Koliyan: Workshops to Get your Cambodian Cooking On

Are you looking to expand your cooking horizons?

There’s a new plant-based workshop sensation: that happens to be vegan.

Koliyan, founded by Anna Hitchens, began as she created delicious Cambodian desserts and expanded to savory foods. Eventually, she opened up shop at Koliyan’s test kitchen (6th & Catherine), and offers cooking workshops.

Koliyan Philly: Cambodian cooking Workshops

I recently joined the Cambodian Curry Workshop, earlier this Spring. The afternoon began with us traditionally sitting on the floor to begin our culinary journey. Every detail got me more and more excited to expand my cooking skills.

Tim Hitchens, Anna’s husband, served papaya and Cambodian desserts for us to try. He told us stories about first dating Anna, having to run home and Google “What is Cambodia” on their second date, eventually falling in love with the country years later while traveling there with Anna.

As the Koliyan workshop began, Anna shared her experiences about cooking with her family in the kitchen for hours, preparing the perfect meal. With much of the food handmade, she brought this experience to us.

Anna loves sharing the stories as much as we enjoyed hearing them. As she said,

 The cooking workshops have been my favorite part of Koliyan because I get to share stories of growing up in the kitchen. I like to say that when you come for a workshop, it’s like walking into my home kitchen and sharing a meal with my family. Also, written recipes aren’t a thing in many Cambodian households so teaching the workshops allows me to share traditional techniques, encourages me to write down recipes and showcase my favorite Cambodian dishes!

The requests were to chop all of the curry ingredients by hand, instructed to be chopped as fine as possible. (Clearly I need help with my knife skills… and had slightly thicker curry than the professional chef’s version beside me.)

Next, was the grinding. And grinding. And grinding. By hand. I somewhat got this down…

After two hours of chopping, grinding and smashing the ingredients, we all had our own jars of curry to take home. Anna then cooked a Cambodian stir fry using freshly-made curry, so we could all sample how to use our finished product.

Although I’ve taken other cooking workshops, this was quite an interesting experience with a piece of Cambodian culture. Anna shared a piece of her passion for Koliyan with us, and we bonded a little as a class.

As I’ve said time and time again, it’s better to spend money on experiences instead of possessions. Whether you want to give a gift, spend time with a loved one or expand your own cooking skills, check one of Koliyan’s upcoming workshops.

Plus, Anna provides a meat-free experience with new tools to try. Take it from her:

During the workshops participants learn how to make flavorful dishes using only healthy and fresh vegetables—no animal products needed. Many of those who come to the classes are meat eaters so I love that a lot of them leave motivated to incorporate more vegetables in their diet and cut back on their meat consumption. I also learned that participants love the communal cooking experience especially for classes conducted on an open floor table using unfamiliar primitive kitchen tools like mortar and pestle for curry paste or a wooden bench coconut grater to make freshly squeezed coconut milk.

Upcoming Koliyan Philly events

This Saturday, she’s they’re a collaborative brunch with new co-tenants (Barlume Apothecary and Other Animal Coffee) in the space on the July 18th from 11:00 AM -2:00 PM and a Banh Chao Workshop on July 24th.

They also will host a private workshop for groups, too!

Readers, have you taken a class at Koliyan? Tell us in the comments.