Cookery Classes online – The Positives out of this Pandamic

Early March, I was having lunch with some friends – one of whom is really into buying lovely clothes and going on holidays.  Her Instagram pictures tell the story of a high maintenance lady. We got to talking about Social media and food blogging and she made a remark which made me laugh at the time but rings true today.  She said that she could see herself not buying clothes  but  people would always need food so blogging about food was better than writing about clothes and fashion.

During the pandemic when we were all under quarantine, what she had joked about  rang quite true as we were not spending so much on fashionable clothes and shoes but we still needed to eat and therefore spent a lot more of money on Groceries.  As more people are working  from home, we have taken to social media to look for every answer.  People are not eating out or getting many takeaways, and more of us have started to cook at home.  Most of us started by just cooking regular meals and we are now turning to Social Media and looking for recipes of food we enjoyed eating in restaurants and in my case i was looking for recipes which would be easy to cook with less ingredients like this oatmeal peanut butter cookies.

 

Being a food blogger for a long time and I started teaching Cookery to adults in 2014. I now realise how outdated this article I wrote about setting up cookery workshops is going to look in  a  few years!!  I loved going to the Waitrose Cookery School for one of their classes and really enjoyed the experience .   I loved teaching and meeting different people who were so keen to learn about the Indian vegetarian food and culture. Over the last 10 weeks being in lock down, I have been keeping busy by continuing to teach Indian cookery online. I never thought cookery lessons online would be possible but I have managed  to do several online cookery classes – often by substituting several ingredients.

Using Zoom and Teams – forms of online video communication – I had never heard of!! For my first ever online class, I taught how to make farsi puris,  on Zoom with joindiaspo.com. Cooking online was new for the learners as well as me as a teacher.  I did find this first lesson quite difficult as I had to cook and everyone had to follow along and I wasn’t sure if the learners would be able to follow along.  I was impressed with how user friendly Zoom was and how everyone managed to keep up and cook along and make an unusual dish like farsi puris.

Cooked by my neighbour by cooking along with me.

For our second session, again with joindiaspo.com we cooked Kidney bean and sweetcorn curry using Zoom . Again a very happy buzzing class.

My third Zoom session was done for my colleagues for a team well being event.   We made pakoras using bread and plain flour (as we couldn’t get chickpea flour) and everyone was pleasantly surprised at how well the session went and how nice the pakoras and tomato dip tasted. We also made samosas for another well being event.

Cooked by one of my colleagues

Cooked along with me by my colleagues to enjoy at home

Things have moved along so fast since my cook a long with joindiaspo.com

My friend and fellow blogger Nayna Kanaber and took it in turns to give free online cookery lessons to keep friends, family, neighbours etc. motivated and inspired during this difficult time.  Our online cookery classes are now a positive success story as we have officially launched our Cook with Mina and Nayna Cookery Classes.

Our online classes will be small, friendly and interactive.  We will include a selection of cookery lessons which will have traditional as well as modern fusion type of dishes.  The online cookery lessons are available twice a week and we invite you to cook along with us from anywhere in the World (or in any weather conditions) in the comfort of your own kitchen.

My colleagues including their kids in the cooking

Cook along with my niece who wanted to surprise her dad on Father’s day.

So whether you want to involve the whole family to cook together or have a team bonding event get in touch by emailing us on minaandnayna@gmail.com.  Anyone interested in joining our Classes please use  this link and choose the lesson: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/mina-joshi-and-nayna-kanabar-30548791052.  These classes  have quick and easy recipes ansd usually last 40 minutes.
I also do one to one premium classes which are bespoke to your needs. Get in touch if you are interested or wish to buy a Gift token for a friend. We do a selection of gift tokens.

If you want to know more about me and my story – Read here

Read my story which my local paper did on me : https://www.elystandard.co.uk/what-s-on/mina-joshi-give-me-some-spice-online-cookery-classes-1-6735980

The pandemic has given me the time to find new strengths and I am  really excited to share my  journey with you – our readers.  It’s important to remain positive and enjoy the moment each day.  One of the way some people cope and manage the day is by writing a journal .

I hope that you will all continue to motivate me and my team.

Since this Post was written, things have changed.  One of them was loosing my husband who was the silent partner in my journey.  A lot of this would not have been possible without his motivation.  I am back to giving face to face classes as I like teaching this way more than online.

if  you have a hunger for Authentic Vegetarian Food then subscribe to my blog and receive delectable recipes and new Innovative foodie updates! Hungry for more Vegetarian Tips ? LIKE us on facebook,  Follow us on Twitter,  Pinterest and Instagram.  All the recipes are with step by step instructions and photographs and all of them have been tried, tested, easy to cook and delicious.

If you are interested in one to one or group cookery lessons, or any corporate team building events  – email me on givemesomespice@gmail.com for more information.