HYDERABAD : Culinary students of the city were in for a treat on Friday when they participated in a first-of-its-kind workshop organised by Pioneer Institute of Hotel Management on Japanese cuisine. Experts from the Japanese culinary industry, Yasushi Kawoshimo and Hirofumi Masaki, were flown in to teach the participants about the intricacies of Japanese cuisine.
The workshop kicked off with Masaki demonstrating the equipment required – knives chopsticks, cleavers – for a Japanese meal preparation. Although Japanese cuisine majorly consists of seafood and other meat, this workshop only used vegetarian ingredients as authentic Japanese ingredients are rare to find here. Later the duo went on to prepare Miso Soup, a slow cooked vegetable broth. Kawashimo said, “This is home food in Japan. This is what mothers make.”
After the participants got to taste the soup, next up was tempura. “Tempura looks easy but is very difficult as the temperature has to be maintained at 180 degrees,” said Kawashimo promptly dipping the tip of his finger into the hot oil evoking gasps. “I have an iron finger to test the temperature but others can check by seeing how deep the batter dips when dropped in the oil,” he calmly said. As the tempura was passed around for the students who were then invited to the cooking table to try their hand at it, Masaki started teaching how to prepare Onigiri sushi, rice moulded into a triangle shape wrapped in nori, seaweed paper. Before dispersing for lunch, the students present took chances to learn sushi skills art first hand from the international chefs, who were more than happy to indulge them.
srividya.palaparthi@newindianexpress.com @PSrividya53