ISO South Indian Cooking Classes for teens and preteens in Vancouver

[fmed]

My daughter's (13 yo) favourite cuisine is South Indian vegetarian (taking top spot after many having Japanese there for many years).

We have no shortage of cookbooks and videos, etc on this subject (and I also cook a number of South Indian dishes from time-to-time). However - nothing can replace a good cooking class taken with your peers.

Google doesn't really turn up anything current. South China Seas Trading had an Indian class (taught by Vikram Vij) geared for adults....but I know their classes are more "demonstration" classes than "participatory." We aren't really interested in the typical "vegan/vegetarian" classes either.

Actually, even adult classes would be fine.

[jinisgourmet]

Yes it is hard to find Indian cooking classes in Vancouver. But I am sure you will have better luck searching in the outskirts like Delta. Delta School Board (Continuing Education) offers a variety of adult cooking classes - but not in the summer. Good luck You may also want to do a serach under 'Cooking Classes in Delta' - it is only 1/2 hour away!!!
jinisgourmet.

[LotusRapper]

Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver (NWCAV) on Main @ 12th has cooking classes in their amateur cooking curiculum:

http://www.nwcav.com/one_day_classes.php

But It's not likely to focus on a single cuisine in particular, let alone South Indian. But give them a call, and ask Chef Tony or Chef Christophe, I'm sure they'd be delighted to discuss new ideas.

[À la carte]

I think you'll have a tough time on this one fmed ... authentic Indian cooking classes are few and far between here, and regional Indian pretty much non-existent. Surrey, AFAIK, doesn't have a large South Indian population so, if you do have personal contacts, that might be your best bet. Alternatively, I have seen some cooking classes posted at UBC in the past and UBC/SFU are also likely to have students from South India so if you have a way of posting a "wanted" ad there, it may work. Also, South Indian cuisine is pretty diverse, so it would help to specify the dishes you are after (I assume something like what's on offer at Saravanaa, which would essentially be Tamil vegetarian food). Good luck!

[fmed]

Thanks a la carte. I suspect you are right. And yes - Tamil cuisine and there-abouts. Sambar, Poriyal, Kootu, Idlis, that sort of thing. But similar dishes from other states will work too! I may just have to set up a class for her and her friends myself.

[À la carte]

OK, I may be really reaching here, but I did a bit of digging around on the net and found that almost all the South Indian states have a local cultural association: Tamil Nadu http://tcsbc.tripod.com/welcome.html; Kerala http://www.kcabc.org/index.html; Andhra Pradesh http://www.teluguvancouver.org/ (the link for the Karnataka site was dead). Anyway, it may be worthwhile contacting the associations to see if they can offer something. Let me know if you get anywhere... I could do with some help on my idlis and dosas myself!

[fmed]

Great tip. I will follow up for sure. (The first two links are 404).

And I am about to make some idlis over the next couple of days. The batter is fermenting now. New appliance lust: I'd love to get an Indian countertop stone grinder!

[À la carte]

Appliance lust is a killer. I've had my eye on a gorgeous wet/dry grinder for a while...

[À la carte]

Sorry -- just noticed the 404 comment. That's because the semi-colon at the end somehow got inserted into the link instead of staying properly in its place as a punctuation mark. Just get rid of it and the links should work.

[ck1234]

I found this...or did you see this already?
http://lifebitesmm.blogspot.com/2011/...

[el_lobo_solo]

from reading ck's link, you might want to look into other community centres or neighbourhood houses

[fmed]

Thanks ck1234 and el_lobo_solo - I did see that link, but the dishes really didn't seem to be South Indian - more like generic/fusion Indian if you know what I mean.

The main registration link to the community centers is here https://pbregister.vancouver.ca/regis...

Nothing other than a few "young chef" and generic vegetarian and a couple of Latin cooking classes. A number that are listed have been cancelled and I think will be cancelled (due to lack of registration). I have seen some Indian cooking classes listed at the community centers in the past. Perhaps I need to wait till Fall.

Thanks for the input...I'll keep looking (maybe in Surrey etc?)...or I may approach personal contacts to do the teaching.