Eman’s take on Lesson 1 and 2

Chicken with mustard sauce

Method:

-1 onion, chopped

-1 carrot. Slice in half. Julienne bottom half and chop top half

-2 garlic cloves, Thinly sliced.

-Butterfly one chicken breast. Put salt, red chillies and one chopped green chilli in the middle. Dust with flour.

Making the sauce:

-Melt 2 tbsp of butter in the pan. add 2 tbsp of flour and 1 cup of milk. Add milk in small quantities to mix properly. Then put it to one side.

The sauteed vegetables:

-First saute chopped onions. Wipe the pan clean.

-Then saute chopped carrots. Wipe pan again,

-Saute julienne carrots, and finally the thinly sliced garlic.

Bringing it all together:

-Roast 1 tsp dried mustard seeds and 1 tsp cumin seeds until fragrant.

-Braise chicken breast, brown slowly on all sides. Add water to pan and cover with lid. Let it simmer over low heat.

-Reheat sauce, add more milk if lumpy.

-Add sauteed vegetables, garlic, mustard seeds and cumin seeds into sauce.

Once sauce is ready, take chicken off the heat and plate up .

Poached steak

   1. Making the veloute sauce:

 – Melt 1 tbsp of butter, add 1 tbsp flour and 1/2 cup chicken stock. Add red chilli flakes, salt, lemon juice and honey.

– Julienne half a carrot and 1 spring onion.

    2. Prep the steak. Make an opening in the centre of the steak, put some julienne strips in the middle.

    3. Poach the steak in veloute sauce. 3-4 mins for medium rare. 7-8 mins for well done.

   4.  Plate up and garnish.

Week 1 at PCI

Week 1 at PCI was absolutely amazing. Each batch of students arrived at their respective classes on time. Even though they were a bit nervous, they showed great enthusiasm, and completed the set tasks to perfection.

Being the first classes of the course, the aim was to acquaint the students with the PCI kitchen, and get them started with some basic cookery techniques.

What they learnt in the first session:

1. Basic vegetable cuts – Julienne strips and mincing

2. Making a sauce – Roux and bechamel

3. Cooking techniques – Sauteing and braising

4. Working with meat – Butterflying a fillet of chicken breast

These are the ingredients they were asked to work with:

• Chicken Breast
• Onion
• Carrot
• Garlic
• Flour
• Milk
• Salt
• Mustard seeds
• Tarragon
•  Olive Oil
•  Butter

The results are posted for all to see..the students made a fantastic Braised Chicken with a fusion Bechamel Sauce… and just on their first day! Well Done!

Anam’s dish. Please read her blog: Class 1 at PCI

Here is an image of Niha’s dish:

Then came the Tuesday Class :

Sabrina’s dish:

Eman’s dish:

PCI

The first cookery class is set to commence tomorrow at PCI. Like an evening before a crucial cricket match nerves are jittery and there is excitement in the air.

We have a group of very talented young cooks coming in and will hope to bring you their achievements as the course commences.