A Trip to Migrateful Cooking Class

Last week, Cotton Tree members, staff and volunteers journeyed to Migrateful cookery school where we took part in an exciting tutorial led by Chef Fatima, who loves experimenting with ingredients and sharing her recipes with others. Fatima taught us about how to make two traditional Iranian dishes, Ash-e Goje and vegetable samosas with a minty yoghurt dip, sharing stories and memories with us about her hometown along the way. She says, “By sharing these dishes, I hope to recreate fond memories I have of Iranian food and culture. Iranian people are very hospitable. I’m happy to welcome you to my class, to give you a taste of the country and people.”

First, Fatima demonstrated how to make her favourite vegetarian dish - Ash-e Goje, bursting with borlotti beans, tomatoes, rice, vegetables, fresh herbs and spices mixed together in one large pan to create amazing flavours and rich colours. She also showed us how to make a green garnish to sprinkle on top, dried mint cooked with oil and the star ingredient of the day - abghooreh, sour young grape juice which Fatima loves so much she used to drink it from the bottle.

Next, she explained how to make vegetable samosas using mashed potato, peas, sweetcorn and tasty spices. We each took it in turns to roll the filling into triangle parcels using flatbread, before frying them and dipping them in the minty yoghurt dip. These crispy fresh spicy samosas were a real crowd pleaser!

After the demonstrations were done, we all gathered round to sit and eat the amazing healthy food Fatima had made for us, chatting with new friends. We loved this visit and the work Migrateful does to celebrate refugees and migrants on their journey to integration and employment, unifying people and building bridges through the power of food.