Week 6 Term 1 – 16 June 2025

Why methods?

We teach techniques, not recipes – because techniques are the building blocks of great cooking.  All our chefs are either trade qualified or Le Cordon Bleu trained, and we teach the way we were taught – using a ‘see it, do it’ model.  This means that for most classes our chef instructors use ‘running demos’ where they show you the skill and then you copy it – with assistance from your instructor as needed.   And in our express classes you will cook at the same time as the chef, following their lead.   We will give you an ingredients list and a method for each class, but you do not have to use it.

Our chefs will explain patiently and walk you through each class.   And if your dish doesn’t work out, that is OK – we run most classes 3 or 4 times a week so you can always come and try again!  Failure is part of learning.

Use these methods below to practice at home.

Equipment

  • Cooktop
  • Saucepan
  • Colander/sieve
  • Cutting board with paper towel
  • Small bowl for mixing salad
  • Bowl of iced water
  • Teaspoon
  • Spatula/large spoon
  • Vegetable peeler
  • Tongs

Ingredients

  • 90 g fresh vac packed soba noodles
  • 40g lettuce leaves
  • 140g red cabbage
  • 5 snow peas
  • ¼ small cucumber
  • ¼ small carrot
  • 15g (3 tsp) kimchi (v – vegan kimchi)
  • 15ml (3 tsp) gochujang
  • 15ml (3 tsp) rice wine vinegar
  • 10 ml ( 2 tsp) light soy sauce
  • 10ml (2 tsp) honey
  • 7g (2 tsp) brown sugar
  • 10 ml (2 tsp) toasted sesame oil
  • 5 g (2 tsp) toasted sesame seeds

Method

  1. Tie back long hair, wash hands and wear an apron. Stabilise your cutting board using damp paper towel.  Gather your ingredients and equipment.
  2. Make dressing: Into small bowl, place and mix:
    1. 15ml (3 tsp) gochujang
    2. 15ml (3 tsp) rice wine vinegar
    3. 10 ml ( 2 tsp) light soy sauce
    4. 10ml (2 tsp) honey
    5. 7g (2 tsp) brown sugar
    6. 10 ml (2 tsp) toasted sesame oil
    7. 5 g (2 tsp) toasted sesame seeds
  3. Prepare vegies and put straight into bowl on top of dressing:
    1. Finely slice lettuce (‘chiffonade’).
    2. Finely slice cabbage.
    3. Deseed cucumber, cut into 2 mm slices lengthways then into 2mm x 2mm sticks (‘julienne’)
    4. Peel carrot, cut into 2 mm slices lengthways then into 2mm x 2mm sticks (‘julienne’)
    5. Cut ends off snow peas and cut into 2mm strips.
    6. Chop kimchi into small pieces.
  4. Cook and cool noodles:
    1. Bring water to a boil in saucepan.
    2. Cook noodles per packet directions (for vac packed soba noodles, usually cook for 1 minute in boiling water).
    3. Place into bowl of iced water until chilled (about 2 minutes).
    4. Remove with tongs and put into bowl on top of vegies.
  5. Mix noodle salad together and taste for seasoning.
  6. Clean down, and run equipment through the dishwasher (leave bowl of noodles). Wipe and put cooktop and all other equipment away.  Quickly sweep your area.
  7. Plate noodles/ put in storage container.
  8. Run all remaining equipment through dishwasher and scrape, clean, squeegee and sanitise bench. Put remaining equipment away.
  9. Enjoy your food! (If eating in the dining area, please sweep up after yourself and wash and put away your dishes/cutlery/glassware).

Equipment

  • Cooktop
  • Frypan
  • Grater
  • Spatula

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp brown mustard seeds
  • 10 curry leaves
  • 2 tsp dried red chilli flakes
  • ½ red onion
  • ½ lime
  • 1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Tie back long hair, wash hands and wear an apron. Stabilise your cutting board using damp paper towel.  Gather your ingredients and equipment.
  2. Heat oil in frypan over medium/low heat.
  3. Fry mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves and chillies until the mustard seeds start to pop.
  4. Grate the onion straight into the pan and cook until it smells aromatic.
  5. Stir through chickpeas. Add salt and lime juice until it tastes good.
  6. Plate/put in storage container.
  7. Clean down, and run all equipment through the dishwasher. Wipe and put cooktop and all other equipment away.  Scrape, clean, squeegee and sanitise bench Quickly sweep your area.
  8. Enjoy your food! (If eating in the dining area, please sweep up after yourself and wash and put away your dishes/cutlery/glassware).

Equipment

  • Cooktop
  • Frypan or saucepan
  • Cutting board with paper towel
  • Chef’s knife
  • Spatula
  • Small tray

Ingredients

  • 50g (about ¼ cup) red lentils
  • 1 red onion
  • ¼ green chilli
  • 1 dried chilli (or 1 heaped tsp chilli flakes)
  • 1 clove garlic
  • Pinch mustard seeds
  • 1cm piece of pandan leaf (rampe)
  • 1 cm piece of lemongrass
  • Sprig of curry leaves
  • Pinch of saffron powder
  • 200ml (about half a tin) coconut milk – preferably separated into about 100ml of ‘thick’ milk (from the top of the tin) and 100ml of ‘thin’ milk (from the bottom of the tin)
  • 100ml water
  • 10 ml (2 tsp) oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 cup basmati rice (chef to cook)

Method

  1. Tie back long hair, wash hands and wear an apron. Stabilise your cutting board using damp paper towel.  Gather your ingredients and equipment.
  2. Prepare vegetables:
    1. Slice onion
    2. Slice green chilli
    3. Cut dried chilli into quarters
    4. Very finely slice most of the curry leaves (leave about 6 unsliced)
    5. Mince garlic
  3. Make the ‘temper’ (topping):
    1. Put oil into frypan and heat over medium/low heat.
    2. Add about ¼ of the sliced onions, the unsliced curry leaves, the dried chillies, and the garlic and fry gently until the onions are golden brown.
    3. Add the mustard seeds and cook until they start to ‘pop’.
    4. Set aside on tray.
  4. Cook the dhal over low heat:
    1. Using the same saucepan, add:
      1. Lentils
      2. Remainder of onion
  • Green chilli
  1. Pandan leaf
  2. Lemongrass piece
  3. Thin coconut milk
  • Water
  • Fat pinch of salt
  1. Simmer over low heat until the lentils are soft.
  2. Season to taste.
  3. Finish the curry: Stir in remaining thick coconut milk.  Put in bowl /storage container with rice.  Top with ‘temper’. 
  4. Clean down, and run equipment through the dishwasher. Wipe and put cooktop and all other equipment away.   Scrape, clean, squeegee and sanitise bench. Quickly sweep your area.
  5. Enjoy your food! (If eating in the dining area, please sweep up after yourself and wash and put away your dishes/cutlery/glassware).

Notes

I often add a bit of cinnamon stick to the lentils – about a 2 cm piece would be plenty.  You can also add some cumin to the temper or directly to the lentils – seeds are nice but powder works too.  For this quantity I would add about a teaspoon.

Equipment

  • Cooktop
  • Saucepan
  • Frypan
  • Bowl of iced water
  • Medium bowl
  • Large bowl
  • Colander/sieve
  • Spoon
  • Tongs

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 150g green beans
  • 1 tsp Korean red pepper flakes (gochugaru)
  • 5 garlic cloves
  • ½ onion
  • 30ml (1 ½ tbsp) soy sauce
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tsp ground toasted sesame seeds
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 cup cooked white shortgrain rice (chef to cook)
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Tie back long hair, wash hands and wear an apron. Stabilise your cutting board using damp paper towel.  Gather your ingredients and equipment.
  2. Cook eggs and noodles:
    1. Boil water in the saucepan.
    2. Add eggs to boiling water and set a time for 6m15s minutes (start prepping veg while eggs are cooking)
    3. Remove eggs with spoon to iced water.
    4. Wash saucepan, refill, with water and return to boil. Add enough salt that it tastes like the ocean.
  3. Cook beans:
    1. Cut ends of beans (‘top and tail’), and cut in half crossways. Put in boiling water, stir and set a timer for 6 minutes.  Check at 6 minutes and add time if needed.
    2. Thinly slice or chop garlic (or grate it if you prefer).
    3. Slice onion.
    4. Scoop out about ¼ cup of water from the bean pot.
    5. Remove beans from water and drain in colander over a bowl.
    6. Put the pot back on the cook top.
    7. Add onion and stir until onion starts to turn translucent (about 2 minutes). Add garlic and cook until some edges fo the garlic just start to turn a little brown.
    8. Add beans, reserved cooking water, soy sauce and onion.
    9. Cook, turning with the thongs, until the soy sauce mix has reduced to a glaze.
    10. Remove from heat. Stir in sesame oil.
  4. Peel and halve eggs. Put on beans.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
  5. Plate with white rice, or put in storage container.
  6. Clean down, and run all equipment through the dishwasher. Wipe and put cooktop and all other equipment away.  Scrape, clean, squeegee and sanitise bench. Quickly sweep your area.
  7. Enjoy your food! (If eating in the dining area, please sweep up after yourself and wash and put away your dishes/cutlery/glassware).

Equipment

  • Cooktop
  • Frypan
  • Medium bowl
  • Small bowl
  • Cutting board with paper towel
  • Chef’s knife
  • Grater
  • Whisk or fork

Ingredient

  • 1 pork loin steak or pork scotch fillet steak about 150g (thin if you can get it – about 1 cm thick) (v – 2 thick slices of cauliflower)
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce 
  • ½ tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 2 tsp gochujang (sub sriracha if you don’t have gochujang)
  • 2 cm piece ginger
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 tsp ground white sesame seeds
  • 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
  • ½ stalk spring onion/scallion
  • 90g wheat noodles vac packed
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Tie back long hair, wash hands and wear an apron. Stabilise your cutting board using damp paper towel.  Gather your ingredients and equipment.
  2. In a bowl, whisk together ¼ of the sesame oil and all of the following:
    1. 1 tbsp soy sauce
    2. ½ tbsp honey
    3. ½ tsp gochujang
    4. Grate in 1 cm piece ginger
    5. Grate in 1 clove garlic
  3. Put pork (v – cauliflower) into marinade and flip to coat. Set aside.
  4. Slice green onion on the diagonal and set aside.
  5. Heat frypan over medium heat. Add ¼ of the oil.  Put noodles in (do not separate) and cook until slightly brown.  Flip and heat until you can separate with a fork.  Put in small bowl and add remaining sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, ground sesame seeds.  Mix and add salt and black pepper to taste.  Set aside.
  6. Put remaining oil in frypan and heat to medium.
  7. Add pork (v- cauliflower) and fry. Cook pork to 63c (v – cook cauliflower until a knife goes in easily.  You may need to add half a cup of water to the pan and cover so that the cauliflower cooks and softens). Scrape remaining marinade into the pan and heat until bubbling a little.  Remove from heat and put pork on cutting board to rest.
  8. Clean down, and run equipment through the dishwasher (leave noodles, spring onion, saucepan and pork (v – cauliflower)). Wipe and put cooktop and all other equipment away.  Quickly sweep your area.
  9. Slice pork against the grain (v – slice cauliflower into 1 cm slices). Plate noodles/put noodles in a storage container and top with pork (v – cauliflower), remaining sauce and sliced spring onion.
  10. Run all remaining equipment through dishwasher and scrape, clean, squeegee and sanitise bench. Put remaining equipment away.
  11. Enjoy your meal! (If eating in the dining area, please sweep up after yourself and wash and put away your dishes/cutlery/glassware).

Equipment

  • Cooktop
  • Saucepan
  • Small bowl
  • Large bowl with iced water
  • Whisk
  • Spatula
  • Thermometer
  • Scale
  • Teatowel

Ingredients

  • 2 egg yolks (retain whites)
  • 40 g caster sugar
  • 120ml milk
  • 120ml cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla paste

Method

  1. Tie back long hair, wash hands and wear an apron. Stabilise your cutting board using damp paper towel.  Gather your ingredients and equipment.
  2. Measure all ingredients – use a scale (for most liquids, 1 ml = 1 g, accurate at smaller volumes).
  3. Put milk, cream and vanilla paste into saucepan and heat slowly over low/med heat. Do not allow it to boil.
  4. Put egg yolks into bowl, removing all white (retain). Stabilise the bowl base using a folded up teatowel (this makes whisking easier).
  5. When milk is hot (too hot to leave a finger in it), whisk sugar into egg yolks vigorously until the colour of the mix lightens. (Do not put sugar in egg yolks earlier than this, as the sugar can start to cure the egg yolks and your custard will split or look funny).
  6. When the milk starts to get 1 or 2 very small bubbles at the edge of the saucepan, whisk egg/sugar mix with one hand and add a splash of the hot milk mix with the other. (This ‘tempers’ the egg mix – ie heats it a little bit so it doesn’t scramble when you add the rest of the milk).
  7. Continuing to whisk the egg mix, add the hot milk until completely combined.
  8. Rinse out your saucepan, return to the cooktop on med/low heat and put the egg and milk mix back in the pan.
  9. Cook, stirring constantly, until it starts to thicken a little – use a spatula to make sure you scrape and stir around the outside edge of the base of the saucepan.
  10. When the custard starts to thicken, keep stirring and check temperature with the thermometer. When it hits 84c, remove the pan from the heat and place the base of the pan into the bowl of cold water, making sure no water splashes into the pan.  Stir to cool.
  11. Clean down, and run equipment through the dishwasher (leave the bowl of iced water and the pan of custard). Wipe and put cooktop and all other equipment away.  Quickly sweep your area.
  12. When cooled, put the custard into a storage container.
  13. Run all remaining equipment through dishwasher and scrape, clean, squeegee and sanitise bench. Put remaining equipment away.
  14. Keep custard chilled. Eat within 3 days.

Equipment

  • Cooktop
  • Frypan
  • Cutting board with paper towel
  • Chef’s knife
  • Small container to cure onion
  • Small container to mix sauce
  • Bowl for mixing mince

Ingredients

  • 150g minced beef (at least 20% fat) (v – 2 field mushrooms, 2 tbsp truffle mix)
  • 2 tsp spice mix (MYO, we are using a mix of paprika, onion powder, garlic powder and sumac)
  • Brioche bun
  • 2 lettuce leaves
  • ½ tomato
  • 2 slices cheese (preferably vintage cheddar or American yellow, if you can get it)
  • 1/8 onion
  • ¼ small lemon
  • 3 slices dill pickle
  • 2 slices jalapeno (optional)
  • 2 tsp mayo
  • 2 tsp BBQ sauce
  • 2 tsp American mustard
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Tie back long hair, wash hands and wear an apron. Stabilise your cutting board using damp paper towel.  Gather your ingredients and equipment.
  2. Prep vegetables and sauces:
    1. Finely dice onion, squeeze over lemon juice and put into small container to cure.
    2. Finely slice lettuce (chiffonade), slice tomato and set aside.
    3. Mix mayo, BBQ sauce and mustard and put in small container, set aside.
  3. Prep brioche bun – Melt butter in frypan, rub cut sides of brioche bun in butter to coat. Set aside.
  4. Prep and cook patties (v – mushroom), heat bun:
    1. Mix mince with spice mince (v- put truffle mix inside mushrooms, coat mushrooms in a little oil or butter, and roll in spice mix).
    2. Shape mince into 2 equally sized patties.
    3. Heat oil in frypan, fry patties to desired doneness, pressing down with spatula to get thin, crispy edges (v – fry mushrooms until soft).
    4. Leave patties (v- mushrooms) in pan, off heat. Put brioche bun flat side down in pan to heat a little while you clean down.
  5. Clean down, and run equipment through the dishwasher (leave all ingredients). Wipe and put cooktop and all other equipment away.  Scrape, clean, squeegee and sanitise bench  Quickly sweep your area. 
  6. Build burger (bun, half sauce, onion, patty (v- mushroom), cheese, patty (v – mushroom), cheese, lettuce, tomato, remaining sauce on top bun with pickles and jalapenos).
  7. Run all remaining equipment through dishwasher. Put remaining equipment away.
  8. Enjoy your meal! If  you are taking home, you may prefer to reheat the patties and heat the bun at home, and build the burger there.   (If eating in the dining area, please sweep up after yourself and wash and put away your dishes/cutlery/glassware).

Notes

The best mince is hamburger grind, ask your butcher to do this if you have one who will do small batch grinds.  Supermarket mince is ok, but can be a bit too fine which makes it harder to keep the patty together – coarse fatty grind is best.   

These are even better on a bbq grill or plate – the same method applies.  Also, the patties (v – mushrooms) are excellent hot smoked if you have a charcoal Weber or smoker – have a chat with our chefs about the method.

You can use a leaner meat but you will need a binder to hold the patty together – a quarter of an egg whisked (about 15g) and about a tablespoon of breadcrumbs/panko crumbs should do it for this quantity of meat.  Squish it in when mixing in the spice, then form into patties.

If you prefer, you can crumb and deep fry the mushroom – dip into flour, then 1 beaten egg, then panko crumbs to coat and fry in 180c oil until browned.

This class involves you preparing 2 meals to be finished in the oven at home.  If you have them, please bring 1 x casserole dish with lid and 1 x baking tray or dish – small (2 litre capacity) if you are cooking 2 portions, medium (4 litre capacity) if you are cooking 4 portions.  Otherwise, we will provide foil wrapped aluminium trays for you to take home with you.

Spicy gochujang chicken with beans (v – tofu)

Equipment

  • Cooktop
  • Frypan
  • Cutting board with paper towel
  • Chef’s knife
  • Teaspoon
  • Grater
  • Takeaway container for rice.
  • Casserole dish with a lid or aluminium tray with foil

Ingredients

  • 500g bone-in, skin on chicken thigh cutlets – 2 to 3 cutlets (v – 300g tofu plus 1 tbsp cornflour and 1 tbsp oil)
  • ½ onion
  • 200g (about half a can) crushed tomatoes
  • Large handful green beans
  • 3 tbsp gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
  • 2 tsp gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes)
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3cm piece of ginger
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • ½  tbsp caster sugar
  • ½ tbsp toasted sesame seeds
  • 2 spring onions/scallions
  • 2 cups white rice (chef to prepare)
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Tie back long hair, wash hands and wear an apron. Stabilise your cutting board using damp paper towel.  Gather your ingredients and equipment.
  2. Render the chicken skin – put skin side down into a cold saucepan and turn heat to medium/low until skin is crispy. (v – cut tofu into large slices.  Season cornflour with salt and pepper.  Roll tofu in cornflour.  Put oil in pan.  Fry tofi until outside is crispy).  Prepare aromatics and base while skin is rendering.
  3. Prepare aromatics:
    1. Cut the ends off the beans, into casserole dish/pan.
    2. Roughly chop onion, into casserole dish/pan.
    3. Peel ginger with teaspoon, grate into casserole dish/pan.
    4. Mince garlic, into casserole dish/pan.
    5. Finely slice spring onions on the diagonal and put in a ziplock bag with the sesame seeds (these are for garnishing at home).
  4. Make base and add chicken (v- tofu):
    1. Mix the following in the bottom of the casserole dish/pan along with the beans, onion, garlic and ginger:
      1. Crushed tomatoes
      2. Gochujang
  • Gochugaru
  1. Soy sauce
  2. Sesame oil
  3. Caster sugar
  1. Taste for seasoning.
  2. Put chicken (v- tofu) into the base and roll in sauce. You can add the chicken fat if you like, mix it into the sauce if you decide to add it.
  1. Label casserole pan/foil as follows: Oven at 160c for 1h 45m (v- oven at 180c for 30 mins).  Add your name and put in fridge with rice and garnishes while you prepare your second dish.
  2. Clean down, and run all equipment through the dishwasher. Wipe and put cooktop and all other equipment away.  Scrape, clean, squeegee and sanitise bench. Quickly sweep your area.
  3. At home:
    1. Preheat oven to 160c (v- 180c).
    2. Into oven at 160c for 1h 30m (v – 180c for 30 minutes). Do not remove foil.
    3. Top with spring onion and sesame seeds.
    4. Serve with rice.

This class involves you preparing 2 meals to be finished in the oven at home.  If you have them, please bring 1 x casserole dish with lid and 1 x baking tray or dish – small (2 litre capacity) if you are cooking 2 portions, medium (4 litre capacity) if you are cooking 4 portions.  Otherwise, we will provide foil wrapped aluminium trays for you to take home with you.

Sri Lankan baked chicken curry (v – cashew curry)

Equipment

  • Cutting board with paper towel
  • Chef’s knife
  • Casserole dish or aluminium tray with foil

Ingredients

  • 500g bone-in, skin on chicken thigh cutlets – 2 to 3 cutlets
  • ½ onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 3cm piece ginger
  • 5cm piece lemongrass
  • Sprig curry leaves
  • 200ml (half a tin) coconut cream
  • 200g (half a tin) crushed tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp Sri Lankan roasted curry powder
  • 2 tbsp Sri Lankan curry paste (*we can teach you to make this, just ask)
  • 2 paratha/flatbreads, chef to provide
  • (v –  300g raw unsalted cashew nuts
  • ½ onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 3cm piece ginger
  • Small sprig curry leaves
  • 1 small tomato
  • 3cm piece cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • ½ tsp chilli powder
  • ½ tsp cumin powder
  • 1/2 tbsp Sri Lankan roasted curry powder
  • 200ml (half tin) coconut cream
  • 3 paratha/flatbreads, chef to provide)

Method

  1. Tie back long hair, wash hands and wear an apron. Stabilise your cutting board using damp paper towel.  Gather your ingredients and equipment.
  2. Marinate chicken – put chicken pieces in casserole dish and rub chicken pieces with roasted curry powder. (v – mix cashews with roasted curry powder and a splash of coconut cream.
  3. Prepare aromatics and place in casserole dish with chicken (v- cashews):
    1. Finely chop onion.
    2. Mince garlic.
    3. Grate ginger.
    4. Finely chop curry leaves
  4. Add all other ingredients to the casserole dish with chicken (v- cashews). Mix to combine.  Make sure there is about 2cm of liquid in the pan – if not, add water.
  5. Note on foil: Bake at 160 for 1h 30m. 
  6. Clean down, and run all equipment through the dishwasher. Wipe and put cooktop and all other equipment away.  Scrape, clean, squeegee and sanitise bench. Quickly sweep your area.
  7. At home, bake at 160 for 1h 30m. Check halfway and add more water if the original level has dropped by more than half.  Add paratha to oven for last 15 minutes to heat.  Serve with some chopped cucumber, red onion and tomato, if you wish.
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