Eating is pretty important right? We have to do it everyday, and so many memories of places I’ve travelled to have included food - eating fresh mango using my pocketknife at my tiny apartment in Kathmandu when I worked at a children’s home, or eating idly and samba (spongy rice cakes and curry!) with my hand for breakfast in Periyar Tiger Reserve, India.
Cooking classes mean you get a better understanding of what you’re eating and a chance to recreate that at home, so I got in touch with Hanoi Cooking Centre. One of the difficulties of recreating the dishes I made at my class in Hanoi was the availability of exotic ingredients. Chef Y (pronounced Ee) took me and my classmate to the market to see the strange vegetables and fragrant herbs as well as the vast variety of types of rice. I don’t know where I’d get winter melon in Norfolk (not 100% sure what it is tbh...)
Cooking classes mean you get a better understanding of what you’re eating and a chance to recreate that at home, so I got in touch with Hanoi Cooking Centre. One of the difficulties of recreating the dishes I made at my class in Hanoi was the availability of exotic ingredients. Chef Y (pronounced Ee) took me and my classmate to the market to see the strange vegetables and fragrant herbs as well as the vast variety of types of rice. I don’t know where I’d get winter melon in Norfolk (not 100% sure what it is tbh...)
Back at the professional kitchen we took our places at the bench and donned our Hanoi Cooking Centre aprons before finely chopping all the ingredients for fresh spring rolls. Y explained that most of the recipes we were making were influenced by the sort of food Buddhist monks eat - as they are strictly vegan, which meant our spring rolls were more elaborate than any I’d eaten. Tofu replaced egg and toasted rice flour added flavour. I can definitely recreate these at home.
Banana flower salad? That’s going to be more difficult. I had no idea that banana flowers were edible. I had never really thought very hard about whether bananas even had flowers come to think of it. Finely chopped, soaked in water and vinegar and then combined with mashed tofu, carrot, fresh herbs, chili, bean sprouts and ground peanuts and sesame seeds - this was my favourite dish.
Banana flower salad? That’s going to be more difficult. I had no idea that banana flowers were edible. I had never really thought very hard about whether bananas even had flowers come to think of it. Finely chopped, soaked in water and vinegar and then combined with mashed tofu, carrot, fresh herbs, chili, bean sprouts and ground peanuts and sesame seeds - this was my favourite dish.
Y was a good teacher - clear in his instruction and friendly in his explanations. Whilst it was clear he much preferred cooking with meat, he took us through the five different dishes before leading us upstairs to the centre’s stylish restaurant where we ate our hard work and chatted about our food/travel experiences. My classmate had cooked in Thailand and Saigon too and I enjoyed sharing my memories of making momos in Kathmandu.
Even if you don’t love cooking as much as I do then the centre is worth a visit. They have a lovely quiet courtyard and there’s an extremely well-stocked bookshop (everything from cooking to Shakespeare and crime fiction), and of course the food prepared by the professional chefs will be top notch.
If anyone knows where I can get banana flowers in the UK then I’ll make you the salad. Promise!
If anyone knows where I can get banana flowers in the UK then I’ll make you the salad. Promise!
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