellini. I am a sucker for a sparkling wine cocktail, they really are one of my very favourite things, and perhaps on the evening I had one Bellini too many. But how was I to resist such fruity perfection?

Chef Vivek Singh and his Cinnamon Kitchen team looked after me superbly at the Masterclass, but their kindness did not end there. They have agreed to share the recipe of the Lychee and Goji Bellini with me and my readers. Thanks to everyone at Cinnamon Kitchen - I really appreciate it, and will be making this on balmy Summer nights.

I hope you will give it a try too!

Lychee & Goji Bellini

This is a modern, summery take on the classic Italian Bellini.

Delicately light and floral, lychee pairs perfectly with the Fair Goji Liqueur which is packed with vibrant red fruit flavours and a depth of richer herbal notes. The elegant, crisp Prosecco is dry enough to balance the drink and prevent it being overly sweet.

The Fair Goji Liqueur is made from goji berries which are organically grown and Fair Trade Certified. They are sourced directly from a co-op of 300 farmers in the Tibet region of the Himalayas. The sugar used in Fair Goji Liqueur is also organic and Fair Trade Certified, coming from a co-op of 800 independent farmers in Malawi.

The drink is sold exclusively at Cinnamon Kitchen for £8.95 a pop.

Lychee & Goji Bellini 

(Serves 1)

Ingredients:

20ml fresh lychee juice

10ml sugar syrup

8ml Fair Goji Liqueur

100ml Villa Doral Prosecco

Served in a champagne flute

I would like to thank Cinnamon Kitchen and Chef Vivek Singh for letting me share this recipe with you.