NAMASKARAM : A big LOKI hello to all food lovers of Melbourne - If you love Indian recipes that are inspired by heritage recipes and home cooking then look no further! Each week I will bring you some of signature recipes inspired by my childhood memories of growing up in India.
My name is Loki and you might know me from Masterchef Australia Season 10. No worries if you don't! My heart has always been in food and my earliest memory is cooking with my maternal grandmother Aahalya Devi in our backyard! She is in her nineties now and still lives to eat!
HOW MY MENU WORKS:
MENU DESIGN: Each menu will have two meal packs of the day:
THE CONCEPT: The concept of meal packs is from Indian railways which happens to me one of my key influences in food. My father spent his entire career working for the Southern Indian railways and I have spent most of my childhood travelling on trains and eating my way through destinations.
THE METHOD : My dishes are made in small quantities using slow cooking methods as taught by my maternal grandmother. I love using seasonal and local produce exactly like my grandmother would.All the spices are roasted and ground fresh for the day and I don't take any shortcuts on that!
MORE ABOUT ME: I was born in Mysore, India and grew up in Chennai. Even though I loved food, I was discouraged from going into culinary studies by my family as it wasn’t seen as a sought after career at that time. Instead I arrived in Australia as an international student to study my Masters Information technology which I didn’t enjoy much at all. I wasn’t good at academic studies and just a few months ago I was diagnosed with severe Dyslexia so I kind of get it now ! Though I have cooked since age 6 it has become my full time pursuit only a few years ago after participating in Masterchef Australia in 2018. Since then I have done several pop ups and special dinner events in Melbourne, India and most recently in Bali, where I stayed for 1.5 years.
MY CAUSE: I run a Fellowship that is my small way to help pave the path for a young culinary dreamer through scholarship and support every year. This is our third year. All profits from my events and dinners go towards the Fellowship program so your purchases will be helping this Culinary Fellowship program.
Check it out here
With gratitude LOKI.