Indian Cooking and Spice Safari 14 February- 4 March, 2009. Hosts- Parveen Nayak and Fiona Wright Accompanied by Amorelle Dempster Parveen and Fiona have worked very, very hard for this tour, [and what a task! ] seeking out good food and recipes in roadside dhabas, restaurants, family run heritage homes and friend’s kitchens. The true difficulty though was in cutting the list down to a manageable amount of foodie experiences to fit our trip -India has so much to offer. Parveen is a keen cook, true to his Rajput heritage his favourite dishes are fiery hot meat based curries. Kindly for his friends he can modify these to suit milder tastes when necessary. In the 90’s Fiona ran the Wright Country Café, after a few years she decided her passion for food was more enjoyable when searching out a good bite or cooking for friends rather than in a commercial kitchen. In 2009 Amorelle Dempster will be joining us[ and from 2010 will lead some of our Cooking Safaris], she grew up in a house full of the aroma of spices in her birthplace of Sri Lanka and now is Executive Chef of Paradesha Homestyle Cooking & Catering. We will travel from the peaceful spice gardens of India’s far south up to the hustle and bustle of the north and experience many regional cuisines along the way, visiting local markets, restaurants whose founder’s heritage as a cook stretches back the to Emperor Babur in the 1500’s, old castles, fancy palaces and simple homes – all in the search of a good bite or two. Tummy problems? Not an issue we have found. Number one rule - only allow bottled water to pass one’s lips [ yes even for teeth cleaning!] This is good to remember where ever you may travel, - no ice unless the establishment uses bottled water [up market places are reliable] -street food is wonderful -eat at busy places frequented by locals - the places to be wary of are those trying to cook up western food and some aimed only at tourists- we want the good stuff so won’t be looking that way, anyway! We will have a CD of recipes and photos of our journey and techniques available for you at the end of our safari so you can get cracking in your kitchen back home. Future years will follow a similar itinerary. |
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| Just realised most meals were half eaten by the time we stopped to photograph- too tasty to wait! |