Dr. Namita Shanbhag's Cook and Dine

On Sunday afternoon, one of my organization's legal attorney colleagues, who is visiting India for 6 weeks, invited me to attend a cooking class here in Bangalore with her. We travelled to the home of Dr. Namita Shanbhag, dentist, college professor, and amazing chef extraordinaire, who taught us the basics of Indian cooking. She had all of the recipes typed in detail to take with us for reference later, and had been marinating food overnight in preparation. She cooked, while we helped and watched, one of the most famous Indian specialties recognized and loved by many all over the world: Butter chicken. The menu included many items, such as onion fritters, which had many spices (think: onion rings dropped in hot oil in the form of balls versus rings, with tasty spices included), fresh papadums, chapati, a style of Indian potatoes, a lentil curry, rice, and a dessert that started with vermicelli, included raisins, almonds, sugar and heat. All very tasty!

She used a pressure cooker, and 3 different types of pots or pans. As you will see in the pictures, silver pots/dishes are very popular in India, and can be used "from burner to server". It provides quite a fancy presentation. I have personally cooked a lot of recipes in my life, but never used a pressure cooker. It was neat to experience the fact that you leave it on the burner even when it lets off that first big wave of steam. (Even after the 6^th or 7^th wave of steam.) I watched intently to see when it would be removed, and it apparently depended on the shorter frequencies of bursts. That is when it is removed from the heat. A lot learned in this class about pressure cooking and tricks surrounding that method.

The part that was most amazing to me was that I never saw her once refer to a recipe. She coordinated 4 items at one time and they all came out perfectly. I consider myself a “pretty good cook”, and yet find myself consistently referring to the recipe at least 5 times while I am making something that requires measurements, especially spices (I can literally read "1 tsp of salt" 5 times and still check it before I drop it in!) Dr. Namita just knew “a pinch of this” or a tsp of that, the exact timings of when to add, all while still carrying on a conversation, asking us questions, listening to our answers, and entertaining her entire family all at the same time. It was quite the experience! If you ever wish to attend an event at her house, I highly advise it, and to be certain, you will take away good tips, even if you are a seasoned Indian cook. Also, at the end you will be served a delicious meal of what has been prepared!

She offers different themes during different sessions, sometimes seafood, etc. Her email, if you ever wish to get in touch, is: drnamita@gmail.com

Pictured above are the finished products of the dishes we (Dr. Namita!) made, which includes a picture of us, from left: Kristen, the legal attorney here for 6 weeks, me (peeking out), Dr. Namita’s sister, and of course Dr. Namita on the opposite side of the counter cooking. (Pictures above by Dr. Namita and family).

Below are some other pictures that Kristen and I took during various stages of the food preparation. The first is a picture of Dr. Namita. Definitely a remarkable experience!