Chile en Nogada Cooking Class

This was my first cooking class I have ever taken while I am living in Abu Dhabi.  The reason why I was interested to join is because I love some of Mexican food, but only simple dishes like fajitas, guacamole and salsa that I could make so far. I tried to inquire some information about the event and I decided to join this Mexican Cooking Class at El Sombrero Mexican Restaurant, Sheraton Abu Dhabi.  It was not necessary to bring anything from home as the restaurant already prepared everything including the apron for the cooking class…😁

The cooking class was held last Saturday, 19th of November 2016. I arrived at the restaurant 15 minutes earlier, so while waiting for other participants to come, the restaurant manager  gave me the welcoming drink, the non alcoholic strawberry margarita. Meanwhile, I took some pictures of the venue too  🙂 .

 

Chile en Nogada, was the dish that the chef taught us in the cooking class, a Mexican traditional dish served with cold cream sauce. There was a myth that this dish was first prepared by nuns in the city of Puebla just after Mexico’s independence was declared. Since the dish has  the colors of the Mexican flag, it is sometimes said to be Mexico’s national dish. The chef said that every 15th of September, most people in Mexico cook this dish as a compulsory dish for celebrating their national day.

Here is the recipe :

Ingredients:

Stuffing:

• 3 green bell capsicums, roasted and peeled
• 150 grams minced beef
• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1/2 apple, chopped
• 80 grams mixed nuts
• 80 grams mixed fruits
• 1/4 banana, chopped
• Pomegranate
• Salt
• Pepper

Breaded:

• 1 Egg
• Flour
• Oil

Sauce for topping:

• 100 ml milk
• 100 ml liquid whipping cream
• Sugar
• Espresso

The chef provided me with some non alcoholic ingredients for making the cream. In my personal opinion, eventhough it was my first time, it was not difficult as we just stirred fried everything before stuffing them into the green bell capsicum. After that, we dipped it into the flour and eggs. The last steps were frying it and pouring the coffee cream sauce on top of the fried capsicum with sprinkle of pomegranates.

 

It was something new for me to taste  the combination both salty and sweet in one dish. The chopped fresh and dried fruits were really something that added up the sweetness of the dish. It was also my first experience eating a deep fried food served with cold coffee cream, so I would say that it was like the combination of a main course and dessert in one dish 😀 (maybe…just maybe… 😀 ).  I brought the rest of the stuffing home and tried to make a homemade version of Chile en Nogada for  our dinner. I told my husband that the dish should be served with the cream on top, however he chose not to have it.

Oh..last but not least, I will share also a picture of the participants and the chef :

 

Someday I might read all of the stories that I have written in my blog and of course I will treasure all of the experiences I had while I lived in Abu Dhabi :). I will try to encourage myself to write more as I want to improve the quality of my writings too. See you in my another story 🙂 Buennas Noches! 🙂

First Experience at Taste of Abu Dhabi 2016

Before I write about the experience coming to the event, allow me to share about the reason why I have the curiosity and appreciation about culinary and food. When I started living in Abu Dhabi, I learned cooking from the beginning. My husband and I love to eat varieties of food, not only Indonesian food. I felt encouraged to cook on my own by searching any recipes and watching some cooking videos in the internet. I am happy that cooking turns out to be one of positive things to do at home while my husband is working.  Since then, every time my husband and I were eating out, I started to recognize the taste of the ingredients that made up the food. Sometimes I cooked the same dish at home, which of course I still need to find the recipes in the internet. As I really understand the efforts every time I cook,  I remind myself to appreciate any food served in any places. I also became a person who love to explore any new food and any food festivals :D.

Let’s go to my story about Taste of Abu Dhabi event. This event is one of the biggest food festival held in Abu Dhabi with some celebrity chefs coming as its guests. It was held from 10th – 12th November 2016.  For food lovers and  restaurants lovers, or those who just want to spend their family time outdoor other than at the mall, it was just a perfect event to come. This event was third time held in town, but my first time experience. I accidentally found the advertisement on my social media news feed, so I started to find the information about it. After discussing with my husband, I bought two tickets online for both of us. Buying online tickets  was cheaper than buying on the spot. So….here we go, on last Saturday, 12 th November 2016 we brought our tickets with us and came to this event at Zayed Sport City areas.

For us, this kind of outdoor event is very entertaining, especially for me who is getting bored very easily when doing same activities from time to time. We had different atmosphere for our weekend other than just roaming around the mall.

There was one thing from the event that attracted us. It was Taste The World Competition at Etihad Airways Chef’s Theater. Each finalist cooked their signature dish in front of the audience and the judging panel within the time frame provided.

There was one celebrity chef who is quite familiar to me, Chef Luke Nguyen. I saw some of his cooking shows on the TV. From what I read at Taste of Abu Dhabi website, he has been  appointed as food Ambassador for ETIHAD Airways. In this event, he acted as a host for Taste The World competition. Here the pictures while Chef Luke Nguyen being a host while Chef Francesco Apreda, a Taste The World finalist from Rome doing his cooking presentation in front of a judging panel.

The finalist with his signature dish

The finalist and the judging panel

We watched another cooking presentations by a celebrity chef, Chef Shanjeev Kapoor. He cooked prawn curry mixed with sliced green mango. While he waited for the food to be ready, there was a Q & A session. I remembered there was a young boy sitting on his father’s lap asking at which age he can start to learn cooking. Chef Shanjeev Kapoor answered that this young boy is not too young to start learning to cook if he  really has interest on it. I can see that this young boy seemed having interest in cooking from his early age.

We left the event at the afternoon as we had something to do outside and decided to come back at evening to see the announcement of Taste The World competition :D. We told the security guard that we planned to come back. He stamped on our hand when we left and then we just showed the stamp when we came back. We then waited for the announcement time of Taste The World competition winner. And, here we go…..the winner was one of finalists from Amsterdam, Chef Andre Gerrits.

The winner gave his winning speech and he said that even though he was very happy to be a winner, all of the chefs that were present were winners too. It is inspiring to see someone lifted up others in a sincere way even though it was his best moment 😊.

After watching the announcement,  we left Etihad Airways Chef’s Theater, and walked around to find something for our dinner. The live music performance was also one thing that kept the visitors entertained.

Right after we had our dinner, we went home. After all, this event was very entertaining and we had a great time. I personally loved it, despite the weather was still warm when we came at the afternoon.

Thank you to those who have read my writings. I really appreciate it.. 🙂

Greek Taste in UAE

If you’re just like me who love food, have interest to try any new food and also are seeking any good Greek restaurant in town, then you can find a good one with the unique and nice atmosphere here in Abu Dhabi. The name of the restaurant is Mr. Greek. It is located in Yas Mall, specifically in the restaurants area nearby The Ferrari World.

My husband and I went there for dinner. He ordered Chicken Gyro and I ordered a Balsamic Salmon-Spinach salad. While waiting our order to come, they gave us us pita bread, soft bread, feta cheese and some olives. I forgot to take the picture the food that we ordered, but I personally can say that it’s delicious. We will come back definitely, but perhaps for lunch, so I can order the heavier menu rather than salad only :P.

Here are some pictures of the restaurant: