A Taste of India

A Taste of India:

A unit plan for an exploration of the staple spices and ingredients of Indian Cuisine.

By Reid Anderson (andersonr at easternct dot edu)

Overview

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Lesson 3

Long Lesson

Resources

Topic	Sadya (a Feast)
Objectives	- Students will gain hands on experience cooking an Indian Sadya (Feast). - Students will use the internet and other sources to research a recipe of their own choosing. - Students will use a computer to create an informational report on their recipe (including the recipe itself), covering the ingredients and other material learned throughout the unit.
Materials	- A supply of ingredients necessary to cook the particular dish (including banana leaves for the traditional presentation of the meal). - A supply of kitched utensils and appliances necessary to cook the dish. - Copies of the recipe for the chosen meal.
Procedure	This lesson is completely "hands-on". Students can be divided into groups (pending class size) and each group can either cook their own copy of the recipe or the smaller groups can each be responsible for a portion of the collective meal. This may be influenced and determined by the class size and capabilities. Depending on the decision of multiple groups each cooking the whole meal or each cooking a portion of the meal, the teacher may be leading a step by step procedure in typical cooking class style or may be working among the groups, checking in with each group to ensure proper preparation of the meal. Depending on the class size, it may be helpful to have an assistant on this day, perhaps even making a connection with a cook/chef from a local Indian restaraunt. Of course, the meal chosen should be able to be prepared in one hour, leaving twenty minutes to enjoy the meal and clean-up afterwards.
Assessment	While this lesson may be performed at the beginning, middle, or end of the week, an assessment can be completed at the close of the curricular unit. Students can be asked, either individually or in groups, to research a different meal than the one prepared in class. Students, or groups of students would then be asked to prepare a presentation for the class covering the researched meal. It is expected that students would create Powerpoint style presentations. It may be necessary, given the level of experience of the students, to add an additional lesson to this unit covering the basics of creating Powerpoint presentations. The teacher should provide a rubric for the assignment that clearly states the expectations of the assignment. Students should be expected to provide the name of the meal, a list of ingredients, a photo of the completed meal, and step by step instructions for preparing the meal. Students should also provide a few short paragraphs (in spoken form) covering the background material (religious influences, etc) on the ingredients that they learned throughout the curricular unit.