Today, was the first cooking challenge in the kitchen. Everyone was suppose to make their go-to dish, a dish that we know in and out and doesn’t require too much effort. Basically, something that we can quickly make on a weekday night when we don’t have much time or energy.
My go-to dish is okonomiyaki, a Japanese savoury pancake sometimes referred to as Japanese pizza. Normally, it’s made with cabbage but as the name indicates – “okonomi” (as you like) – anything we like can be added and fried to make this fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside pancake.
What makes this pancake so delicious is the okonomi sauce and mayonnaise, that add ultra umami and creaminess to it. I made my sauces from scratch today since they weren’t available in the kitchen and to be honest they are really easy to make. I will share the full recipe tomorrow!
Today’s challenge was also about learning how to cook in the professional kitchen and we were required to use “mise en place” cooking prep method, where all the ingredients need to measured, cut and ready to be used beforehand. This is definitely not the way I normally cook at home, so it took a bit of time to get all the things ready.
The time for this challenge was also limited to only sixty minutes and I could definitely feel the heat towards the end of the hour. I was rushing to get the three identical plates of food ready, as if I was on the Master Chef competition.
We are fifteen people in the class and all of us have very different backgrounds and cooking styles so it was a true feast when we all got to enjoy each other’s dishes. I can’t wait to see how all of us develop our skills by the end of this course!
