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A Cooking Class in Kuala Lumpur

A Cooking Class in Kuala Lumpur

Are you looking for a way to immerse yourself in a local culture? A great way you can do this is by taking a local cooking class where you’ll have the opportunity to cook some delicious traditional dishes of the country you’re in.

I was lucky enough to participate in a half-day cooking class during my recent visit to Malaysia and although I was initially skeptical about whether I’d enjoy it, it was a terrific experience that I would recommend to anyone.

Malaysian Cooking Class Ingredients

The ingredients for our first dish - Savoury Meat Filled Cups.

After arriving at LaZat, a cooking school held within a contemporary Malaysian home, my first thoughts were “let’s hurry up and get this over and done with”. We had only arrived in Kuala Lumpur around 5 hours earlier and were running on very little sleep – not the ideal situation when you’re about to work with knives and over a red-hot stove.

But after meeting our friendly instructor Saadiah and putting on my beautiful pink and peach apron, my enthusiasm for the class quickly grew and before you know it I had learned how to crack an egg with one hand (although my effort wasn’t the greatest attempt at executing this task).

Saadiah preparing Kuih Cara Berlauk

Saadiah preparing Kuih Cara Berlauk - Savoury Meat Filled Cups.

The first thing on the menu, as you’ve probably established from the photos, were savoury meat filled cups cooked in cara moulds. These were pretty simple to make – fry the meat filling, prepare the garnish and the batter and then place the mixture into the moulds to cook.

Thinking these delicious cups were the main course, I indulged in several of them before realizing that they were only the appetizer. Whoops!

My Savoury Cups

The Malaysian ladies took this photo for me to bring home to mom. Pretty apron, huh?

I quickly discovered that still to come on the menu was Nasi Lemak with Condiments, Sambal Tumis Udang (Prawns in Chilli Paste) and Sago Gula Melaka for dessert (Sago Pudding with Palm Sugar Syrup).

Over the next hour or so our group prepared these items and a lunchtime feast for ourselves that could rival food served in a restaurant. Well, maybe not that great, but the food is always better when you’ve prepared it yourself! I’m not even a big seafood fan but these prawns had a truly fantastic flavor.

Sambal Tumis Udang

The main course - Prawns in Chilli Paste with Nasi Lemak.

As I’ve already mentioned, taking a cooking class is something that I highly recommend you try on your next overseas trip. Even if you’re not the greatest in the kitchen, the expert guidance of a cooking teacher is enough to help you to prepare something that is at the very least edible… and the best part is, there’s help on hand to wash up all your dishes so you don’t have to do the dirty work!

I’m really looking forward to participating in another cooking class with Amy during our round-the-world trip… something in Italy or France would be ideal I think! Mmm… home-made pizza!

How do you immerse yourself in the local culture? Have you ever tried a local cooking class?

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