Nazlina's Spice Kitchen
March 2010 Menu:
Beef Rendang
Spiced Rice (rendang daging and nasi minyak)
Inspiration for the Tropical Spice Garden
Traditional Malaysian cooking classes in Penang is held at Tropical Spice garden three times a week. We hold it on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Our cooking classes main attraction is the full hands-on experience guests have in preparing their meals. The class takes three and a half hours from scratch until the time you tuck into your favourite Malaysian classic!
One of our first students was Samille Mitchell, a freelance journalist from Perth, she was hosted by Tourism Malaysia with the assistance of Margaret Gasper from Holiday Tours.
According to Margaret, Samille confided to her that out of the three days of packed tours of Penang that they did, the cooking class and the guided tour at the Spice Garden was the most memorable experience she had.
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Guests will learn to identify the spices used and learn about their origins and special anecdotes whilst getting fully 'dirty' in the cooking process. Nazlina will also share many of her Grandmother's obscure tips and tricks of the kitchen to create the authentic tastes many have forgotten. There's plenty of fun to be had with grinding spices on the grindstone and shaving a coconut fresh!
If your curry never quite turns out the way you envisioned or that specific colour and taste of the rendang escapes you, this is the perfect class to get your questions answered!
Learn how to envelope nasi lemak using banana leaves or discover how many types of ketupat you can make out of coconut leaves.
Our traditional cooking classes are both fun and educational which even kids and teenagers can enjoy with the high level of interaction. We are also happy to entertain requests for cooking birthday parties, Corporate cook offs, specials courses for maids and the list is endless - now everyone can cook!
Our cooking classes of course come with the preliminary morning guided tour around the spice terraces. Folks will get to see first hand the way our spices and herbs grow - but no plucking please!
We don't require a minimum but at present we cap our numbers at 12. As mentioned, group bookings are welcome just be sure to make your booking early to avoid disappointment.
Sign Up Here
Please fill up this form or send text messages (SMS) to Nazlina at +6012-4538167 to book your session at least a day before or call the Tropical Spice Garden at +604-8811797 during office hours 9.00am - 5.30pm daily.
View more photos of our cooking classes in action
About Nazlina Hussin
A self-taught cook, the delightful Nazlina Hussin provides the cooking classes, allowing you to experience cooking in traditional Malay style.
There are no canned or packet ingredients here - you even straddle a traditional coconut scraper to extract the flesh of the coconut and squeeze it by hand to make coconut milk.
Nazlina guides you through the process of making a seriously tasty menu of seafood curry, stir-fried flat rice noodles with prawns and a dessert called bubur cha-cha.
Then comes the best part - sitting down to sample the culinary offerings.
