A Taste of Kerala, A Little Spice and a Cultural Exchange!

 

After the Cooking Class 

The first cooking class of the month was a lovely three-hour experience with a guest from New Zealand. She is in Trivandrum for a short visit and called me to know about cooking lessons. 

Three-Hour Cooking Journey - South Indian and North Indian delicacies 

We covered four much-loved dishes, along with practical lessons on Indian spices, their flavours and how they come together in everyday cooking.

The interesting part? She enjoyed a relatively higher spice level but preferred using very little salt. So, every dish was prepared keeping her personal taste and preferences in mind.

Four dishes from the class:

1. Roti – Learning to prepare soft, fresh Indian flatbreads.

2. Dal – Understanding how lentils, spices and tempering come together to create a comforting dish.

3. Fish Molee – A Kerala favourite featuring fish cooked in a mildly tangy, coconut milk-based gravy.

4. Appam – Preparing Kerala's soft-centred, lacy-edged rice pancakes. We also shared a few practical tricks for getting appams off a traditional cast-iron appam chatti without sticking!

Beyond the Kitchen

What made this class particularly enjoyable was the opportunity to meet someone who had travelled to different parts of the world. We exchanged stories, and I got to learn a little about New Zealand, its people and customs.

I also shared a bit of local history, including the story of the erstwhile King Sree Moolam Thirunal, in whose memory the lane where I live is named.

Before she headed out, I suggested exploring the nearby Chalai market, with its colourful vegetable and flower shops, and taking a walk around the traditional streets lined with old houses near Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

Sometimes, a cooking class becomes much more than learning recipes. It's about sharing food, stories, cultures and little discoveries about each other's worlds.

Thank you for bringing your curiosity into my kitchen. It was a pleasure cooking and sharing a little piece of Kerala with you!


Menna's Delight, Trivandrum 

P.S For cooking class details, you can email me at mennasdelight@gmail.com or Whatsapp or Text me at +91 9379398865