South Indian Home Cooking and Thali Feasting Without Leaving Canberra!

My greatest food joy when I  travel to India is Indian regional home cooking. It is so flavoursome and much lighter than we are used to eating in restaurants in Australia. Using wide ranging ingredients and cooking techniques, it is a delight to all the senses. And there’s no better way to enjoy many different food experiences in one meal than a Thali. When Preethi told me she was launching her South Indian cooking experiences with a Wedding Thali Cooking Class and Feast right here in Canberra, I couldn’t believe my good luck!

Thalis from My Travels

What are Thalis?

Thali’s are usually served eaten on special occasions or perhaps for a  Sunday lunch as they require much preparation with love and care. They are made up of many small dishes and accompaniments, always including something sweet, something tangy, something sour and something crisp. Stir-fries, soup and curries are matched with dessert, a thin yoghurt curd and pickles. Rice is a must, often several types, and pappadam. Of course the most magnificent thalis are served at weddings and festivals!

Traditionally thalis are served on a banana leaf, but in city homes and restaurants trays and small dishes take it’s place.

Thalis can be as simple of as complex as you make them and I have had fun serving carefully hoarded smaller portions of curries (often leftovers) and accompaniments as a simple thali meal.

Preethi’s Thali Cooking Class

Preethi has opened her home to share her joy of cooking from her South Indian heritage. She has taught herself to cook the recipes of her mother and grandmother since leaving her family home in Trichy, Tamil Nadu and she wants to teach Canberra how to cook them too.

Last Sunday she hosted four lucky guests in her kitchen to learn the art of authentic Tamil cooking from her home town Trichy. The menu was amazing and filled with dishes and ingredients that were new and fresh to me!

Preethi began with the dessert because it needed time to cool. This gorgeous fudgy milk based Paal Kova is traditionally made by reducing milk and sugar for 3-4 hours. Preethi however has got a short cut for us. Two cans of condensed milk with two tablespoons of yoghurt and one of ghee makes it quick and easy to cook in the microwave for two minutes at a time, stirring in between for about six minutes. Leave to set and add crushed cardamom or saffron if you want something even fancier.

Next Preethi started on the mains with a dish unique to her home using dried turkey berries, pieces of drumstick vegetable and her mother’s recipe for home-made marsala powder, Sundakai Poondu Vethakuzhambu.

While this was cooking Preethi started on an eggplant stir-fry  accompaniment dish Ennai Kathrikal Fry. This was a lovely dish that included dry roasted seeded spices and coconut ground to a fragrant paste and added to the eggplant.

The second main curry was a mixed dahl and white radish kootu curry also with a spice and coconut paste and seasoned with tempered coconut with fried curry leaves, mustard seeds and urad dahl. Often Preethi would use a similar vegetable called chow chow for this dish. Yoghurt can be added at the end.

The mandi (meaning the water from soaked idli rice with fenugreek seeds used to thicken the dish) was a mixed vegetable main curry dish from Chettinadu in Tamil Nadu which is properly called a Chettinadu Kaai Kari Mandi.

Preethi also busily made us a rasam soup flavoured with lemon, curry leaves and spices, Elumbichambaza Inji Rasam.

An still more…we needed Masala Vadai a crispy chenna dahl fried fritter with onion raita for entree.

And we also needed home-made roti. But happily that’s where the amazing rotimatic kicked in! How great is this???

The ‘Wedding Thali Feast’

When all the dishes were ready Preethi prepared the table for us!

As we sat down to enjoy the wedding feast, Preethi shared with us, the etiquette and art of thali eating!

Dessert comes first as life should always be sweet. Dishes are removed from the tray and the tray is used for mixing! I knew South Indian food is best enjoyed with hands but I’ve never been convinced that it’s an even better experience to mix the dishes together with the rice. But after trying it with Preethi I am now a convert! It truly is a much richer food experience to mix curries and accompaniments! Thank you Preethi!!

I have to say that Preethi’s Vadai were the best I’ve ever had! And her onion raita was wonderful. All the dishes were marvellous but if I had to pick favourites it would be the eggplant stir-fry and the dahl and white radish curry.

Preethi’s Next Class

Preethi’s 3 Hour Wedding Thali Class and ‘All You Can Eat’ Feast was great value at just $35 per person.

Preethi is planning her next class, an Authentic Thalapakatti Biryani Class for the next few weeks. She would love to hear from keen cooks and South Indian food lovers who are interested in joining her. Contact Preethi at preethiexotic1@gmail.com to express an interest or find out more details.

The Wedding Thali Menu

South Indian Veg Thali @ Preethi’s Kitchen

Entrḗe

Masala Vadai

Crispy fried fritter from Chenna dal, Onion and Spices

Mains

Sundakai Poondu Vethakuzhambu

Delicious spicy tangy curry made with turkey berries and homemade masala powder.

Ennai Kathrikai Fry

Spicy Flavourful brinjal dry curry with coconut.

Chow Chow Kootu

Chayote blended with yellow moong dhal, coconut and seasoned.

Elumbichambaza Inji Rasam

Thin soup flavoured with lemon, curry leaves and spices.

For Veg Thali

Chettinadu Kaai Kari Mandi

Mixed veggies cooked in mandi water (the water from soaked rice) with tamarind and green chillies.

Served with Chapati (Rotimatic), Steamed Rice, Appalam, Onion Raita

Dessert

Paal Kova

Fudgy Milk Sweet-the easy version