A traditional, vegetarian Rajasthani thali in Ballygunge, Kolkata

Join Lakshmi in her favorite place at home – the kitchen, for a one hour hands-on cooking class. Learn to make the popular and traditional Rajasthani dish, gatte ki sabji (cooked gram flour dumplings which are added to the spicy curd gravy) from scratch. First you will learn to knead, roll and cut the dough to make the dumplings. Then you will learn to make the gravy in which the flour dumplings are cooked. You will end your cooking class learning to make a classic Indian dessert, rabdi (a sweet, condensed-milk-based dish) or then a spiced savory fritter, dal bara. Lakshmi will provide you recipes at the end, so that you can concentrate on cooking!

Lakshmi lives in a popular residential neighborhood in an established, leafy and pleasant suburb of Kolkata. The Ballygunge area has a lot of interesting things and travelers should make the most of a meal with Lakshmi to also visit the Birla temples, popular Bengali restaurants, as well as the gorgeous Byloom hand woven textiles shops! The state of Rajasthan is primarily a desert and so its cuisine is influenced by its scarcity, based on the few vegetables and grains available there. But having lived in the lush fertile plains of Bengal since birth, Lakshmi cooks traditional Rajasthani food using the large variety of vegetables available in Kolkata, to create innovative dishes. Lakshmi takes great care to ensure her ingredients are of the highest quality and grinds her own spices and flours and even churns her own butter!

A few Rajasthani dishes that you will try at Lakshmi’s dining table are dal bara (a spiced savory fritter) or dahi vada (fried lentil dumplings, topped with curd), gatte ki sabji (cooked gram flour dumplings which are added to the spicy curd gravy), missi roti (flatbread), vegetable pulao and paneer (cottage cheese) in a cashew nut gravy. Your meal will end with a dessert called rabdi (a sweet, condensed-milk-based dish) and Darjeeling tea from the family tea garden.