The second day had just one hero. Chuski or ice gola as lot of people call it. My teaching agenda was deserts. We started with making fruit ice cubes. Simple ice cubes made with pieces of pomegranate and grapes inside it. Although the taste of the dish is nothing great but a very nice and surprising way to serve drinks to your guests.
The next one on my agenda was a fruit salad not made using cream or ice cream but using lime juice and chat masala along with some Boora (powder sugar). Kids loved cutting all the fruits and usual fights erupted in an effort to cut more fruits. We also made an interesting version of fruit salad by covering it with wet bread and spreading some curd over it. This approach to salad completely transforms it to look like something else and tastes great. I also taught them how to make a quick shahi toast by spreading home made malai and sugar over a piece of bread.
Then came the storm, the chuski or ice gola. Simple crushed ice with Rose and Kesar syrup on a stick. The kids just got too excited and soon everybody was ready with the most innovative reason why he/she should be the one to get it first. The worst part was that crushing the ice was a manual process and took us some time to get it. The pressure was mounting and the demand was much more than supply. The entire room resembled a chaotic ice gola shop with a very sticky floor. Some kids wanted only rose and some other wanted to mix it and check out the color. Adults also got bitten by the chuski bug and we also enjoyed it.
We had few minutes left before parents would come to pick up the kids so I just started chatting up with kids. All of them were telling me how they will decorate or make a dish in a different way. Some of them started telling me jokes and one naughty girl put a ice cube inside my shirt. Overall lot of fun and one thing which I was certainly happy about was that kids were not just thinking about standard way of making a recipe but also were thinking through variations of the dish both in terms of ingredients and looks.
We also discussed last days home work and I told about the lot of recipes which can be made with left over food. A satisfying day indeed. Kids have become very friendly with me and they are also understanding overall picture of cooking.
Next day’s home work was ask all the kids to find from their parents if they had ever invented a dish. Let us see what they come back with.
PS:
1. These cooking lessons were part of the summer camp organized by Noah’s Show.
2. My apologies to the lady who came to clean up the room after the mayhem.