Mrs
Rano Suri
Cookery classes for all
Whoever said cooking is a difficult task was ignorant
about easy, healthy and tasty ways to cook delicious meals.
Making cooking simpler by teaching it in a step by step
practical way is Mrs Rano Suri, who has been taking
cooking classes since 1985. She takes the classes at her
Kirti Nagar residence.
 Mrs.
Suri has
been fond of cooking and started this as a mere hobby,
but seeing the response; she now takes the classes all
the year round. According to her, "I started just
for fun and was never serious about it, but as the number
of students grew each year, I couldn't stop it seeing
the enthusiasm of the girls. I teach 14 courses, which
include vegetarian, non- vegetarian, Chinese, Indian,
Mughlai, Mexican, Italian, Continental, Thai, Desserts,
salads, beverages and mocktails, South Indian, microwave
and low calorie cooking.
I also have
1-day special courses, like in a day I handle different
type of paneers, or maybe different types of rotis like
khasta, missi roti, rumali roti, and parantha. All different
variety of pizzas, with sauces, toppings and the base
as well. Different halwas, shakes, mocktails, breakfast
quickies, Sunday brunches, snacks, starters, appetizers,
and high tea menu. Out of all these courses, Chinese is
the most popular followed by Italian and Mughlai.
 I
learnt authentic
Chinese from a Chinese lady who used to visit India. I
also learnt a lot from my mother and grandmother who were
great cooks. I have done a food preservation course in
college, I guess it's all in my blood. As for other type
of cuisine, when I eat out I ask the chef or maybe read
carefully the ingredients and then try it out in my class.
I experiment, observe, inquire and usually the dish turns
out to be well made".
The specialty of Mrs. Suri's cooking is that it's very
simple, the ingredients are available easily and she also
tells her students what to use if a particular ingredient
is not commonly available. In the Vegetarian menu the
modules are salads, appetizers, main course, desserts,
rice, starters and snacks. Each course is for 6 days,
but the vegetarian course is usually for 8 sittings of
two to two and a half-hours. Timings are from 10:30 am
- 1:30 pm in summers and 11am- 2 p.m. in winters. The
fee is Rs 700- 900 for each course, but Mrs. Suri also
teaches free to needy students.
 The
age group is from teenagers to even 65 year old grandmothers,
but the maximum are newly married females, girls out of
school and college, even professionals like lawyers, doctors,
professors as they need quick recipes as they are working.
"New ideas are welcome in the class as it's more
like a family affair, I like interactive sessions. I also
teach Indian cooking like Halwa and Naan in the microwave
and how to cook regular food in the microwave. Generally
users usually use the microwave for regular heating but
my idea is to teach them a dish like Shahi Paneer
in the microwave oven. Also for Chinese food the colour,
spices and flavours come out best in the microwave. Usually
I get around 40- 60 girls from March to September, so
I have a big hall, with microwaves, cooking range, fridge
and a seating capacity of upto 60 to take the classes.
But around 15-16 students are there all the year round,
sometimes mothers, daughters, mothers in law and daughters
in law, sisters in law come together for the classes.The
microwave classes are held mostly in the evenings".
Mrs. Suri also demonstrates for the BPL microwave users,
she is also a part of the VLCC low-cal festivals, where
she demonstrates the benefits of low cal food. For the
BPL group, the naan demo was a failure throughout India
but Mrs. Suri was able to do it for them and she has been
with them since 1995.
 Mrs.
Suri is also writing a children's cook book after
a publisher's wife attended her class and coaxed her into
it. She feels that food for children should be healthy,
tasty, nutritious and also good looking with different
colours. So the book will have tiffin recipes, quick fixes,
food for fussy children, tips, etc. Her daughter in law
is assisting her in this project and after this she plans
to write on microwave cooking.
Mrs. Suri says "My family has been very supportive
of my work, they have encouraged me and appreciated me.
People sometimes get scared if they don't find an ingredient
but my cooking is simple and basic, as I believe in making
the student's foundation strong. I really enjoy my work
and I feel something is missing if they are not held on
a particular day. I have also taken special classes for
boys and men. Chefs from famous restaurants and banquet
halls have taken special classes from me. As for the classes,
I show them how to go about it step by step, then they
note down and see the way to do it, the list of ingredients,
precautionary measures, substitutes, how to plan dinners,
servings, quantity, garnishing and presentation skills.
As for the future I plan to write more books, to try and
add more new recipes and chuck out the old ones and experiment.
Also I want to take out this notion from people's minds
that Italian and Mexican cooking is difficult, they do
not have to buy the sauce, bread and base from the market.
I believe that the dish should be properly served, should
be healthy, tasty and should look good and should be made
from the heart".
By :Jyoti Narang |
5:32:01 PM 
