Join Melek Erdal, a chef, cookery teacher, writer and specialist in Middle Eastern cooking, to learn how to prepare a healthy authentic feast that celebrates this part of the world.  Melek will show you how to turn everyday pantry ingredients into a feast for the eyes, hearts and stomachs.

The class will include:

• Learning to make your own feast of authentic middle eastern dishes; slow cooked confit chickpeas, filled Kurdish flatbreads known as gozleme, traditional hummus, and red cabbage & parsley slaw
• How to make a simple unleavened flatbread dough and the versatile ways to use it, including sweet and savoury fillings 
• How to make authentic hummus 
• Make a beautiful salad packed with flavour 
• Tips on how to cook without recipes, layering textures and flavours, and how to time manage when cooking multiple dishes
  
• How to peel a pomegranate
• Knife and presentations skills
• Opportunity to ask Melek questions
• Recipe handout

For ingredients and equipment needed see below 

About Melek

Melek is an Istanbul-born Kurdish chef and homegrown Hackney-ite. Her style of cooking is strongly influenced by her Kurdish and Turkish heritage and the broader Middle East, as well as growing up in multicultural London.  Having trained at the Westminister Cooking school, Melek opened her popular cafe in Dalston in 2013. Melek has moved on to community activism working both on a local and international level;  teaching cookery in communities, making films and writing about food culture.  Melek is passionate about using food as a way to bring people together and communicate culture and history.

Fee: £20 (£10 concession).  All funds raised go towards our community meal service providing free nutritious, tasty meals to households who need them during these challenging times. 

If you are able to donate to our crowdfunder please visit https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/...

If you would like to be added to our FREE online community class mailing list - just drop a line to classes@madeinhackney.org. Please note that, in the interest of fairness, opportunities to attend free classes are limited. 

Refunds: we require a minimum of 24 hours' notice for any cancellations or transfers once you have booked onto a class.

INGREDIENTS LIST  

    Confit Chickpeas

• 2 tins chickpeas drained
• 11 garlic cloves
• 200ml Extra Virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 30g fresh ginger
• 1 red chilli
• 1 lime
• 300g cherry tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons chilli flakes
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 2 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 2 teaspoon cumin seeds
  
  Proper hummus:
  
  
• 2 x 400g tins chickpeas or 300g dried chickpeas (soaked in 1 teaspoon bicarb overnight/min 8hrs)
• 130g tahini
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• pinch cumin
• 1-2 garlic cloves
• 2 ice cubes
• Pinch salt
  
  Flatbread and gozleme dough:
  
  
• 200g wholemeal flour
• 2 pinches of salt
• 100-150ml lukewarm water

Gozleme filling: savoury and sweet

spinach and mushroom:

• 300g chestnut mushrooms
  
• 4 spring onions
• 1 bunch long stem spinach / 1 pack regular spinach
• pinch sea salt
• pinch aleppo chilli flakes (or regular chilli flakes)
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
  
  Tahini & date syrup:
  
• 1 ripe banana
• 2 tablespoons tahini (you can use a nut butter instead)
• 2 tablespoons date syrup (or carob molasses)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  
  Salad:
  
• 1/2 red cabbage
• 1 red onion
• sumac
• 1 pomegranate
• pomegranate molasses (you can use a balsamic vinegar and syrup mix)
• 1 lemon
• 1 handful parsley
• 1 handful mint
• pinch sea salt
  
  Before the class:
  
• soak your chickpeas overnight with 1/2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda. in a large bowl with double is quantity of water
• wash all fresh vegetables
• peel your garlic
• peel your ginger

EQUIPMENT LIST

• 2 sharp knives 
• 1 small and 1 large chopping board
• Rolling pin
• 1 oven proof cooking pot
• 1 regular cooking pan
• 1 wide bottomed flat frying pan
• 1 blender
• 2 kitchen cloths
• 3 tablespoons
• 1 apron
• Colander
• Scales
• 3 mixing bowls
• Peeler
• Can opener
• Serving plates and bowls
• Spatula
• Wooden spoon
  
  

For information: classes@madeinhackney.org / 020 8442 4266

Location: Zoom, details to be provided via email (usually the day before the class). Check your junk mail if need be!