Oaks Kitchen Cooking School

I'm a bit of a lover of cooking schools as I almost always pick up a new technique or skill so when my hairdresser recommended Oaks Kitchen Cooking School, I was in! I contacted our friends to see if they wanted to join us.  Of course they did.

So last week we all jumped in our little Zuke and hit the road to Oak Beach located halfway between Port Douglas and Palm Cove.  It is a beautiful area and the climate in that particular spot seems to be perfect for kitchen gardens.  Oaks Kitchen pride themselves in providing from their garden a large percentage of the food that they use in their menus.

As soon as all the participants arrived we were shown around the garden by Chef Ben. The garden itself is no till, no chemical and plants are allowed to roam freely and are very healthy.  They have a lot of companion planting of different flowers to attract all the beneficial insects and also gives the garden an almost cottage feel.

We didn't spend a lot of time in the garden as it was quite a hot day and none of us had thought to bring a hat.  Back in the open plan kitchen we were presented with the menu that would prepare.

The first course was Betel Leaf wrapped crab followed by Silken "Tofu" in a chilli sauce and the third course was a fish curry.  All our ingredients were carefully laid out on a separate table and once we had gathered them it was a simply a matter of watching Ben and then going back to our space to prepare.  There was a fair amount of pounding in the Mortar and Pestle and a little chopping but the end results were amazing.

Betel Leaf wrapped crab meat

None of us were totally in love with the "Tofu" that was made from Buckwheat Flour and water that was allowed to set, but the sauce that we poured over the pretend tofu was delicious and the suggestion by Chef Ben to serve it wrapped in sweet potato leaves was ingenious!

"Tofu" with Chilli Sauce and Sweet Potato Leaf

The fish curry was probably our favourite closely followed by the Betel Leaf Crab.  

Fish Curry

We learnt how to adapt the recipes to suit our personal taste.  Some of us don't like chilli as much as others while Philip and I don't like coriander as much as others.  We simply added less of the ingredient we didn't like.  It is amazing how much Asian food can be adjusted. Understanding the different ingredients used to balance the five tastes of Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter and Unami has you well on the way to producing a top class asian dish. This is a great article describing the Secret Five Tastes.