Written by Niomi
During my time a Helm we learnt how to cook chicken curry in the kitchen – which personally I really enjoyed! I was in Louise’s class doing life skills and that’s when we cooked with Arshad. Our group took turns in the kitchen so one half was in the kitchen doing the practical stuff and the other half was writing down the recipe and then we swapped turns halfway through. These are some of the key ingredients I learnt about:
- Methi leaves – gives extra flavour to foods mostly in dishes that are from India and Asia
- Meat masala – is a versatile and flavourful spice blend that adds depth and richness to ant meat-based dish.
- Madras curry powder – is an Indian spice blend commonly used to flavour curry’s, meat, vegetables and grain dishes.
- Garam masala – it is an iconic Indian spice blend that is used in a wide variety dish including curry’s, soups and stews.
- Garlic – they are added to curries to give them a deeper more complex flavour in the curry
- Ginger – it is a popular and versatile spice that will add a lovely zing to your curry spice mix
The Curry – How we did it:
We cut all the veg up; such as onions, peppers, chilli’s and tomatoes. We also cut up the chicken. Before we did that we put all the flavouring such as meat masala, garlic, ginger, curry powder, methi, leaves and salt in the water into a large pan. We then added the chicken and cooked it well to make sure it was cooked all the way through. Once it was cooked, we added all our chopped up veg to it and cooked it until it was soft and was the right texture to eat.
We also learned how to make lentil curry in the kitchen with Arshad During Louise’s life skills class. We put water in the pot with all the spices such as garlic, ginger, methi leaves and curry powder etc. You then let that all simmer in the pot whilst you’re washing and cutting up your vegetables, preparing them to go into the pot. Once you have prepared all the vegetable’s you will then put them into the pot with all the mixed spices and hot water. Until the vegetables become nice and soft and then the water becomes more of a thick texture, then once it is all done we then enjoyed eating it!
The Salad – How we did it:
We sliced the onions, diced up the peppers and chilli and cut up the lettuce and cucumber. We put them into a bowl. We added a drained tin of sweet corn then poured the sweet corn in then we used tongs to mix up the salad. We put the Greek yogurt into a bowl then added the mint sauce to the bowl and salt and pepper to the mixture and mix with a big tablespoon till combined. Salad can be served with sauce if preferred.
The Rice – How we did it:
We also made rice in the kitchen as well during the life’s skills class in Helm. We put the rice and water into the pot until cooked then we put all the flavouring into the rice then once all done added to the two curries and served.
We hope you enjoyed reading about what we have been cooking in the kitchen lately. Stayed tuned for the next edition of Helmzine!