Family Cooking Class

Cook a real rice-and-curry spread in a village home, then sit down and eat it together.

What the Family Cooking Class is really like.

Sri Lankan home cooking is built on coconut, chilli, pandan and a dozen toasted spices, and the best way to learn it is at a family's own hearth. You shop or harvest with your hosts, grind the curry powders and temper the spices, then cook a full spread of five or six curries, a sambol and freshly grated coconut. It is hands-on and unhurried, ending around the table with the family. We work with home cooks near Kandy and the south coast who genuinely welcome you in.

At a glance

Best season: Year-round
Typical duration: Half day (3–4 hours)
Region: 1

Moment by moment

How the day unfolds.

Step 01
Meet the family
Arrive at a village home where your hosts greet you with tea and a look at the day's vegetables and fresh-grated coconut.
Step 02
Grind the spices
Toast and pound the curry powders by hand on a grinding stone, learning how roast levels change the whole dish.
Step 03
Temper and simmer
Crackle curry leaves, mustard seed and cinnamon in hot coconut oil, the fragrant first step of nearly every curry.
Step 04
Build the spread
Cook five or six dishes at once — a dhal, a fish or chicken curry, vegetable curries and a fiery coconut sambol.
Step 05
Sit down to eat
Share the meal you cooked with the family, eaten by hand from a banana leaf or plate the local way.