Cooking Afternoon With 50Young.

50young is the group of people above the age of 50 years. Initiated by Anita Gurnani, Anand Gurnani and Kamal Raheja, the group has grown within one year to more than thousand members, all from different sect of society, all with common goal- to enjoy the life to its fullest as they pass through rocky path of seniority. Many of its members are talented lot, who meet regularly and inspire each other with their success stories. Their focus topics include beauty, fashion, art, culture, money, finance, health, wellness, technology, travel, etc, Workshops and forum are held regularly, you may see them in groups, enjoying a walk down the sea shore, savouring street food by the beach, or encouraging each other in some or the other workshop.

The most popular workshop that they enjoy the most is indoor creative activities like dancing,cooking, gift wrapping, decoupage, pottery, etc. Last week I had the privilege to attend their cooking workshop ‘Dessert in the Jar’ by  Rashmi Ahuja and ‘low Calorie Buggers’ by Sheela Sagar.

Sheela Sagar and Rashmi Ahuja are sisters who have passion for cooking. Sheela Sagar is the costume designer by proffession having won the ITA awards 2008 for best costume for ‘Jai Shri Krishna’ and ITA awards 2007 for best costume for ‘Dharti Ka Veer Yodha Pritviraj Chauvan’. “I wanted to teach cooking when I was young but life took over and my interest was kept on back burner” says Sheela.

Now at the most relaxed age of 50 plus, Sheela and her sister Rashmi have joined hands in pursuing their culinary passion and have started their cooking workshops for 50 young group. Mrs Anita Gurnani is the most gracious hostess, who allows the use of her private home in Bandra to full-house, jam-packed cooking workshops.

Rashmi Ahuja demonstrated the preparation of Eggless Tiramasu in a jar. Eggless blueberry mousse in a jar and Eggless Pineapple cheese cake in a jar

Sharing the recipe of the dessert with kind permission from Rashmi Ahuja

Eggless Pineapple Cheese Cake In a Jar

Ingredients

8-10 digestive biscuits (powdered)

2tsp melted butter

50 grms hung yogurd

50gms condensed milk

50gms cream cheese

50gms whipped cream

few drops of lemon yellow color

few drops of pinapple essence

1cup chopped pinapples (tin)

1packet pinapple jelly

Mint leaves for decorations

Method

Set jelly as instructed

Crush biscuits. Add melted butter, put this mixture at the base of the jar. Press lightly and keep in fridge for 5 minutes

In a bowl, blend together yogurd, condensed milk and cream cheese to a smooth texture. Fold in whipped cream. Keep in fridge for 10 minutes. Remove and put this cream mixture in the piping bag

Assembel the dessert in the jar. On the top of the biscuit mixture, put layer of pinapple pieces. Pipe out the cream mixture. Decorate with jelly and mint leaves.

Sheela Sagar demonstrated the preparation of ‘low calorie Veggie burger’ and ‘Cole Slaw Salad’.

Sharing the recipe of Salad with kind permission from Sheela Sagar.

Cole Slaw Salad

Ingredients

2tbsp hung curd

2tbsp eggles diet mayonaise

1cup grated carrot

1cup shredded cabbage

4-5 finely chopped salad leaves

½ tsp black pepper

pinch of salt

Method

Mix all the above ingredients.

The workshop was a great success. Besides learning a new skill, there is interaction between members over tea and the food.

And then the tasting of the food. For just Rs200, it was quite a feast!!

A perfect afternoon full of smiles…..

Cooking for a Cause

During this Joy Giving week, Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal decided to celebrate the festival of giving in a different way and I was the benefactor (I chose to be), receiving the tips of her culinary skills through her cooking demonstration at Courtyard Marrriott’s Chinese restaurant ‘Red Sun’  that included some of the dishes which she has created herself by trial and error method and had been successful.

 This was the charity demonstration, proceeds of which would actually benefit the people affected by leprosy living in Baratapuram colony at Chennai.

We were a small group of about 20 members watching closely as she created four dishes in just two hours.

She started her session with cooking demonstration on ‘Tamarind Prawn’, A very simple dish and yet so tasty.

In a bowl she made the combination of sweet/sour/salty sauce by mixing lemongrass, fish sauce, brown sugar and tamarind till dissolved.

In a wok, she fried garlic till golden brown and added lemon grass, Thai chilies, till crisp, then in went the sweet/sour mixture solution to simmer till it was slightly reduced. The sweet aroma of lemon grass was stronger in the room but our attention was fixed on the aromatic fumes emerging from the pans. She added kaffir lime leaves and finally the prawns, stir-fried just for a minute on each side in the sauce and the dish was ready to eat. I shared this recipe with my cousin, who promptly cooked for her hubby earning a brownie point.

The other dishes that she cooked were Asian coleslaw, White sesame curry and Anise and Orange Chicken Puloa.

The cooking demonstration was followed by delicious lunch and the hotel had designed an edible miniature Marriott Home donation box where we could dare to care by helping those who needed our assistance.

Tummy was protesting and we all headed towards the dining room for yummicious lunch

Lovely afternoon where we ate, thought and talked about food.

Rushina is a food blogger who is passionate about her cooking. I met her the first time at Nature Basket, where I am a frequent shopper. And later I attended her workshop at Kala Ghoda Festival, and then there have been many other events where I do bump into her but she is a warm person and is always willing to share her culinary tips.

I have met her several times now and I hope to become good friends in future since we share a common interest and that is:
To cook for the people we love.