RASSA – a new digital cookery school is for people looking to create authentic dishes from across the globe. Rassa has teamed up with pro chefs like Budgie Montoya (Sarap Bistro) to create 12-week courses to not only help people get creative in the kitchen, but it also gives an insight into different cultures and specialised ingredients, to help create those authentic dishes.

I am always keen on trying new ways to get me creative in the kitchen, mainly those that can make my life easier in the kitchen, little fuss is my type of cooking. Being a fan of Filipino food, I opted for The Filipino Kitchen: East Meets West course. Led by world-renowned chef Gene Gonzalez and Budgie Montoya.

Once enrolled in the three-month course you will receive:

• A box each month full of specialist ingredients
• A membership to the cookery course, led by pro chefs.
• Live creative workshops, real-time cook-along sessions, Q&As and pre-recorded videos
• Exclusive access to the Rassa community, where you can share your journey
• Virtual tours of the chefs’ homelands and an insight into their food cultures

I was very keen to learn how to cook pork adobo, I have eaten chicken and pork adobo in Filipino restaurants and street food markets, so needless to say I was very excited! Before the course started I received a delivery of dry ingredients, which included the Filipino vinegar and soy sauce, the key ingredients for this meal, not any old soy sauce would do…

When I logged online, I watched the ingredients introduction video, which talked through the different ingredients, I couldn’t wait to try my hand at braising the pork. A week or so later, the cooking video came online, I received an email detailing the time and date to join in the live cooking class, alas I wasn’t going to be home on that date to make the live cooking class, but it wasn’t a problem as the video would then be uploaded onto the RASSA site for me to login and watch at a later date. I bought the pork and a few other ingredients from the supermarket to complete the ingredients list. I found the cooking video by Mark really easy to follow along, it felt effortless and calming, which really helped in cooking along stress-free. The prep was pretty easy and once all ingredients were in the pot, I waited an hour and a half for the pork to cook.

Once cooked Mark gives you the option to just plate up or fry the pork to create a crispy skin. I choose for the latter, to add a little more flavour by frying the pork in fat. I excitedly plated up for me and my two guests along with a side of Jasmine rice. The pork was soft and tender, and tasted delicious. For future pork adobo dishes, I may just reduce the amount of Vinegar I use, the best thing about learning to cook a dish you like, is on the second time around you can do a few tweaks to get the dish to your liking. To “adobo” something means to cook it in vinegar and aromatics, I had a lot of marinade leftover, which I popped into the fridge to use on another dish.

On the three-month course you get to cook a new meal once a week, some of the dishes include: Arroz Caldo & Salted Duck Egg, Seafood Sinigang, Oxtail Kare Kare, Suman and BBQ Pork Skewers. Logging into your own account allows you to view these cooking videos, along with an ingredients introduction video, and articles on the history of some of the dishes and why it is so popular. You will also get newsletters weekly, to keep you inspired and more importantly encourage you to get cooking in the kitchen.

Happy and proud of any of your dishes? You can share them in the community section.

Fancy a taster before signing up for a three-month course? Head on over to their website to sign up, and get your creative juices flowing in the kitchen!

Costs: £150 a month

For more information and to sign up to Cook Rasa visit: www.joinrassa.com

Photography courtesy of RASSA