Road Testing Jasmine’s Cookery Class

I’ve done a couple of other cooking classes in Fort Kochi before, but the thing I really liked about my class with Jasmine was that it was completely tailored to what I needed. It was more like sitting with an aunty who’s a great cook and has promised to share some recipes that you love. I loved how Jasmine kept the recipes simple and  broke down each step. She laid out the quantities of ingredients so I could see and photograph them.

I know Jasmine has lots of good veg and non-veg dishes she can share, but I’d seen plenty already and really I needed some more dal recipes. So Jasmine came up with three different ways to create dals with very different flavours, colours and textures. Each used a different type of dal (legume) with different flavourings and additional ingredients. One highlighted ginger…

Ginger Spiced Sambar Dal

….another cumin seeds (jeera) with potato and green spinach……

Cumin Spiced Potato and Spinach Channa Dal

……and the third was more flavoured with mustard seeds, an amazing red cabbage and freshly grated coconut.

Red Spinach and Coconut Sambar Dal

Jasmin also showed me how to uses dal to make vada as another texture and flavour combo.

Dal Vada

The end result was amazing and we enjoyed a delicious lunch, full of flavour and colour based on this selection of dals.

Jasmine was so sweet and also cooked us some great prawns to go with our lunch. A very thoughtful touch!

It was a very personal lesson, where Jasmine had really focused on what would be most helpful for me. Very nive too that Jasmine would do a lesson for just two of us, very personal attention.

It’s the perfect experience for when you have been tasting and trying different Kerala dishes and know that you would really like to learn to cook a few properly that you can do at home easily. Jasmine can make the lesson specific to what you want, move at your pace and you can ask all your questions as you go along to get it straight.

It’s also a really nice way to have a meal in a real Kerala family home. Jasmine’s little boy is gorgeous, and Jasmin’s husband Stanley is just the best guy to help you know where to go to get anything you need. He’s got an office on Princess Street (Stanley Wilson Tours) so is very easy to find. (And Stanley will tell you how to get to Jasmin Villa easily (just a short 40 INR auto ride)). That’s how I first found him and he is my number one go-to person for any local knowledge or help. Really lovely. Great family.

I also checked out the homestay rooms at Jasmine’s which have great spacious bathrooms, air conditioning and a roof top eating spot. So if you were really keen to do a more extensive cooking program, it would be very easy to come and stay a few days and work through a bunch of dishes with Jasmine. For a woman travelling alone, who is interested in learning Kerala cooking, this would be a great, safe and budget friendly way to do it.