It’s not often that I get the opportunity to cook with a Food Network chef and there is no telling if I’ll ever be lucky enough to do it again so I jumped at the chance to cook some vegan dishes and chill with celebrity Chef Charles Chen.
The cooking class was hosted by Chef Charles Chen and Talent Jungle place at Freshmade NYC.
The three course menu was simple enough, dumplings to start, sushi for the main course and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. The catch? We had to prep it ourselves and it was all vegan.
Who is the Celebrity Chef Charles Chen You Speak of?
Chef Chen is all about healthy eating. At one point in his life Charles struggled with his health and weighed up to 260 pounds. He was pre-diabetic, lethargic, and had no motivation. Since then he has lost over 100 lbs, reclaimed his health through adopting a whole foods lifestyle and becoming more physically active. He’s married his love of food, love of health and his cheerful attitude to tour the world teaching people to cook and making friends along the way.
One Vegan Dumpling or Two?
Our first course was dumplings. I was happy because I love dumplings so much. They’re one of my favorite things to eat but, though I consider myself a good cook, I was nervous because we were encouraged to use any and everything that was on the table to make the dumplings. I’m not vegan so, I had no idea how it would taste or if I was using too much of one ingredient and not enough of another.
I added corn, zucchini (which I’m really not a fan of but, hey, it’s vegan) , this delicious hot sauce and this ground meatless deliciousness.
I folded them up and prepped them to be boiled. Will you look at the pretty design I used to seal them up.
I felt very luck to have Chef Chen placed my dumplings in the pot for me and guess what, he tried them too and liked them very much.
Voila. My dumplings were done after cooking for about 5-7 minutes. They were delicious.
Sushi This and Sushi That
Now it was on to the main course. Vegan Sushi. This was also going to be my first time making this dish.
I was so tempted to eat the sushi paper by itself but I behaved and looked at the table to see what I could add to my creation.
Okay, I added just a little bit too much so I told Chef Chen that I was making a Sushi Burrito instead of a roll.
Look at how beautiful it came out and it tasted just as good as it looked.
Will you look at that. Look at it. My Vegan Sushi!
Who’s Got Room For Dessert?
There’s always room for dessert and we were making strawberries covered in Matcha Green Tea chocolate and pumpkin seeds.
I made these a while ago and I’m still dreaming about them.
All in all, I had such a great time. It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday and I got to meet a lot of great people. I’m really happy and grateful that Chef Charles Chen extended the invitation to me. I know he’s a pretty busy guy and tours the globe year round but, if he is ever doing a cooking class in your area you should check it out. you won’t be disappointed.
You can check out if Chef Chen will be in your area by visiting his site or by stalking following him on social media: facebook: @charleschentv | twitter: @charleschentv | instagram: @charleschentv