India

Here are a few Indian-themed community cooking and language event ideas to get you started.  Download the Chicken Rogan Josh recipe and Demonstrator Notes at the bottom of the page.

Click on each country’s page for more ideas and recipes.

Bollywood event

Go to town with a special Bollywood-themed, Diwali or India Day event. Demonstrate how to make Chicken Rogan Josh, explaining some words in Hindi, such as the main ingredients and equipment. You could ask a young person or parent who speaks Hindi at home to lead this session. Serve your curry ‘buffet-style’ with a choice of rice or naan bread and give everyone a copy of the recipe to take home. 

Play Bollywood-style or traditional Indian music and invite everyone to have a go at learning some dance steps – or perhaps a local Indian dance troupe could give a demonstration?  Invite a parent or owner of an Indian dress shop to demonstrate how a sari is worn and you could even invite someone to show people how henna is used to decorate hands and other parts of the body. Paint or draw words in Hindi and use them to decorate your space, along with maps of India and flags. You could include the Values words and integrate them into your display.

Diwali – the Festival of Lights

The Hindu Festival of Lights is also celebrated by Sikhs and Buddhists. Find out more about the Hindi faith and Diwali. Hold your own candle-lit supper and ask pupils to invite a special guest to cook the Chicken Rogan Josh with them. You could translate the recipe into Hindi and English.

Guest speakers

Link up with a local restaurant or Asian supermarket to learn about the ingredients traditionally used in curry.  Find out which dishes come from different regions, which languages are spoken in different parts of India, the range of religions practised there and if there are certain meals that are eaten at different religious festivals. Will they take you on a tour of their kitchen or supermarket and teach you different Hindi words for ingredients?  Finish off your session with a practical cooking session and make Chicken Rogan Josh and sit down together as a group to enjoy your meal.

Spice Discovery Session

Learn about spices commonly used in curry.  Pass them round and ask everyone to smell them (you might like to wrap the spices in muslin first to avoid inhaling them!) Can people think of one word to describe the smell, for example, hot, spicy or peppery? Ask someone to translate each word into Hindi and show you how to write this in Hindi.

Look at fresh, dried and ground spices. Spices can be expensive so ask if a supermarket or other retailer might donate some and, as you only need a small amount, share one packet between your group.  You could make ‘spice parcels’ containing the spices needed in the Chicken Rogan Josh recipe and give everyone a parcel and a recipe to take home. You can buy small re-sealable plastic bags from large stationary retailers or use tin foil.  These parcels would be great as gifts or you could sell them at an event, such as an enterprise day.

Ideas for curry cooking at home

Hold a regular curry night at home. Invite round a few mates (get them to help with the cooking!) or make it a family meal. Ask whoever normally buys the food in your house if you can save the money that might have been spent on an Indian takeaway to treat yourself - you could go swimming, ten pin bowling or have a trip to the cinema! Hire a Bollywood or other Indian-themed DVD for the evening. Watch the movie, have fun practicing the dance routines and cook a delicious Chicken Rogan Josh.

Alternatively, next time you go for a curry in a restaurant, talk to your waiter about where the food comes from, how it is cooked, whether this is a traditional dish or if it has been adapted for British customers? Most will be happy to talk to you about their food. They may even let you talk to the owner or chef! 

Key dates

• Diwali
  5 November 2010
  26 October 2011
  13 November 2012 
   
• International Indian Film Academy Awards (the ‘Bollywood Oscars’)
  16-19 June 2011 (held in Toronto, Canada)
  2010 and 2012 dates yet to be announced