Gluten-Free Southern Indian Cooking Demo at Mayura Restaurant in Culver City
Details
(8-3-2012)
Dear members,
I really don't want to cancel this. Usually a cooking meetup takes 100 times more effort, energy, time and patience to put together than planning a dining meetup, so cooking meetups feel like my babies that I don't want to abort. Every time I have to cancel a cooking meetup for whatever reasons, it really kills my heart.
This one in particular...it's a result of my repeated plea made to the owners to show us how to cook as I love their food.
So.... I am determined to keep this meetup instead of cancelling it. That means.... I'm willing to pick up whatever the rest of the fees would be. It will be my cost to keep this as I'm dying to learn.
They need at least 5 attendees. I have two so far.
If you'd like to attend, please RSVP now and make minimum $5 donation. I'll pay the rest.
If you can pay more, that would be great of course and I'd appreciate it.
Ishin (and Paula), I'll refund the full fee first now.
I'm not sure how many more can come as I should have made this decision much sooner, but the more the merrier, and I hope to see more people tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Sally
**********************
Hi everyone,
Hope you're having a safe and fun celebration today.
Two and a half years ago we had a great time at Mayura restaurant enjoying their Sunday buffet.
https://www.meetup.com/LACooking/events/12117762/?action=detail&eventId=12117762
This is what I wrote at the time (Jan 2010)
"I came to know this restaurant called Mayura in Culver City on Motor and Venice by a total accident just recently. The food was good, but the more interesting thing was that our member Mugdha (who's been teaching us how to cook Vegetarian Indian cooking) knew the owner Padmini Puthanpurayil, and when I mentioned Mugdha's name, Padmini was delightfully surprised!! Another happy coincidence happening to me and the group! :-)
Mayura Restaurant
10406 Venice Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 559-9644
mayura-indian-restaurant.com
According to their website, the word ‘MAYURA’ means peacock (Sanskrit), the synonym for elegance and grace. They serve foods from Southern India, more specifically the state of Kerala, which is also considered to be the global capital of Ayurveda, and Mugdha is a specialist on Hindu religion. (I have 10,000 questions on that topic~! :-)"
This time, Padmini, charming owner of the restaurant just agreed to show us how to cook at their kitchen. Yeaaah!!!!))
http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/9/7/7/e/event_135818782.jpeg
The owners Anil and Padmini
They serve Southern Indian food from Kerala region and if you're not familiar, please read the following review by Jonathan Gold:
http://www.laweekly.com/2011-11-10/eat-drink/mayura-essential-restaurants-2011/
"Restaurants specializing in the cooking of Kerala (http://www.laweekly.com/related/to/Kerala) are not thick on the ground. And even if you are familiar with Southern Indian cooking, a lot of the food here may be new to you: saucer-shaped rice-flour pancakes called appam; a complexly spiced fish curry with undernotes of tamarind and garlic; and ven pongal, a peppery concoction of rice lashed with cumin, cashews and ungodly amounts of melted butter. If Mayura happens to be offering its special Kerala-style biryani, order it without question. The fluffiness of the rice and the sharpness of the spicing are superb.
Mayura is in Culver City (http://www.laweekly.com/related/to/Culver+City), not Artesia, so it tends to be accommodating: not serving alcohol but not objecting when you bring your own; offering Northern Indian dishes as out of place as sauerbraten would be on an Italian menu; and preparing dull but halal-compliant plates of chicken tikka and lamb korma in a separate kitchen so that vegetarians need not fear the errant bit of flesh in their bisi bele bath.
10406 Venice Blvd., Culver City. (310) 559-9644, mayura-indian-restaurant.com (http://mayura-indian-restaurant.com/). Tues.-Sun., 11 a.m.-10 p.m. No alcohol. Lot parking. All major CC. Indian."
OK, the demonstration menu is:
-Kerala Spl Fish Curry
http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/6/b/4/6/event_135807462.jpeg
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/Aj3s1c0bU8pXnD3bV3EicQ#T4xMPEsvlH0jcdSd22kn0w
Fish curry with Appam (gluten-free thin pancakes)
-Vegetable Pakora (vegetables fried with chickpea flour)
-Masala Dosa (fermented crepes made from rice batter stuffed with spiced potatoes)
http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/8/0/b/8/event_135812952.jpeg
The demo is for 2 hours and we'll eat the food together afterwards. ))
To attend, please RSVP with prepayment of $26 through Paypal.
Excited to see you there,
Sally