Okinawa Cooking Class in Tokyo

Louis and I had free time Sunday afternoon, so we attended a cooking class near Tsukishima station in Tokyo. The class was made up of around 30 people from many different places. There were some native born Japanese people, along with people from the US, Brazil, and Canada to name a few. The class focused on cooking three dishes that are popular in Okinawa. Here we are before the class, ready to cook!

Upon arrival, the teachers assigned you to a station. Groups of four or five people were at each station and worked together to prepare each dish for the group. The teachers get there early to set up trays that have ingredients for each dish separated onto them. 

These trays held the garnishes for Taco Rice.

 These were the ingredients for Taco Rice.

Ingredients for the Goya Chanpuru.

 Goya is the Japanese name for bitter melon or bitter gourd.  

There wasn't a lot of room left at our station once we received all of our trays! 

Louis and I also prepared before the class, and brought our own aprons. I made sure to color coordinate with mine. 

 First the teacher, the very talented Chef Machiko Tateno, demonstrated how to cut all of the vegetables for the dishes. Then, everyone was dismissed to their stations to replicate what she had done. Once finished, we all gathered around again to watch her prepare and cook the food. 

Some of the pictures used in this post are from one of the organizers (a great photographer) of the cooking class, including this next one. I am 100% positive that those are my hands in the next picture. I am busy removing the sprouted end of each bean sprout. Yes. Each. And. Every. One. Apparently it lends to a better texture in the final dish if they are removed. Thank goodness I painted my nails before we went! 

 Once finished, we all gathered around again to watch how to prepare and cook the food. 

Look what good listeners we are!

At this point, seeing and smelling the completed dishes motivated everyone to work together and finish up. Look how busy everyone is!

Here is the completed three dish set. Starting at the top and moving clockwise: Wakame and Okra Soup, Goya Chanpuru, and Taco Rice.

The Chef was really friendly and knowledgable. Plus she got to class hours before any of the students arrived to make everyone desert... Grape flavored gelatin with whole grapes inside... yes!

Here is the group enjoying eating the food. 

 Louis and I didn't necessarily love every dish prepared. The okra in the soup was very slimy and the bitter melon was still, well, very bitter. However I feel confident that I could not only recreate these dishes at home but also make slight changes to the recipes so that we enjoy them more. For example, I am planning on making Goya Chanpuru in the near future, but will take extra care to remove the bitterness from the goya and will only add dried smoked bonito to my dish, and not Lou's. 

I can't wait to attend another class! Louis said he would like the class better if he could drink beer during it...