whither shalna: Raksha's Kitchen: Love, Cook, Learn with Four Seasons Wine

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Raksha's Kitchen: Love, Cook, Learn with Four Seasons Wine

I always wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day with my beloved. But my hubby never felt that Valentine's Day was a day to celebrate love. I was wondering how to celebrate Valentine's Day this year and to make him?realize?that this is also a day to celebrate love, just like our wedding anniversary.
Surprisingly, I got an invite from PoshVine and Four Seasons Wine to attend the Love, Cook, Learn event at Pink Poppadom,?Hotel Ista, M G Road, Bangalore.

I was a bit skeptical to attend the event as I had to travel alone. But then I found out that 2 other bloggers?Deepasri and Satrupa were also attending the event. I joined them, we?traveled?together and we had a great time at the event.

The event was a masterclass, that allowed us to cook and serve the perfect romantic meal. A meal that whispers 'I Love You' from starter to dessert. The class was held on 9th Feb 2013 at Pink Poppadom.
The menu was designed for romance and love and was perfect for the Valentine's Day celebrations.

The event was started by an introduction by the Pink Poppadom's master chef Gautam Chaudhry. The menu was designed by him. Then the class was conducted by Jr. Sous Chef Sumeet Priyadarshi. As the class started, we all gathered around the cooking table and were lost in the demo's. Four Seasons Blush Wine was served as a welcome drink just when the demo's started. The dishes demonstrated by the Chef were:

Ricotta Kabab on a bed of Zucchini Carpaccio?
Seafood Hot Pot?
Rose Syrup infused Strawberry Phirni

We got to taste in all the 3 dishes.
All the dishes were just awesome and it made us left with the feeling to have a little more.
?Ricotta Kabab uses paneer and the chef told us to mash the paneer with the palm by rolling in the plate. The taste was great. I could get a mixed taste of cumin and paneer.
Steamed hot pot was the next dish which was demoed. 3 types of fish namely pomfret, squid and prawn were used in this dish. The taste was mind-blowing. I learnt how five star chef's make fish curry, how they marinate the fish and how they present the cooked dish. Every dish that they cook is cooked with love and passion and that is the reason why their dishes taste so good.
The next dish was Rice Phirni with Rose Infused Strawberries. This dish was something which I had for the first time. The strawberries infused in rose syrup and the rich?flavor?of cardamom in a rice base was awesome. While eating this dish one could taste all the?flavors.
The chef gave us lots of cooking tips like knife skills, deglazing, how to make vegetable stock and to use it in cooking, to use the coriander roots in cooking to enhance the taste of food, cleaning fish, re-using the pans, etc. All the attendees were either clicking pictures or were enjoying the demo's with the chef or were busy noting down the tips given by the chef.
We did not realise when the class got over. Soon we were asked to taste the demoed food.
It was also lunch time and we were damn hungry after a "yummy" class.

Apart from the class, I liked the pink decor at Pink Poppadom. It very well suited the Valentine's Day theme.

For lunch we were served with the dishes which we learnt during the class.
We also did some wine tasting and wine pairing. The starter Ricotta Kabab was paired with Four Seasons Sauvignon Blanc,
the main course Steamed hot pot was served with rice and it was paired with Four Seasons Chenin Blanc and?the dessert Rice Phirni with rose infused strawberries was paired with Four seasons blush.

All the dishes served were yummy and the wines served with them paired well.

The masterclass was a great experience for me. Specially learning to cook from a five star chef, getting a lot of cooking tips from him and learning how to present the dish were the key takeaways for me from this unique event.

In the end we all were gifted with a Four Season's Blush wine bottle.

The details about this and many such event's can be found here.
The event which I attended was worth Rs. 1250/- and it was sponsored by Four Seasons Wine.
I hope to attend more of such events in future.

P.S: I made the Rice Phirni and Steamed hot pot for my Valentine soon after coming home from the event. My Valentine absolutely loved the dishes :) Have to try Ricotta Kabab soon.