Four hours. The market first for the day's vegetables and the dried fish, then the kitchen of a merchant house built on Burmese teak and Athangudi tile, where the grinding stone still does what a mixer cannot. You cook three dishes with the women of the household and eat them on a banana leaf at the family table.

Everything is written down for you afterwards in proportions that work in a domestic kitchen, which most cooking classes do not bother with. Vegetarian versions are genuinely good here rather than an afterthought - say so in advance.

November to February. The houses have no air conditioning in the kitchen and standing over a grinding stone in April is not an experience anyone enjoys.