Her fascination for the chef’s hat has taken her to where she is. Latha K was 16 when she expressed her desire to become a chef Considering that a girl wanting to be a chef was unheard of in Calicut from where she hails, she got lucky when she went on to get married to a man who encouraged her to follow her dream.
Her passion for cooking made her the first woman chef from Kerala and now a speciality chef with Park Hyatt. In town to host the Malabar food fest at the hotel, Latha takes us along her culinary journey.
Latha’s formal education helped hone her skills in the art of cooking. She also spent a year with the tribal community of Kerala learning their way of cooking and surprises her guests with these mind boggling flavours and dishes. However, she derived her basic cooking knowledge from her grandmother, she says. “I learnt cooking from her by listening to her and and observing her in the kitchen. From her I learnt to make spices, to taste the food through its aroma and to make food tasty without letting the spices overwhelm.” Latha explains, “To maintain proportion let each ingredient give out its own flavour. Spices should improve taste, not take over the subject.”
Latha’s time management and swift kitchen skills make her a hero in the kitchen, though she credits her team for it; the team assembles everything before she comes and all she does is complete the process. “I learnt everything formally after my marriage and then set up a restaurant for Kerala food. I spent five years learning to cook and become a professional chef while working in Chennai. I didn’t want to restrict myself to Kerala cuisine, so I learnt Thai too,” she smiles, quickly adding “authentic Thai.”
As we chat, she offers a clear soup. I took a spoonful of the soup with droplets of melted fat over it. ‘Nice paya soup’ I compliment her, and am zapped when she responds, “It is pure vegetarian. It’s made from a leaf and its stem. It is Kerala tribal soup. I have added fresh pepper and pure cow ghee to it.”
. She likes to keep her cooking simple with less complicated but doesn’t stop from pickling anything and everything she finds. In small bowls she offered tuna, date and yam pickle. “Yesterday I made ginger and carrot payasam . Today I thought of making pineapple and moong dal payasam for dessert,” she smiles.
The Malabar food fest at Park Hyatt Hyderabad ends on November 12.
