me being a know-it-all
On Sunday, my friends Andrew and Faouzi came over for a lesson on South Indian cooking. I was excited to teach them because I find that South Indian food many times is overshadowed by the North Indian food you find in the restaurants (i.e. naan, chicken tikka masala, etc.) and there are not as many places to eat or learn about it. Most of my South Indian recipes come from my mother or other relatives.
I’d say in general, South Indian cooking has a lighter feel to it than North Indian and can be on the spicier side. Many of the recipes include lentils, rice, coconut, lemon, cilantro, mustard seed, curry leaf, dried red chilis, in addition to spice mixtures. A nice tradition also is that every meal ends with rice and yogurt to help digest better.
The first part of the lesson was an introduction to my spice box, something that is found in most Indian kitchens. I put all of the spices that I use most frequently in it and it’s great because I don’t have to fumble around for different bottles every time I cook (and it’s also very cute!).
Faouzi got very into my spice box:
After cooking for about 2 hours, we feasted:
Our Menu
sambar (previous recipe post here)
green beans curry
spinach raita
peanut rice
kosambri (previous recipe post here)
plain rice
plain yogurt
gooseberry pickle (from my mom’s aunt)
I will be sharing recipes from this day in posts to come. Thanks to Andrew for taking photos!
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Oooh, how fun! This is making me really sad that I no longer live nearby. I would love to cook together soon! xoxo
this sounds so yum! how do i sign up for a cooking class? i leave all the south indian dishes for my mom to cook – help!
Thanks so much! You can contact me directly to set up a time for a class. My email is chitra66@gmail.com.
Look forward to hearing from you!
It’s definitely overshadowed and people eating in common restaurants only are really missing out on this cuisine… I have to travel to Ann Arbor or Chicago to get any good South Indian food in a restaurant around here. Try explaining to people (I’m sure you’ve have to) that not all Indian food is a curry… the best part is when you try to explain and they disagree. Well, maybe they won’t disagree with you, but they do with me all the time! Such a misunderstood cuisine still!
it looks delicious!
oh my goodness. I am absolutely salivating. so jealous that your friends got to eat that deliciousness:-)