Yesterday I had my first Indian cooking class as part of a two week session. The class is taught in Hindi and there are about six girls in it, most of whom are going to get married within the next year or so or just got married. It's held in the side room of an aunty's apartment where she has a counter, shelves, and fridge set up. It's much like a cooking show with her behind the counter and us sitting in chair in front taking notes and asking questions. I wish I could find a class where each person actually get to make the dish on their own as practice but apparently that kind of cooking class can't be found here. It's sort of like the school teaching style, the teacher stands in front and the students sit and take notes as quickly as they can. This class was a lot more relaxed than the school atmosphere, people made jokes, chatted, and answered their phones during it. Luckily, my Hindi is good enough that I can understand most of the instructions though there are two girls who speak English well and answer questions is I have them. There are some ingredients that were not in my vocabulary yet and certain measurements too. There are also some ingredients that I'm going to have a hard time finding at home like mango powder, chat masala, garam masala, mawa, gram flour, etc. Yesterday's focus was Palak or spinach. We made Palak Paneer, Palak Kofta, Reshmi Palak, and Maharani (Queen's) Palak, all very very tasty.
Today there was no class because it's the final day of the nine night festival, Navratri. There are multiple Navratris in the calendar year and mark the religious New Year. During this festival my host mother and aunt fasted, eating only certain, special foods. This morning my mom cooked large amount of rice, chickpeas, poori, and halwa. All the young girls no matter, social status, from the area came to our house to eat. During these days the girls seen as having gods within. We washed their feet and said "Jai Mata Di," a salute to gods, placed tilaks (the red or orange marks put on foreheads with powder), tied holy string around their wrists and said a prayer. Then we served them all as they sat in the floor or couches. After the meal each kid received 10 rupees and a small gift. In total there were about 24 children who came this morning. The poorer children, took their leftovers home to eat later or give to their parents. It was clear to see the difference between the classes of children, the ones who left a lot of food on their plates were obviously the ones who get three or more large meals a day. After they had left we ate and served family members and friends who came. A very similar thing happened downstairs at my aunt and uncle's yesterday morning. Apparently a few years back there were many, many more young girls in the area but now they're all getting older so there are less and less children to feed. I spent the rest of the day hanging out with my cousin downstairs.
Today there was no class because it's the final day of the nine night festival, Navratri. There are multiple Navratris in the calendar year and mark the religious New Year. During this festival my host mother and aunt fasted, eating only certain, special foods. This morning my mom cooked large amount of rice, chickpeas, poori, and halwa. All the young girls no matter, social status, from the area came to our house to eat. During these days the girls seen as having gods within. We washed their feet and said "Jai Mata Di," a salute to gods, placed tilaks (the red or orange marks put on foreheads with powder), tied holy string around their wrists and said a prayer. Then we served them all as they sat in the floor or couches. After the meal each kid received 10 rupees and a small gift. In total there were about 24 children who came this morning. The poorer children, took their leftovers home to eat later or give to their parents. It was clear to see the difference between the classes of children, the ones who left a lot of food on their plates were obviously the ones who get three or more large meals a day. After they had left we ate and served family members and friends who came. A very similar thing happened downstairs at my aunt and uncle's yesterday morning. Apparently a few years back there were many, many more young girls in the area but now they're all getting older so there are less and less children to feed. I spent the rest of the day hanging out with my cousin downstairs.
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