Authentic South Indian Cooking Class and Vegetarian Meal with a Local in Chennai

You will enjoy the traditional South Indian Iyer sapaad, a vegetarian Tamil Brahmin spread that you helped prepare along with other dishes prepared in advance. Enjoy a wide variety of authentic dishes all made with fresh, seasonal ingredients and served on a banana leaf. Your meal will be accompanied by rice and handmade dosas (crispy South Indian crepes). You will also sample homemade pickles and chutneys, which vary based on the seasons, such as lime and tender mango pickle, sweet and sour mango pickle, dhal (chutney made of red chilies, garlic and grated coconut) or Jyashree's green tomato, chili and garlic chutney. You will end your meal with a sweet dessert.

Attention to detail is your host Jyashree's signature cooking talent. She still follows the traditional way of cooking and uses authentic, traditional vessels and organic country vegetables to prepare South Indian Iyer cuisine, which is vegetarian by definition. Her ammamma (mother's mother) taught her that the smallest detail has the ability to elevate simple, everyday dishes to the level of masterpieces. Jyashree would watch as her grandmother prepared gulab jamuns, an elaborate dessert that requires hours of patience and skill, from scratch and as she steamed idlis (a simple traditional South Indian breakfast staple) to perfection. Her grandmother would line the idli batter with homespun muslin cloth to give it an extra texture, the kind of additional detail that has long been abandoned by most cooks for the sake of efficiency. Jyashree focuses on these small touches to bring an extra element of care and refinement to her cooking.