Indonesian Cooking Class

One thing I have really enjoyed doing over the past 4 years has been taking cooking classes with CHIC. I have taken Persian, Mexican, Japanese, Indian, fusion, and baking classes. This week I was able to take a new class –– Indonesian!

 One of the early trips our family took was to Bali and we absolutely loved the food, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to learn how to make some of our favorites at home. While I did not learn how to make Matt's favorite Indonesian recipe, Nasi Goreng, I did get to try first hand in making four other recipes.

First up was Kari Ayam, an Indonesian chicken curry.  This recipe was full of many flavorful spices––  cardamon, cumin, star anise, coriander, turmeric, ginger and curry powder –– along with chicken, shallots and potatoes. Sadly, the recipe also included coconut milk, which I am allergic to, so I only was able to take a small taste before having to scratch the hives on my hands.

The chicken was sauteed in all the yummy spices before adding the coconut milk.

This dish, best served over rice, is totally up Matt and Chris's alley. (Like father like son!)

Next up, was our personal family favorite, Chicken Satay.  It started off making the peanut sauce and ending grilling the chicken skewers right on the stove. This will be a must try at home.

First we had to brown raw peanuts for the sauce.

After browning, we ground the peanuts and added sugar, lime, salt, chili powder, water and kecap manis (a dark sweet soy sauce). This all went on the stove to cook until thick and bubbly.

Next you take some of the sauce, along with some more kecap manis, chili sauce and sweet chili sauce, and marinate cut up chicken pieces. You then skewer them and grill.

 Serve with the peanut sauce and you have an awesome dish.

The third dish we made was Gado Gado, an Indonesian salad. This was by far the easiest dish. Basically you steam any vegetable you like, hard boil some eggs, cut up some tomatoes, carrots, lettuce and atsu-age (thick, fried tofu) and put them on a plate. Serve with peanut sauce and you are done.

 Last, we made Vietnamese Spring Rolls. While this dish isn't specific to Indonesia, who can't help but love spring rolls? The inside of the rolls is a mixture of abura-age (thin fried tofu), cucumber, spring onions, lettuce, shiso leaves and glass noodles.

All these items are then rolled in rice paper. The rice paper is quite tricky and as you can see, I need much more practice. 

The spring rolls are best served with sweet chili sauce. Yum!

After 2.5 hours of learning how to cook these recipes, we finally were able to sit and enjoy ourselves.

 I've signed up for two more cooking classes in November–– Persian and Cajun. I can't wait.

Salsa, Guacamole, Enchiladas -- OH MY!

Since coming to Japan my taste buds have been introduced to some wonderful new types of foods, such as Indian, German, Persian and Vietnamese. However the one type food you cannot easily find is Mexican. And when you do, it isn't exactly what we are used to back in the States. If you were to ask most of the American families here what type of foods they miss the most, I would bet Mexican would be pretty close to the top of the list.

I was so excited when I found out CHIC was offering a Mexican cooking class this programming session. And although the menu was mainly items I already make at home, I didn't care.  IT WAS MEXICAN FOOD! Plus I love taking cooking classes and figured it would different than how I cook at home.

It took us two hours to work through the menu: Fresh salsa, guacamole, homemade chips, tortilla soup, chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice and refried beans. I think by the time it was all finished I must have been foaming at the mouth in anticipation of tasting it all.

Tortillas cut and ready to fry

Our teacher showing how to properly cut jalapenos and avocado

Ready to mix! YUM!

Cooking the chicken tortilla soup - yes that is a whole chicken

Blanching the tomatoes for salsa

Shredding the  chicken for enchiladas

Mixing the enchilada filling

Getting ready to make refried beans

My appetizer plate - homemade chips, guacamole and salsa

Tortilla soup all ready to eat

Main course

I had to be rolled out of the room after we were all finished. It tasted like authentic Mexican food (It was the homemade chips that sealed the deal). And almost every recipe was different in some way than how I cook at home, so it was not just tasty, but beneficial. I cannot wait until the next program. Rumor is we will be doing chicken mole and stuffed poblano peppers. Can we say YUM!

German Cooking Class

One of the great things about living here are all the cooking classes CHIC offers. Recently I took a German cooking class, featuring "winter menu" foods. The only thing that could have made this class any better would have been a nice tall German beer.

We started the class off making Schwarzwaelder Kirsch Becher (Black Forest Cherry Cups). The dessert tastes better if they set for at least an hour so it made sense to make them first.

Next, we made Mixed Salad with Bacon and Mushrooms. It was a delicious mixed green salad with a homemade mustard vinaigrette dressing and warm mushrooms and bacon.


A Kartoffelgratn it Saurer Sahne (Potato Gratin with Sour Cream) came next. It was very easy and to make it a bit fancier, each serving was made in an individual ramekin dish.


The menu consisted of two main dishes, although our teacher told us that normally you would only make one. However, she wanted to teach us both, and who was I to complain about two main dishes?

The first one was called Rinderrouladen, or in English, Beef Roulade. It is a piece of thinly sliced beef with onions, pickles, mustard and fresh thyme rolled inside, then sauteed in a vegetable cream mixture. In the end this mixture is turned into a vegetable cream sauce and served with the beef. I was a bit worried about what exactly this would taste like, but I really liked it. I think if I could make this without the kids watching me, they would really enjoy it too.

The second main dish was Schweinefilet im Speckmantel, or as we called it, Pork Fillet Wrapped in Bacon. This was my favorite of the day. We braised the meat on the stove and then made a garlic and walnut cream sauce to be served with the meat. It was like heaven in my mouth.


We steamed some fresh vegetables and our meal was complete!


If anyone wants one of these recipes, post here or email me. I would gladly send them to you. Not a menu for quick weight loss obviously. In a few weeks I am going to another German cooking class. This time it is a traditional Easter menu. I can't wait.

Persian Cooking Class

Last week I took a Persian cooking class offered through CHIC. The Persian cooking classes are always quite popular because the person who teaches the class does a great job and because Persian food isn't something you run into in everyday cooking.

The class is hosted in the teachers house. Since many of the spices used in Persian cooking are not common, Nazie, the teacher, takes a few minutes to explain each of the spices and how they are used. The dishes we made that day used dried limes, saffron (a common spice used in Persian cooking), turmeric, and advieh (a mixture of 7 different spices).


The menu consisted of Salad-e Shirazi (a cold tomato and cucumber salad), Koresht-e-Ghaymeh Bademjan (a "stew" dish), yogurt dip, and crunchy basmati rice. It takes over 4 hours of cooking time for the stew when done properly. Needless to say, I won't be making this dish everyday!

After all the food was done we moved into the living room to enjoy all the awesome food.

And no meal is complete without a little something to wash all that fantastic food down.

The Salad-e Shirazi is super easy to make and something I eat for lunch quite often.

4 medium tomatoes
2 small cucumbers
1 medium onion ( I like red onion)
3-4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2-3 tablespoons virgin olive oil
200 grams fresh mint (or 1 teaspoon dry mint)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/6 teaspoon black pepper

Wash cucumbers, tomatoes and mint. Peel onion. Chop cucumbers, tomatoes, and onion very finely, and mix. Chop mint very finely and add to the vegetables. Add fresh lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and black pepper.

Mix well and serve cool. If you want jazz it up a bit you can add feta cheese and black olives and eat with pita bread. YUM!

Lebanese Cooking Class

One of the really cool things that CHIC offers here is cooking classes. Each semester there are always several classes to take, from Japanese to Chinese to Thai to Indian. Usually there are a few other cooking classes being offered that have to take just to see what they are all about, like Lebanese, Persian and Dominican.

Today I went to a Lebanese cooking class. The food was fantastic and the recipes were ones that I actually could make at home. Our teacher was this cute little lady from Lebanon, who has lived with her family in Japan for 20 years.
We learned how to make several Lebanese dishes.

Fattouch - Lebanese Salad made with lettuce, tomato, peppers, radishes, purple onion, mint leaves, parsley, cress and pita bread croutons. The dressing lemony balsamic. Very easy and delicious.


We then made homemade hummus and baba ghanoush. I have never had homemade hummus but it was very simple and so delicious. Baba ghanoush is a creamed eggplant dish. Surprisingly, I really liked it.

The main dish was Riz Be Djaj. This is a chicken rice dish, with ground beef added. I was surprised that the main spice in this dish was cinnamon. On top was slivered almonds and pine nuts. It wasn't as easy to make as the rest of the dishes, but I think I may be able to do it on my own.

We also learned how to make a cucumber yogurt sauce, similar to what you would get with a gyro. I already have plans to make this sauce over the weekend.

For dessert we had a Lebanese Semolina Cake. I would describe it as a sweet cornbread, with walnuts. Different, yet good.
Here was our lunch.

Next week I have signed up for a Chinese cooking class. I can't wait.