Cooking at Sarang

In a moment of insanity, I enrolled in a cooking class.

And passed with flying colours, at least according to Kak Linda, head chef and cooking tutor at Sarang Cookery 🙂

It all started when hubs and I went to Sarang, a Nyonya restaurant in Pudu, Kuala Lumpur, for dinner. The food was outstandingly authentic. You could see and taste that the spice pastes were all painstakingly made from scratch.

When I found out that Sarang offers cooking classes, I signed up without hesitation.

But as the day approached, I grew nervous. Did I have what it takes to survive an intense cooking class? A while back, I signed up for a sewing class and bombed big time. I could feel the teacher’s rising tide of impatience as I struggled to remember every step.

On the day of my class, I turned up at Sarang’s doorsteps again, only to find out there was only one student – me. Six other students from China had cancelled at the last minute. Hmmm…

It worked like this: Kak Indah would demonstrate and explain how to make a dish while I observed, and then I would replicate it. She was a clear and patient teacher who knew her stuff, clever at improvising on the fly and very funny too.

Months of intense home cooking has given me a base in cooking, so I bombarded her with technical questions. She was only too happy to answer them, and even commented, “Wah kamu cepat tangkap ya.. .” (You are fast at catching up)

Within two hours, we made two sets each of ayam rendang, sambal belacan with fried egg and sambal dried prawns w okra.

Verdict?

Nodding approvingly after tasting my cooking, Kak Linda said my sambal dishes were nicer than hers 😱😱. I’m sure she just wanted to be encouraging to a noob. Hubs, who got to eat the dishes for dinner later, said they were tasty as well.

What can I say? I’m better at cooking than sewing

Can’t wait to sign up for another cooking class