Category: <span>Cape Town</span>

For my birthday gift, Lois bought me an Airbnb experience. It was a spice-blending masterclass, in my home city Cape Town. It was far more than just a masterclass, it included a lovely meal and conversation in somebody’s home. Our host, Paschelle, explained how different spices add different flavours to dishes, when to add spices, and she gave us lots of tips of using and blending spices for different types of food.

Spice selection (we used all but one of these spices).

11 different spices roasting, they will become garam masala once ground.

Starters (I was so busy I neglected to get photos of the mains), for mains we had a chicken dish, a vegetarian brinjal dish, a dal, rice, poppadoms and roti. We finished off with masala tea (Paschelle is super-flexible about the menu).

In short, there was plenty of food. I don’t even usually eat brinjal, but it was so tasty I even had seconds!

Our host, Paschelle, who is an excellent host and cook. If you’re interested in the class, you can find it on Airbnb. Insider tip, Paschelle creates a few spice blends and masala teas to order, so maybe check with her ahead of the class if you plan on taking a stash home with you (the take-home garam masala is included in the experience price).