“The salad dressing has mayonnaise, mustard sauce, vinegar...,” 13-year-old Prarthana proudly announced the ingredients of ‘kartoffel salat,’ amidst preparing the salad dressing for her maiden German dish.
The excitement among the students in peeling the potatoes, chopping the chillies, and mixing the mayonnaise for the potato salad was evident at the German cooking class as part of a vacation camp organised at the Goethe Zentrum in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
Under teacher Martina Wocko’s expert guidance, the children spent a good time cutting vegetables and understanding the recipe for the salad and dressing. It was also learning time when the children tried to speak out the names of food ingredients in German.
Mrs. Wocko, living with her family in the city, not only is an expert in German food, but has already mastered some of the toughest Indian cooking techniques.
“I married a Malayali and settled here in Thiruvananthapuram two years ago. I make both Indian and German food. I can make Idli, dosa, idiyappam… you name it,” said a confident Mrs. Wocko.
The students too proved to be good at making German salad — many are now confident of making salad at their homes.
“Last year we had made pancakes and it was so much fun. I definitely liked the salad, though I feel it should be a little more spicy,” said young Rohan, who loves Indian food because of its spicy nature.
But the real cherry on the cake was the visit from Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany Ingo Karsten, who joined the children at their kitchen enquiring about the dish they were making.
