It was a very cold day for the middle of April, so I was very pleased to be greeted by an “Everyday Chai” Tea as I took my seat. I love Chai anytime, but even more so when I am cold. This one really hit the spot.The class started promptly and Winery Chef Michael Allemeier introduced Bal to us. Immediately, she was not at all what I expected. I’m not sure exactly what it was that I was expecting, but Bal’s enthusiasm, energy, and ever-present smile were certainly a pleasant surprise. I should also pass on that in my experience (specifically with Vikram, Bal, Michael, and Ned Bell) celebrity chefs are far more down to earth and approachable than you could possibly imagine.Bal asked us all if we were hungry and the class responded unanimously in the affirmative. She told us not to worry, because she would have food out to us in eight minutes. As she started preparing the first dish, Bal began to share with us her philosophy for cooking. She grew up in a small village in India and learned to cook using fresh seasonal ingredients and advocates simple, healthy, and easy to follow recipes.

As she was explaining this to us, she would interrupt herself at very regular intervals to share whatever stories and anecdotes popped into her head. Eight minutes quickly passed and with each subsequent story, you could see Michael getting a little more stressed in the background as he continually looked at the clock and reminded Bal that “we should get these people some food.”

Nobody in the class seemed to mind though. All of Bal’s stories were entertaining at the very worst and some were enthralling. Not only were we getting a cooking lesson, and the opportunity to eat some great food and drink some delicious wine, but we were getting classes on everything from life in rural India, to marriage advice in contemporary Canada.

The first dish we were served (albeit after forty minutes, not eight) was a salad of organic greens with fresh mango and paneer pakora croutons topped with a light mango dressing. This salad was very good. It combined some very subtle flavours, but none of them were lost with the bright, vibrant flavour of the fresh mango. The pairing of the Mission Hill Pinot Grigio was an excellent choice. I found that the wine really enhanced some of the more subtle flavours in the salad.

The salad may have taken forty minutes to prepare, but that is because Bal was doing a lot more talking than cooking. All of her recipes were actually very simple and straightforward. I was blown away at how easy it was to make homemade paneer (kind of like an Indian Ricotta). Bal really did an incredible job of demystifying Indian cuisine.
The other impressive thing about Bal’s cooking is that she doesn’t without the aid of any electric mixers or food processors and it is still very simple and straightforward. When she told us this she laughed, because Cuisinart is one of her major sponsors. She suggested we go out and buy their products and put them in the cupboard and not use them.

The next dish Bal prepared was a Yam Soup with Roti (unleavened bread). This dish came together incredibly quickly and if you do pickup her cookbook is likely something you’ll find yourself making for a quick lunch on a cold rainy day. The truly amazing thing about this dish is how good it tastes, despite containing absolutely no unhealthy ingredients. I couldn’t believe how good this soup was, despite it containing nothing but yams, water and spices. The roti was also very healthy, containing whole-wheat flour, lentils, and broccoli; however, it wasn’t as good as the soup. The flavour was good, but it was a little to dry for my liking.

This dish was paired with the Mission Hill Five Vineyards Riesling. This pairing wasn’t as good as the first one, but it worked pretty well. The sweetness of the Riesling was a good match for the yams, but I’m not sure how well the lemon notes worked with the flavour of the soup.

The dish I was most looking forward to trying was the No-Butter Chicken, a healthy take on the most common Indian dish in North America. The chicken itself was a little disappointing, as the dish was a little bland overall. I don’t think it was a function of not using butter or ghee in the recipe, but it was instead a product of the wrong blend or amount of spices. That being said, the sides served with the No-Butter Chicken were delicious.

The Brown Basmati with Green Peas was easily some of the best rice I’ve ever had. It was cooked perfectly and had an incredible nutty flavour. The other side was a Chana Masala (chick pea curry) and it was also very good. The chick peas were a tiny bit undercooked for my taste, but flavour was outstanding.

The wine pairing with the no-butter chicken really surprised me. Pinot Noir was probably the last wine I would have though to pair with this dish, but Bal and/or Michael decided that the Mission Hill Five Vineyards Pinot Noir would be a good match. I tried the wine before I started the dish and I was very disappointed. It really lacked any discernible flavour and was one of lightest Pinot Noirs I have ever had. However, as soon as I took a bite of the food the flavour in the wine exploded! When paired with food, this wine does a complete one-eighty. It had great pepper notes and ended up being a perfect pairing with the No-Butter Chicken and the Chana Masala.

Rice pudding seems to be a very polarizing dessert, people either love it or hate it. I am a proud, card-carrying member of the “love it” camp and was very interested to try Bal’s Brown Rice Pudding with Lapin Cherries and White Peach. Bal really believes in healthy cooking, and following with her philosophy did not sweeten the pudding. On its own, it wasn’t very good, because it lacked sweetness, but when eaten with the Lapin Cherries and White Peach it was awesome. The sweetness of the fruit was more than enough to carry the whole dish, and the texture of the brown rice was extremely satisfying. This was a really creative and delicious way to serve a healthy dessert.

Dessert was paired with Mission Hill’s Reserve Riesling Icewine. This was a very good pairing as the wine added some sweetness to the unsweetened pudding and all of its bright fruity flavours matched really well with the peach and cherry in the dessert.

While this wasn’t my favourite cooking class (that honour goes to another Mission Hill class guest hosted by Vikram Vij), it was a very close second. Bal was incredibly entertaining and just interacting with her would have been worth the price of admission. She not only kept us in stitches for most of the class, but she also shared a lot of very personal stories with us. It was truly a treat to be able to experience this class.