Pots 'n Pans cooking course

Our cooking courses have often been the highlight of our travels and our cooking course in Hanoi was another fantastic experience.

Cooking courses are a new venture at Pots 'n Pans, a fusion restaurant run by graduates of the KOTO training program, which works with street and disadvantaged youth. We were the first people to try the cookery course and we really enjoyed it. After a short visit to the local market to buy some pandan leaves, we quickly got to work.

First up was the pannacotta dessert made with coconut cream and pandan leaves. Not a difficult recipe but one that will now feature prominently on my dinner party menu! I can't believe that I have never made this before! The final result was amazing, light and creamy with a subtle pandan taste, which went perfectly with the mulled wine cherries and crunchy pepper tuile.

Next up were the prawn and pork lemongrass squewers. I had seen these on Luke Nyugen's tour of Vietnam and I couldn't wait to try them. While Anthony was busy bashing up the pork and prawns, which later Joel admitted could have been done in the blender, I set to work on trimming the lemongrass. After adding ingredients to flavour and bind the pate, we were soon busy making the squewers. Joel made it look easy, but there is definitely a technique to this; ours all fell apart as soon as we picked up the cooked squewers. The flavour was delicious especially with the light sweet and salty sauce that went with them and the different textures that came from the pieces of prawns that hadn't become smooth in the pâté.

After that it was time to move on to the salmon croquettes. By this time Joel had realised that we were confident cooks and we moved on to learning new cooking techniques. For Anthony this was lime aioli and for me, how to poach a quail's egg in cling film and to make the perfect quenelle. I am not sure that my quenelles were perfect but by the time I had finished all the mix, they were definitely looking more like the one Joel had demonstrated. After being coated in breadcrumbs, the final result was delicious but I would have liked more aioli to be served with them.



For the main course, we wrapped thinly sliced beef coated with a peppery sticky sauce around mushrooms and herbs and pinned them with toothpicks (another technique I intend to use again). When they appeared on the plate, they had held their shape perfectly and I was surprised at how tender the meat was considering how thinly the meat was sliced.

When we had finished all the prep, it was time to head downstairs to the main restaurant and relax with a drink before our meal. The meal was fantastic, a lovely gastronomic experience with lots of additional touches to make the diner feel really special. We enjoyed the impeccable service and at times found it hard to believe that we were the creators of such great food.

I would highly recommend this course. Not only was the course interesting snd practical, but the luxury dining experience afterwards was fantastic. Chef Joel was able to answer my many, many questions and patiently suggested alternatives when I explained that some of the ingredients might be difficult to get hold of in Baku. I learnt lots of new techniques today, not just for these dishes, but techniques that I will be able to use at home. I can't wait to get the recipes and start trying them out when we get back to Baku. Thank you Joel and all the team at Pots 'n Pans for a fantastic time!

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