I spoke to Ashwini Ramanisankar who has been giving Indian Vegetarian classes in Cambridge.
Give us some background about yourself ?
I am entrepreneur by background and moved to Boston after my wedding in 2012 from my hometown Pondicherry. While here,I graduated with my MBA from Hult International Business school, Cambridge and have enjoyed attending & networking with a number of meet ups and entrepreneurship forums.I also teach Indian cooking classes at CCAE, Arlington Community Ed and Keefe Tech, In India, I was working on my eco friendly clothing label "vasthra" for women and kids from handloom clothing stitched by women self help groups. I am currently experimenting parenting skills with my adorable toddler of 18 months and looking to setting up my business in the United States.
How did you discover that you wanted to teach cooking?
Although the love of teaching was always there in me, to step into the culinary space was more of an accidental discovery. I had always enjoyed teaching and sharing knowledge in the space of self development & Business. I had always enjoyed good food but had never thought I would be a good culinary instructor. I had come to the US and had was on a spree of experimenting and cooking new recipes -A big fan of Varevah:). I was making good chicken biryani and I had proposed a class of it to Cambridge Centre for Adult Education hoping it would be a good opportunity to volunteer my time and also meet new people. But I forgot about it. One day I got a call and was asked if I knew how to make Dosa, I said "of course, I do" and If I would be ready to teach a class that week. I said yes and that started my journey into this space. After that first class, I figured this was something I would love doing. It was a perfect meeting point of everything I love- enjoying tasty food, joy of teaching, love for people, great conversations and fun! My sincere thanks to CCAE for giving me this opportunity to finding one omg passions.
How do you prepare for a lesson and what do you focus on?
I prepare a detailed recipe with a complete ingredient list and step by step preparation method. I try to include a step by step picture description -So if you ar win a hurry you can quickly glance at it and start cooking and go into the recipe for details.
The preparation for the class involves a grocery trip which is fun. Usually i have to do a Indian store and a regular department store to cover everything. My usual spice kit holds the basic ingredients and I also make sure to pick up Indian snacks and juice for the students as its a 3 hour class and we get to eat towards the end only. The Murukkus, plantain chips etc are always loved by everyone and keeps them not tired till the end.
For the dosa class, I make the batter before hand and for chicken biryani - thawing of chicken etc is done before hand.
We also discuss the history of the dish, how & where it started and I also try to show visual pictures to get the feel of how it is made back hime
every class we make sure we share each one's reason for their interest in Indian cooking, their trips to India if any, good Indian restaurants in the neighborhoods where to buy Indian grocery etc.
What are some of the most popular dishes that people want to learn?
Masala Dosa is the top favorite! As its gluten free and vegan there is much more demand and also the love of dosas by all!
Chicken Biryani is probably the next popular request.Cooking with Coconut( where we cover coconut rice, coconut stew, coconut buffi & bristle sprouts with coconut was also a popular one), Spicing basics of Indian cooking where we cover Mulligatawny soup and Southern Indian Feast(veg thali) are the other popular ones.
What inspires you to cook?
The sincere appreciation, knowledge and love for the Indian culture and food by students who attend.
Gratitude & Pride that I have an opportunity to share our nation's rich experience in food - our wholesome great recipes, rich spices, flavorful & tasty food that have come through generations.
The joy I experience when people taste and enjoy the cooked food at the end of class
The wonderful experience of meeting and cooking a meal with lovely new people every single time
The emails I receive of pictures of food students had tried at home or questions keep me going
Finally Share your chicken biryani recipe
It is my Mother in law/s recipe. Its quite simple to follow and turns out great every time:)
( Check out Lokvani Recipe section for this recipe)
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