Chef Ayesha Nurdjaja Returns to Culinary School | Lamb Tagine, Couscous & More

Chef 𝐀𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐚 𝐍𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐣𝐚𝐣𝐚, Executive Chef of 𝘚𝘩𝘶𝘬𝘢 and 𝘚𝘩𝘶𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦 in NYC, heads 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲) for the debut of our new series 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭. In this episode, Chef Ayesha prepares a vibrant 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 alongside recent ICE Culinary graduates.⁣
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On the menu:⁣
• 𝐋𝐚𝐦𝐛 𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 – slow-cooked with warm spices⁣
• 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐬 – colorful and textured⁣
• 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐝 – fresh and bright⁣
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Along the way, Chef Ayesha reconnects with the culinary school community and explores flavors that define her signature style. Alumni chefs then present their own inspired dishes, bringing a fresh perspective to Middle Eastern cooking.⁣
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Experience the energy of a professional 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐧, the creativity of ICE Culinary graduates, and the timeless flavors that inspire Chef Ayesha’s work.⁣
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̲𝙲̲̲𝙷̲̲𝙰̲̲𝙿̲̲𝚃̲̲𝙴̲̲𝚁̲̲𝚂̲:⁣
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0:00 – Recent graduates return to ICE for a special class ⁣
0:36 – Chef Ayesha Nurdjaja on finding success after culinary school⁣
1:29 – Meet the recent ICE alumni cooking with Chef Ayesha Nurdjaja⁣
2:39 – Chef Ayesha introduces her flavorful recipes⁣
3:03 – Chef Ayesha cooks a Moroccan lamb tagine⁣
7:29 – Chef Ayesha cooks couscous with saffron and herbs⁣
11:28 – Chef Ayesha makes a spicy carrot salad ⁣
12:49 – Chef Ayesha makes a cracked olive dukkah ⁣
14:22 – Recent ICE graduates put their own twist on Middle Eastern cuisine⁣
17:04 – Chef Ayesha tastes the recent graduates’ recipes ⁣
20:48 – Chef Ayesha reflects on returning to ICE to teach ⁣
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#ChefAyeshaNurdjaja #CulinarySchool #MiddleEasternCuisine #LambTagine #InstituteOfCulinaryEducation #ChefLife #Tagine #Couscous #MiddleEasternCuisine⁣

So like a almost like a baklava ravioli. Yeah. I feel like that would be my drag name. You know what I mean? Baklava ravioli. Yeah. Or my dog, whoever. But [Music] today I’m going back to culinary school to take a class from an iconic ICE alum, Chef Aisha from Shuka. Today’s class is going to be fun. It’s going to be exciting. It’s going to be really great to get to cook with such amazing people. I’m so excited. I don’t know much about Middle Eastern cuisine and it’s one of my favorite types of food. So, I’m so excited to learn from one of the greats. My name is Aisha Njaya. I’m the executive chef and partner of Shuka and Shuket in New York City. I’m back at Ice, my alma mater to teach a special cooking class. I came from a home where my mother and father were both amazing cooks. My father actually was a chef for merchant marines, so he was technically trained. and my mother grew up in an Italian household and just had the instincts to do it. Coloring school was an amazing experience. It really helped me develop as a chef because you really don’t know the basics. You learn knife skills. You learn butchery, how to cook perfect eggs. It really runs you through the gamut of all the cooking techniques. My life today is insane. I have two restaurants. I do a lot of TV stuff, writing a cookbook. I feel very fortunate. I never knew when I was in culinary school how this would unfold. And now I feel like all these things that I’ve ever wanted came to fruition. I’m super excited to be back at ICE and teach a small class today. Hi, nice to meet you. Hi, my name is Jason Fela. I graduated from the plant-based culinary arts program in 2021. Currently, I work as the program manager for New York City flagship schools for the wellness in the schools organization. We teach New York City students important habits to incorporate into their own lives so they can live, grow, and thrive in every situation. Nice to meet you. I’m Megan. Hi, Megan. Nice to meet you. My name is Megan Johnson and I graduated from ICE in May 2025. Currently, I’m a Come chef at 11 Madison Park. Working at EMP has really been amazing. It’s been a dream come true. I’ve wanted to work there for such a long time. Jillian. Jillian, welcome. I’m Jillian Blair Elliot and I graduated from ICE in spring of 2025. I’m currently an editorial assistant at Delish magazine. I came to ICE because I didn’t know if I had the connections to come to New York and pursue a career in food media quite yet. And so I came here, got the training and made those connections and it really opened those doors for me and I’m so glad because I learned so much in the classroom and in the real world and I’m so grateful for those experiences. All right, let’s get in the kitchen. After you guys, the recipes today represent me as a chef. I’m bringing big, bold, Middle Eastern flavors. I hope the students take away today that flavor combinations are endless. I am going to show them how to make a lamb tine, but they are going to make their own version and I hope that they infuse some of their personality and their background or things that they like to cook with in the dishes. These recipes that we’re learning today are really uh significant to Shuk and Chuket. We always have a tajine on the menu. So, let’s start. We’re going to heat up our Dutch oven here. So here we have some lamb shoulder. These uh cuts of meat are really good for brazing because they take a long time to cook and they apart a lot of flavor. Now this would be awesome if you could marinate this overnight. But for the minimum you want at least like 20 minutes. This is called razal hanu. Razal hanu translates as head of the spice shop. So you’ll find these spices anywhere in West Africa in uh Morocco and Tunisia. And what it means is it’s really like a house spice blend. You’re never going to find two razan that are the same. If you guys want to kind of smell this, it’s like super fragrant. And I love to use it in brazes because it’s like a shortcut if you will, right? Instead of using like four or five different spices, I choose a blend that has like almost 20 of them in there. Nice, right? You could almost wear it as a cologne or perfume, if you will. Okay, so we have our lamb nice and marinated. I’m going to add some salt. Now, we all know that people need to season their food, right? And I know that looks like a lot of salt, but you have to understand that these pieces of meat need to be really seasoned. So, I have a little bit of olive oil here. Again, medium heat. You just want enough oil to kind of coat the bottom of the pan. And then we’re going to start to sear the meat. We’re looking for to get like a nice color. I think when when you’re in school, right, they call this the Mayard reaction. Is when protein hits the bottom of a hot pan and causes caramelization. And caramelization equals what? Flavor. flavor. You got it. You guys should teach your class. I can watch you. See, we don’t want to overcrowd it. So, we might have to do this in like one or two batches. And we want to be patient here because this is the part where we’re really developing flavor. So, first batch looks good to me. We’re going to put it in here. And this is going to kind of rest a little bit. And what happens when it rests? It’s like the juices are going to run out and those dish juices are going to be part obviously of the tang. Okay, this is looking good. I think we can move these over and kind of sneak some pieces in here. Okay, so we’re looking really good here. As you can see, this lamb has nice caramelization on it. So, we are going to start now with our onions. And you can see right here how the onions are picking up the flavor and all of that fond on the bottom of the pan. You guys are going to smell like tine all day. There are way worse things to smell like. You’re right. We’re going to add in our ginger. garlic. One of my faves, Serrano chilis. I love it spicy. And we’re just going to sauté this. Okay. And then I’m going to throw some more razel hanu spice. Once you add the spices, you have to kind of move quickly with either the deglazing or putting another ingredient in here so that the spices could adhere to it. And in this case, it’s our best friend, tomato paste. So, we’re going to put this in. And the key to tomato paste is really activating uh the flavors in it. Right? Tomato paste, tomato concentrate has delicious umami flavor, but it also brings acidity to the dish. So, we have the tomato paste in there. I’m going to add a little bit of chopped preserved lemon. And then I am going to add cilantro. So, I know a lot of people think that herbs are meant for finishing, and they are, but I actually like to use the herbs and their stems in the long time cooking cuz cilantro stems have a lot of flavor, right? something that we never discard at the restaurant, but it also is going to bring kind of like a fresh brightness to the braze. And we’re going to finish it with fresh herbs, of course, but I like to get the flavor in in the beginning. All right, so this is kind of really where we want it to be. It’s now forming a paste. And we’re going to delaze with some white wine. We are going to reintroduce our lamb here. Put this in. And the best part of this is, look at this. You see these delicious juices on the bottom? That’s going to really add a ton of flavor to our tjine. We’re going to sneak in some of these Turkish apricots in here. So, we’re going to cover this with some stock. So, this is probably going to take about 2 and 2 and 1/2 hours to cook. So, we’re at a rapid boil here. We are going to put this at a low low simmer. And then, do you mind passing me the lid? Do you mind litting it? And that’s it. Okay, so while we’re letting this go and cook, let’s start making couscous. Who loves couscous? Couscous, right? Middle Eastern pasta, right? Two ingredients, semolina and water. So couscous, really simple. It takes on any flavor that you want. So we’re going to be fancy today. We’re going to add a little bit of saffron. Is that cool with you guys? All right. So we have equal parts of a stock and couscous. So we have the saffron here and the stock. And I’m going to season the couscous as we pour this over. You can see the couscous is not only going to lend its color, but also flavor. Right. A spoon, please. Right. And we’re just going to mix this so that it’s kind of even. We don’t We want this to cook evenly. We don’t want to have lumps of You can see how it’s already soaking in some of this liquid, right? Okay. So, we’re going to lid this with some plastic wrap. And what you want to do is make sure that uh there’s no air pockets in it or there’s no air escaping because we’re steaming essentially the couscous. And what we’re doing at this point is making sure that all the liquid gets absorbed and all that saffron flavor gets infused inside. All right, so we’re going to let this sit for about 10 minutes. What advice do you have for young culinary people entering the industry? I would say find a restaurant that speaks to you. Uh at the beginning of my career, I worked in fine dining. I worked in three Michelin and two Michelin star restaurants and I think that it really helped me cuz it built foundation. There was an expectation that was very high and you needed to hit that. On the topic of inspiration, who were some of your personal culinary inspirations? Oh my goodness. I would have to say Lydia Bastionic was really the reason why I got into cooking. It was her grandma hands and how on television she explained cooking in such a simple way that I feel like when I started I had no idea how to cook and she made me feel like I could cook. I later on uh went to work for her at Falia. So that was like kind of one of my the highlight achievements of my career. Okay, couscous time. Do you mind unwrapping this for me? Sure. While we do that, I’m going to do some uh knife work. Okay. So, we have some rind of uh preserved lemon. And it’s going to give this nice bright kind of lemony, salty flavor, if you will. And I’m just cutting it fine. While I’m doing this, do you mind helping me? If you just take these two forks and kind of rake around. Sure. Fluff it up. Then we’re going to chop some herbs. So, we have some cilantro. We have some parsley and dill. And I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t live without herbs. Like literally in the restaurant, we go through cases of herbs a day. But we’re just going to do like a quick shifod here. I am very uh specific when it comes to herbs. When people like run their knives through it, it drives me insane. So, I like to shifod one way, flip the herb, and then shifod the other way. Uh just keep it rolled, you know, and then just run your knife as fine as you can across it. We’re going to throw in our herbs. We’re not going to mix yet. We’re going to wait a second cuz I don’t want to over mix. We’re going to throw in our preserved lemon. We have some scallions. I don’t have any dishes that are made without onions and garlic, guys. I’m sorry. And then we have some pomegranate seeds. I love Serrano chilis because I don’t know if you guys can smell that right now. If you kind of come to the board, it almost has a fruity smell to it before it has a heat to it. That’s why I really like to use them in the cooking to get that sweet heat. Exactly. Okay. So, that goes in. We are going to use some lemon juice. We have olive oil. And then my favorite of all time, the lemon zest. This is just going to be brightness to it. And then we’re going to fluff. You see how it’s like not stuck to the bottom? It’s not clumpy at all. Right. So, it kind of really beautifully steamed. The pomegranate seeds are such a perfect pop of color. Okay, let’s taste it. Let’s make sure their seasoning is on point. Now would be the time while it’s warm. That’s fire. That’s great. Flavor. Mhm. We have our couscous ready. Now, let’s get our ingredients for our carrot salad and we’re ready to go. [Music] This is one of my favorite things to make cuz it’s super simple. Everything here is kind of something that you have in your pantry. So, we’re going to make the vinegrett first. So, we’re going to start with uh some red wine vinegar, some olive oil, good amount, right? Making a vinegrett, some lemon juice, and then we have dry oregano, a little bit of salt, some black pepper, and if you don’t mind, can you get some of that honey in there? And while that honey is going, I am going to chop up some of this preserved lemon. And we’re going to kind of smash this. I actually keep a lot of this preserved lemon paste in my refrigerator. And then I’m going to add this in here. Okay, Jason, if you don’t mind just whisking that together for me and then we’ll taste to see where we’re at. All right, carrot salad. You might think we all have carrots, right? And what I like to do is just really go across and like just peel this and you get these shards of carrots. And while we’re eating the tjine, these are going to be like these crunchy kind of acidic pops of like flavor and color in the salad. Throw in some of the sliced red onion, a little bit of sliced serrano chilis, some dill, cilantro, and parsley again. So, we are going to wait until we ready to plate it up to mix this all together. All right, we have one thing left. We’re going to make an olive duca for on top of our tjine. And I think we’ll be done. A duka is usually a spice blend that has toasted sesame seeds and nuts in it. Okay, which we have going on here. And then I’m going to take some of these olives. And in the mood of being rustic, I’m just going to kind of like tear these in half because I kind of like the big chunks of olives. And remember, we have all that savoriness going on in the tigine, right? We have a little sweetness with the apricots. These olives are kind of going to balance that all out. Can you drop the scallions in here if you don’t mind? Yep. And then the chopped cilantro as well. This obviously can be done beforehand. I don’t sometimes like things when they’re perfect, you know? I mean, could you slice the olives? Like if this is really hurting your soul, not going to hurt the flavor of it, but I feel like sometimes some of these things where you see when you tear them open, it kind of creates like this little boat. You’re going to get all that flavor in there. If you want to get a spoon so we can mix this together. A good amount of olive oil and some splashes of lemon juice. And we’re going to mix this together. Add half of these which we have which is the spices mixed with the almonds and the sesame seeds. Okay. A little more olive oil. And I think we’re ready to go. Now that we have this done, you guys ready to plate? Let’s do it. All right. Let’s go. Look at the feast that we prepared. Wow. Wow. All right. So, we have our couscous. We have our carrot salad and our lantine with olive duca. Beautiful. Beautiful. There’s so many colors in ways that I wouldn’t even think of, like the pomegranate and the olives and all the toppings. These dishes are so special to me and they’re really an expression of my cooking style from my restaurant. Now, I can’t wait to see what you guys cook up next. Thanks, chef. So, what do we got going on, chef? So, today I’m smashing up some Brussels sprouts. I blanched and chocked them, so now they’re uh they’re ready to go. Um I have a spice blend made up with some Parmesan cheese, a little bit of my culture in with there cuz I’m Italian. Okay. And then, um, we added some Aleppo pepper and some of your spice blend from earlier. So, we’re going to smash these up. I think if you put a little bit of olive oil, you’ll your breadcrumbs will stick a little better. Great. Delicious. I’m so into the smashing trend. I love the fact that you can get like maximum crunch. And this is also a fun way to eat Brussels sprouts, right? Cuz like I feel like Brussels sprouts get fried a lot or they get roasted, right? And so, you’re like almost introducing us to a whole new uh genre of Brussels. And what else do you have going on? We’re making a kachori today. So, I’ve got chickpeas and tomato sauce. We’re going to finish it to give you that like really good stew bra from before. I’m always excited to eat. So, and try other people’s food. And I find that when I watch people cook, I always learn something. Tell me about the meat you have going. Somew sausage. A little I have to take a piece. I’m sorry. I hope you don’t mind. Especially the little butt piece. That’s the best one. That’s the best part. So, yeah, we have some sausage, too. That brings some smokiness kind of gy almost to the bowl. I always think that the smoky flavors of Enzoi sausage makes you feel like it’s been cooked for days. Yes. And seeing that we’re doing this in 45 minutes or so, that’s going to add time to the dish that we didn’t have to put into it. It’s um it’s kind of like a smart cheat. You’re not making shortcuts. You’re actually making smart choices to get flavor. And what kind of meat are we using? So, we’re using lamb loin. And so, yeah, we just have that cubed up and hopefully by the time we’re done, everything will be nice and tender. Cool. Usually you’d use a nice chicken thigh, a fatty chicken thigh, but we’re doing some fusion today. We’ll see how it works. I’m in for the right. I’m in for the right. Sounds good. So, I’ll be making a stuffed pasta today. Oh, wow. I was inspired by like your Middle Eastern spices and everything. So, I was trying to think about a vegan alternative that’s used in the Middle East, and I thought of falafel. All right. So, I’m sneaking in looking at your falafel mixture. Tell me what’s in here. Yeah. So, it’s shucked chickpeas with olive oil, tahini, lemon, preserved lemon, um, and a bunch of herbs. First of all, I think you could eat it like this. You don’t even need to fill it. The preserved lemon and the herbs just make this light, and you It’s got like such a fluffy texture from you whipping it. This is delicious. Thank you. All right. Really nice. All right. All right. Good luck. You guys are doing an amazing job. I am so excited to taste your recipes. [Music] So, uh, what I’ve made for you today, chef, is a kachori. It’s an Egyptian chickpea, uh, kind of stew where the rice lentil base is. It’s almost like a risoto texture, spiced tomato sauce, and then seasoned chickpeas on top for you. I also have some crispy Brussels sprouts that have been smashed, dusted with a spice blend and parmesan cheese to dip into a preserved lemon yogurt sauce for you. At first glance, this is beautiful. Thank you. I mean, the these are the dishes that make you kind of want to just leap and go right into it. I have to tell you that this is like one of my favorite dishes to eat. So, like I’m really excited. I got a high bar on them. Damn, that’s good. Thank you. Really good. That’s like fire. Brussels sprouts to me like they have flavor, but they need something to kind of like take it to the party, right? It’s like that little black dress. And you’ve done that with putting this like spice coating on them that gives you that crunchy texture, but when you bite into them, they’re like soft and supple. That’s it. Really fire. That’s like a whole card. It says all it needs to say in a very in very few ingredients. It really rocks it out. Thank you, chef. I love the tomato. Yeah. I mean, for me, the only thing I would say is maybe a little more salt in the rice and I would like to have some crunchy texture. So maybe like next time if you like fried some of these chickpeas or hit that dooka that you made at home or hit that dooka on top. But other than that, these are dishes that are cravable and something that you would want to make at home or it would be equally as delicious in a restaurant. Thank you, chef. So for today, I made with you a filled pasta with falafel filling with a quick pickled carrot salad on top, duca, and herbed tahini sauce. This is like so elegant. This is giving like Michelin star like dessert vibes to me. Yeah, I know it’s not dessert and I’m not expecting it to be sweet, but it’s just plated really thoughtfully. And I love the way that you have this like concentric circle and and thought about putting the carrots in there. This is a two utensil situation. M. That brown butter really makes a a difference. There’s like a toasty nuttiness to this and the pasta. It’s just like what a beautiful form to have. I love the crunchiness of the nuts. Thank you, chef. The only thing I would say is some of the edges of the pasta is just a little thick. I don’t quite mind it because it’s giving it texture, but like from a technical standpoint, that’s the only thing. Other than that, it is beautiful. Like you really dove into these Middle Eastern flavors and textures. Well done. So today I’ve prepared for you my family’s Cajun style jumbolaya except we’re throwing tradition out the window a little bit with a couple upgrades to lamb and we have some Mediterranean spice blends along with a beautiful salad of shaved carrots with a pepper jelly vinegrett. I love this. I have to tell you like visually it’s stunning but the smell is it good? That’s I mean you have to smell that. You know what I mean? Like whoever smells like this like I will marry right now. This is like Thank you, chef. It’s giving you like hug vibes without even eating. First, I have to dig in. Dig in. Okay, so M. This dish tastes like it’s been cooked for hours. [Music] You took my salad and you gave it a passport to go to an exotic vacation somewhere. And now it’s got a two-piece bikini on and a margarita in its hand. That is fire. It is spicy. It’s crunchy. It’s got like the herbaceiousness to it. And that sweetness that comes from that pepper jelly is unbelievable. Thank you, chef. I mean, you really nailed it. What I love about what you were telling me is like this is such a traditional dish to you, but you’re confident enough to take the leap in taking things that you’re learning to express yourself in recipes, and no one could ask for a better meal. I’m just very humbled today by the delicious food, but moreover the passion and the genuine feeling that they put behind the recipes and especially incorporating some of the things they learned during our cooking session. I’m unbelievably touched. It’s been so amazing to come back here and teach. The community and friendship and being around people that love food is really what fills the soul.