Richard And Jo Demeester's photos with the keyword: cooking

Maria showed us how to make a variety of parathas and chapatis with the same basic dough. We focused on an aloo paratha, a potato stuffed version.

While in Kochi, we did a cooking class with Maria. Some recipes given out, some discussion about what should and should not be mixed together. The best part was learning some of the techniques: waiting for the moisture to leave the mixture, and for the oil to form around, before moving on to the next step; adding the powders over the top of the mixture and folding it through, rather than just mixing, so the powders don't burn; searing the marinated meat before adding it to your mixture, so the raw flavours from the marinade don't go back in your sauce. The aloo dum is a North Indian Potato dish.

It's sort of like a crepe, but more savoury, and then stuffed and fried. Savoury fillings like beef or tomato and cheese, or sweet fillings like fruit with chocolate. All the varieties we tried were fantastic.

I don't have to don a hat and apron to be a master chef. We did an Indian cooking course while in Jodhpur and had a ball. It was run in someone's home-cum-spiceshop-cum-kitchen.

Green chilli paste being made from scratch. This was hard work, especially given the weight of the pestle.

Dish number two – Thai Cashew Chicken. The highlight of this dish was the fabulous aromatic dried chillies.

We started the afternoon with a trip to the market to buy fresh vegetables and spices. Now, ingredients washed, cleavers in hand, we are ready to be let loose on some Thai dishes.