Join Zinnia in her small kitchen for a one hour hands-on cooking class. The cooking class will begin with an introduction to Indian spices and Zinnia will show you the ingredients of panch phoran, a spice blend of cumin, brown mustard, fenugreek, nigella and fennel which is commonly used in Eastern India. She will also explain why mustard oil is used in Bengali cuisine and will show you how mustard seeds are ground into a paste. After which you will learn to roll out the dough and fry luchis (a deep-fried flatbread), prepare the shorshe chingri (prawns in mustard gravy) and tomato and dates chutney from scratch.
You will then join Zinnia and her family (when at home) at their dining table for a home cooked Bengali meal that might include a few dishes such as shorshe maach (fish cooked in mustard sauce) or kosha maangsho (mutton curry), aaloo posto (potatoes with poppy seeds) or begun bhaaja (eggplant/aubergine fry) and cholar dal (lentils) served with rice or flat bread and a tomato and dates chutney. Your meal will end with some paayesh (rice pudding), the most favored dessert in Bengali homes for any occasion.
