Chennai Market Tour & Cooking Class in a Local Home with Meena
Description
You can expect an authentic vegetarian South Indian cooking class and meal - cooked using family recipes, local spices and vegetables. Your meal will be served the traditional way on banana leaves. A few dishes that you might cook and eat together are kuzhambu (lentil curry), lemon or ginger or garlic rasam (spiced soup), kootu or avial or olan (vegetables cooked in a coconut gravy) and rice. End your meal with an Indian dessert such as payasam (milk pudding) or sakkara pongal (sweet made with jaggery and lentils) or kesari (South Indian dessert made with semolina) and filter coffee. • Private South Indian cooking class in Chennai • Learn to cook vegetarian South Indian dishes such as sambar, kootu, rasam or dosa • Experience South Indian hospitality in a residential neighborhood of Alwarpet • Vegetarian options available • If you choose the market tour option, get a guided tour of the Mylapore vegetable and fruit market
Tour Options
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Menu may vary depending on the season
- If any travelers in your party have any allergies, dietary restrictions or cooking preferences please advise at time of booking
- Meena offers a vegetarian meal only.
- Private, personalized experience
- In case you would like to eat South Indian breakfast dishes like dosa, idli, upma or pongal, please let Meena in advance while booking
Reviews(43)
This hands-on class with Meena completely exceeded our expectations! Meena made us feel incredibly comfortable, safe, and welcome in her beautiful apartment. She is so kind and absolutely hilarious! Meena was incredibly accommodating and customized a fully vegan menu for us. She even went out of her way to teach us how to make two different types of dosas after I mentioned they were my favorite food I’ve tried on this trip so far. We loved learning about common ingredients in Indian cooking and how to use them. Plus, Meena was sweet enough to send us the recipes immediately after class. We can't wait to try making them at home and highly recommend this experience!
I learned so many things about Indian food from you. Thank you for teaching me so kindly, even though my English is not very good. Everything we cooked was so delicious! I will take home the dishes I cooked today and enjoy them. When I return to Japan, I will try to cook them again using what I learned from you. Thank you for the wonderful experience!!
My husband and I had an excellent experience with Meena! Prior to our time together she solicited our likes and curated a meal just for us. When we arrived, she was so personable - wiling to answer questions and share about many life in Chennai. And that was even before we started cooking! Her spacious kitchen made following her so easy. We wound up with such tasty dishes: dahl, cauliflower gobi, paneer tikka, basmati rice, roti, dosa. Meena shared South Indian spice tips that I will be able to incorporate into my own cooking back home. Moreover, she promptly sent recipes I requested that will help me even more. I highly recommend Meena for a fun and filling cooking/eating cultural adventure!
Meena is such a warm, friendly person and a great cook. She is the ideal person you want to take a cooking class from because she has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to South Indian cooking, and she's ready and happy to share it. She is very patient with any questions you have, and able to accommodate requests to make specific recipes (I asked to make dosa). When I was with Meena it felt less like I was learning from a teacher or a stranger, and more like I was learning from a friend. I highly recommend this experience to anyone wanting to try cooking South Indian food.
The hospitality was absolutely wonderful! The delicious food and delightful conversation have become one of my very best me
A home-cooked South Indian dish cooked in the kitchen of the lovely Meena's house with a pleasant chat. It was fun, delicious and the happiest time ever! I hope you all will have this experience!
A great afternoon and evening learning how to cook with Meena. An expert cook and teacher who made it all look so easy. And then we got to enjoy it all and make a new friend in the process of doing so. Highly recommended the visit.
Thank you so much for your kind words. We are delighted to hear that you had such a great afternoon and evening cooking with Meena. She truly has a wonderful way of making even the most complex dishes feel approachable and fun. It is especially nice to hear that the experience went beyond just cooking and that you were able to connect and share such a meaningful time together. That is exactly what we hope every Traveling Spoon experience feels like. Thank you again for your recommendation, and we hope to welcome you to another experience in the future.
My boyfriend & I had a wonderful time with Meena! Getting to her location was easy, and her home was beyond cozy & hospitable! Getting to experience a part of a day in the life is what this tour was all about, and it did not disappoint! We shared stories, laughs, and then an amazingly tasteful (hard to believe because we’d made part of it) meal together. We were welcomed like friends and left just the same, so if you’re looking for a truly unique experience in Chennai then look no further.
Meena welcomed me warmly and explained everything clearly, even though my English is not very good. I learned South Indian dishes like sambar, chutney, dosa, kootu, and poriyal. They were so nice. After cooking I enjoyed our conversations during the meal. I want to cook the dishes again at home. I’ll never forget the "kootu"
Meena doesn’t just create wonderful food, but a fantastic all-round cultural experience. She shows genuine interest in her guests and is quick to identify their interests. The food preparation was great fun and very educational and the trip to purchase ingredients was a constant source of information about food and culture. Meena readily shares her experience and expertise and was happy to answer all questions about local lifestyles. And the food she prepared was simply amazing. Flavour just bursting everywhere and she was so generous we could barely first the front door! If you are nervous about Indian food being too spicy, don’t miss this opportunity. Meena curates her flavours well to match the requirements of her guests. We couldn’t recommend this experience more highly and encourage anyone interested to make the most of the opportunity to meet Meena!
