Queen Bees and Wanna Bes: Cooking Classes in South India
After a tour of the Kerala backwaters I had the opportunity to sign up for a few cooking classes.
Leelu was a woman of large stature who had a bit of a queen bee presence about her. On checking in I casually mentioned that I was doing two courses, hers that evening and Nimmy's the following day.
The head started to wobble and the wrists started to flick as rapid fire questions came at me: how much did it cost? How long was it? What Nimmy is going to cook? Might I tell Leelu how their classes are different? Taken aback at the inquisition, I attempted diplomatically vague answers.
During the class itself, Leelu 'demonstrated' 4 recipes (which is to say her servant did the cooking and she sat on a stool telling us what he was doing).
So I cannot speak to her actual cooking ability, though I was certainly bemused by her cooking style.
The next day I took an autorickshaw to Nimmy Paul's home a few suburbs away. She and her husband ("Mr Paul") greeted me, and we had a chat in their elegant living room for 30 minutes. It quickly became apparent that in addition to being delightful Nimmy was a minor celebrity chef in India.
And her food was spectacular.
We had 14 courses over 10 hours - complete with naptime in between. Fish poached in banana leaf, traditional South Indian vegetable mix avial, sautéed okra pachadi, chicken, vegetables, dessert. Everything was seasoned perfectly with Nimmy's expert palate.
"What else are you interested in learning about?"
"Ooh! Biryani perhaps?" - she graciously sent Mr Paul off to print out her favourite recipe before taking me through her sparse notes in more detail.
But, graciousness aside, Nimmy couldn't help herself: as we were chatting over dinner she discovered I had taken Leelu's course the previous night.
What is Leelu's course like? How much does she charge? How long does it take? How are they different? What did she cook? Was it good...?
I had to smile.
