A Cape Malay Cooking Class: An Amateur's Experience

Last month, IES Abroad took us to Bo Kaap for a cooking class amid the famous colorful houses. We made samoosas, dhaltijies (Chilli bites), and the most incredible curry. Personally, I love to cook, but my scope of cooking abilities is limited. I am confident in my ability to make approximately five recipes, including cheesy pasta and grilled chicken, but am easily intimidated by recipes with more than six ingredients and complicated instructions. Because of this, I was excited to stretch my cooking comfort zone, and learn a little more about Bo Kaap while doing so.

After a quick walking tour, we started preparing the Roti, a delicious flatbread to eat alongside the curry. The process involved a particular method of rolling up the dough and flattening it out to ultimately cook it on a pan in light oil right before eating. The curry was also a multi-stepped process which drew up the most delicious smells. In between steps, we made, and sampled, both the samoosas and the dhaltijies.  Of the two, the samoosas were definitely my favorite to make. We each got to fold up meat filling and potato filling inside thin dough pockets and fold it tightly into a perfect triangle shape. Naturally, this felt like a challenge - the fight was on to get a nod of approval and a "good job" from the head cook (who made it look deceivingly effortless). 

The process, of which I’ve uploaded images from below, was well worth the final product. I ate three heaping portions of curry, rice, and roti which culminated in a great nap upon returning home. Perhaps the best part was that we were sent home with the recipes that we had cooked and a bag of curry spices so we can make it at home – which I am beyond excited to try!