For Sandhya Kumar, food is not just about satiating one’s hunger pangs but about adding the right seasoning – love. This 27-year-old is passionate when it comes to the kitchen. She loves to cook, especially for others. In fact, in her web page [ http://ssandhyakumar.wix.com/indulgeinbysandhya] she states that one can always find her in the kitchen during parties and get-togethers.
And that is where I find her at her home at Vettamukku. There is a lovely aroma as I step into her house. Her family teases Sandhya saying: “Appetizing smells always waft in from the kitchen in this house. If it’s not Indian, Thai or Italian, than it’s some other fancy cuisine…”
Soon, I am served homemade Italian seasoned crackers with a hung yoghurt dip. The dishes are tastefully set in lovely crockery and artfully arranged on a platter. In fact, I feel a bit reluctant to immerse a cracker into the dip. The dip looks like a work of art with olives and a touch of pickle carefully set on top. The crackers are crisp and scrumptious and the smooth and creamy yoghurt which has grated cucumber and coriander lend the crackers a real burst of flavour.
But then Sandhya is no stranger to serving food that tastes as good as it looks. She is a chef who has trained with head chefs at The Oberoi and Marriot and has a few years of experience at Four Seasons, Mumbai.
The city-bred girl is back home and is sharing her knowledge and her love for food. Apart from a small-time catering unit she has started – Indulge In, she is also conducting cooking classes.
It was boredom and a push from friends that led her to start Indulge In. “After my husband, Abhijit, got posted in the city, I enjoyed the first few months relaxing. Soon, I started getting restless. As my friends enjoy my cooking and know my love to cook, they started asking me to cater for their parties and family get-togethers. Through word of mouth publicity, I started getting various orders,” says Sandhya. Although she offers everything from Mumbai’s street food to exotic Mediterranean dishes, Thai and Italian cuisine are her specialities.
The cooking class came about when a friend asked her to teach her a few simple dishes. On a whim, Sandhya posted on Indulge In’s Facebook page that she was planning to hold a cooking class and was surprised by the response.
“There was a man who is getting married next year asking me to teach him how to prepare a few dishes as he wanted to impress his fiancé with his culinary skills. I also had a British couple and people, both young and old requesting for classes.”
When one of the students mentioned that they didn’t know how to shop for fruits and vegetables, she organised a trip to the Palayam market. At the market, she taught them how to identify fresh vegetables and fruits and also how to bargain. After purchasing all the required ingredients for the class, the students were soon learning the right way to knead the dough to make a foccacia bread, how to fold, tuck and roll a Vietnamese spring roll, how to toss a spicy beef salad and more. She recently conducted a class on preparing Kerala cuisine, wherein she taught students how to prepare sambar, avial, Kerala fish curry… Apart from recipes, she also shares her knowledge on how to wield a kitchen knife, how to present a dish, kitchen safety…She is planning to conduct a class for mothers and children soon.
Apart from her catering and her culinary classes, Sandhya keeps herself busy with restaurant consultancy, wherein she assists in any aspect of a restaurant’s operation. She is currently working on helping set up a bistro in Kochi. She also provides weekend specials to Flavours restaurant. The enterprising young woman is also planning to start a restaurant of her own. “But that will be several years down the line.”
In her genes
Cooking, says Sandhya, is in her genes. Both her maternal and paternal grandmothers, and her mother, are good cooks. She recalls helping her mom with desserts and salads whenever there were guests coming home for dinner.
Caught on camera
Apart from creating edible art, Sandhya is good at capturing her kitchen creations on camera. While working at Four Seasons, she has shot some images for their in house magazine.
