Gayathri says that in her home food is the very first thing they discuss in the morning! She takes pride in cooking all the meals for her family and making her own snacks and homemade spice powders. She hails from a Tamil brahmin family and they only cook vegetarian food at home. For a meal at Gayathri’s home, you can except to try a traditional, vegetarian meal while seated on the floor, eating with your hands from banana leaves. You will be served a simple meal that Gayathri and her family eat at home, it will include rice, vegetables, a curry, homemade curd, pickle and papad. A few dishes that you might try are sambhar (a tangy lentil soup with vegetables to eaten with hot rice and ghee (clarified butter)), poriyal (stir fried vegetables cooked with mild spices and coconut) and kuzhi paniyaram (rice dumplings) served with kaara chutney (tomato onion chutney simmered with mild spices). End your meal with some delicious filter coffee.
In your South Indian cooking class in Chennai, learn to cook one main dish and one side dish. In your 1.5-hour, hands-on cooking class Gayathri will also teach you about the various medicinal herbs used in a traditional Tamil brahmin kitchen. You will also cook in traditional vessels, such as kal chatti (soap stone vessel), eeya chombu (tin alloy vessel) or mann chatti (terracotta vessel) – depending on the dish you will be cooking. To make the tomato-onion chutney you will also use a traditional stone grinder. Chop, stir, fry, learn about local ingredients, spices and some tip and tricks, before you sit down to share the meal you helped prepare.
Gayathri only offers a vegetarian meal. Instead of the traditional meal, if you'd like to try South Indian breakfast foods, Gayathri can offer dosa (a thin pancake in South Indian cuisine made from a fermented batter of ground black gram and rice), sambhar (a tangy lentil soup with vegetables), medu vada (traditional South Indian fritters made with black lentils) served with coconut chutney and filter coffee. So please let her know your preference when booking your Chennai cooking experience online.
This is just a sample menu to give you an idea of the types of dishes the host cooks. Your menu will vary according to seasonal availability.
Sambhar (a tangy lentil soup with vegetables) or rasam (spicy and tangy South Indian soup or stew), served with hot rice and ghee (clarified butter)Poriyal (stir fried vegetables cooked with mild spices and coconut) Filter coffeeHomemade curd, pickle and papad Kuzhi paniyaram (rice dumplings) served with kaara chutney (tomato onion chutney simmered with mild spices)Gayathri was raised by her grandma, who was an expert cook - she hailed from Thanjavur, which boasts of a rich and unique food culture that Thanjavureans are very proud of! It is from her grandmother that Gayathri learned to cook - she happily recounts, “as a child, with not much entertainment to distract myself, I would regularly join her in the kitchen and watch her throw in various ingredients with great ease, and how magically it turned into the most aromatic dish.” Apart from her family recipes, Gayathri also has a large collection of recipes that she cut out from weekly magazines as young as a 15-year-old – who was often seen in the kitchen experimenting with ingredients and recipes she collected. Now with two teen boys, a husband who loves experimenting with food, and parents who gleam with joy and pride, Gayathri has a large audience to cook, who thoroughly enjoy her experiments in the kitchen. Apart from cooking, she is also very curious to learn about different cultures and is deeply interested in history. Gayathri and her family are travel enthusiasts and have enjoyed hosting friends from different parts of the world. And now she is excited to meet travelers and introduce them to South Indian cuisine and culture.
"This class was a wonderful dive into traditional South Indian home cooking. The step-by-step guidance for preparing kootu, sambar, and poriyal was incredibly helpful, and the emphasis on using simple ingredients to build deep, comforting flavors was truly appreciated. It felt just like learning from an elder at home—thank you for such an authentic experience!"
"I was welcomed by the friendly and kind Gasriya family in a homely atmosphere, and I had a wonderful time.
I am very happy to be able to learn South Indian home cooking using fresh ingredients. (Google translated)"
"I had a great experience of preparing traditional dishes and learning about plants used for
their therapeutic effects."
"This was delightful! Gayathri and her husband welcomed us warmly into their home. The experience was fun and we learnt a lot. The food was delicious! The hosts are fluent in English, the kitchen is clean and they used filtered water for all the cooking, so we felt very comfortable."
