Part 5 of our 1st Sri Lankan Adventure
We want to find a cooking class.
Any travelling experience for us tends to involve food and when we landed in Unawatuna in December 2018 we were delighted to find that one of the restaurants we visited did cooking classes. This restaurant, Wasanthas, was an extension of the families home and the whole family were involved in cooking, serving and generally making sure that diners had a lovely time. The menu was limited but delicious so we signed up for a class the following day. Find out more here.
Where was the cooking class?
The restaurant was Wasantha’s Cuisine & Cookery and is only a short walk away from the beach. You can reach Wasantha by WhatsApp +94 77 288 6761 and that seems to be their preferred way of contacting them. Wasantha’s daughters speak really good English and they really are a lovely family. We had a few meals there during our stay as well as the cooking class.
What was the itinerary?
- Wasantha would arrive at our hotel at the pre-arranged time in a Tuk Tuk
- Off we went to the market to select the ingredients we would use to make our curries
- Back to the restaurant where we would unpack the ingredients
- Wasantha’s mother showed us how to prepare the spices and cut the meat and veg
- As we helped her to cook the curries and she showed us how to prepare the milk rice (coconut milk)
- Then the best bit, we got to sit down and eat the gorgeous food we’d prepared
The Market at Galle
The first part of the cooking class was a trip to the market. Traditional Sri Lankan curries are served with 3 or 4 different curries and rice so we had to choose our ingredients. A Tuk Tuk was sent to pick us up from our hotel and took us to the market in Galle.
What a market, rows and rows of wonderful produce, all fresh and some I didn’t recognise at all. We got to choose our vegetables and Wasantha would explain what were the best vegetables to work with and the different results we’d get. We then choose some chicken and had a good look round the market. As it was afternoon it was near to closing which made it better as it wasn’t as busy.
We love any kind of markets !
The Cooking Class
Wasantha’s mum explained carefully how she made her spices and that each family in Sri Lanka had their own variation on their spice mix. She then proceeded to show us how to cut up the vegetables and meat for the curries.
She took each step really slowly and explained things through her daughter carefully.
She had an amazing machine that scraped out the insides of the coconuts to make the coconut milk and that was Chris’s job to get all the gorgeous white flakey coconut out from its shell.
She showed us how to make the coconut milk that she’d then use for the rice and before long we had an array of curries all ready to eat.
I absolutely loved her cooking bowls and the way she made it all see so simple.
So how was the food?
The food was delicious. The curries varied in spice and temperature and all were delicious. The coconut rice was superb and Chris asked her for the recipes which she had in a little notebook, all handwritten. We took pictures on our phone as I was really keen to make the rice again.
The whole experience was lovely. An afternoon spent with this caring family who welcomed us into their home and shared their cooking with us. I particularly loved the pans that Wasantha used as they looked like they’d been used for generations.
p.s. we were so impressed that we not only bought a cookbook at the airport on the way home but we went to a hardware store and bought the gizmo that got all the juicy white stuff out of a coconut. Yes that came back with us in our suitcases. The airport staff must have thought we were nuts!
Finally, would I recommend this cooking class?
I would definitely recommend this cooking class if you’re in the Unawatuna area of Sri Lanka.
It didn’t cost that much at all around £15 for both Chris and I which was a complete bargain.
Look up Wasantha and her family and if nothing else pop into their restaurant for dinner. Its fabulous.
So what’s next on our epic Sri Lankan adventure. After spending Christmas and New Year at Unawatuna we headed further along the coast to Yala and one of the national parks where you can see nature right up close. (That blog post will be coming soon but here’s a taster picture )