Chef brings wisdom to Fort Mill through Indian cuisine

Cardamom, coriander and garlic aromas filled the air on a recent afternoon in an Indian food cooking class — but what really lingered were the lessons being learned over this Fort Mill stove-top.

In Hawks Creek near Tega Cay, Santhoshi Radhakrishnan was busy not only giving cooking tips, but also some trivia: she pointed out that the popular dish chicken tikka masala originated during British rule in order to bring a less spicy dish to people.

Radhakrishnan herself was born and raised in southern India, having moved to Charlotte from Tamil Nadu 10 years ago. She and her family then relocated to Fort Mill two years ago. A chemical engineer by trade, Radhakrishnan grew up cooking with her mother and grandmother, and she had a childhood dream to open an Indian restaurant.

However, she was devoted to raising her sons, now ages 9 and 7, and wasn’t willing to compromise time with them.

Shortly after moving to Fort Mill, she had an epiphany – over a cartoon, of all things.

“Have you seen ‘Phineas and Ferb?’” she asked softly, smiling with her eyes. “My sons were watching it and the mom on the show was going to a cooking class — I suddenly knew that’s what I was meant to do.”

Little did she know that cartoon would set off a chain of events that would just begin with her launching the classes. That in turn led to a product marketing idea from one of her students — and now Radhakrishnan’s homemade chutney is for sale at 15 area stores, including The Peach Stand in Fort Mill.

When Radhakrishnan invited the Fort Mill Times to attend one of her classes, we jumped at the chance, and not just because we wanted to eat some delicious Indian food. (OK, maybe it was just because we wanted to eat some delicious Indian food).

Cooking class student Chris Zimmerman of Tega Cay, Alex Cason, a freelance photographer for the Fort Mill Times, and I all learned how to make an entire meal using Radhakrishnan’s recipes and guidance. On the menu: chicken tikka, jeera rice, paneer butter masala, and kheer (recipes below).

Zimmerman is comfortable in the kitchen, and she should be at this point: she attended Radhakrishnan’s very first class after seeing a post about it on the social media app Next Door. She has been taking Radhakrishnan’s classes regularly since.

“I should be better at Indian cooking than I am,” she quipped.

In truth, Zimmerman’s knowledge of Indian food, culture and Radhakrishnan herself was so vast that the two were often able to finish each others’ sentences.

As Radhakrishnan breezed around the kitchen, cleaning, offering advice and completing prep work simultaneously, the rest of us learned to properly crumble pinches of kasoori methi, brown cashews and raisins and simmer cumin into ghee.

Fun fact: sauteing raisins in a pan makes them plump back up like grapes.

As the ingredients turned into the meal we were soon to enjoy, the conversation ranged from why Americans sometimes faint at weddings, to arranged marriages in India, healthy gut bacteria and picking up kids from the school bus. Radhakrishnan’s dad FaceTimed her from India, and when she told him she was in the middle of teaching a cooking class, he said proudly “Actually, I am the brains behind Santhoshi.”

It became clear very quickly how cooking lessons could form friendships such as the one belonging to Zimmerman and Radhakrishnan. In fact, it was Zimmerman’s husband who originally pitched the idea of Radhakrishnan selling her sauce in stores.

“Her chutney is so delicious,” Zimmerman said. “We just wanted to be able to eat it all the time without me having to make it!”

Thakkali Thokku

Getting her sauce into the kitchens of area residents wasn’t something Radhakrishnan knew anything about, so she started by sending the chutney to a food taste laboratory at NC State University. The Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences offers assistance to entrepreneurs interested in selling and marketing their food products.

“The people in the lab were very friendly and helpful,” she said. “The results came back and I got permitted to sell my product.”

Radhakrishnan took 90 samples to places in and around Charlotte.

“I remember being very scared to call the stores...I thought they would laugh at me or hang up the phone,” she said.

“But to my great surprise, all of the local stores showed me respect, compassion and asked me to bring the chutney sample. When I took it to the stores, most of them liked it and agreed to buy it. Inside I was terrified, but I tried to be courageous and when they tasted my product and appreciated me, I became more confident.”

The nascent businesswoman now visits Carolina Commercial Kitchen once a week to prepare and jar her chutney for area stores.

Radhakrishnan described the chutney as a savory, tomato-based sauce that can be eaten on rice, with Indian breads naan or roti, or even just with a spoon. The name of the sauce is Thakkali Thokku, which translates to “tomato gravy.”

Pro tip: the milder flavor is sold at The Peach Stand, but a hotter/spicier version can be found at Patel Brothers Indian grocery store in Pineville, N.C. It’s hot enough that Radhakrishnan decided not to even list it on her website, for fear of Americans finding it too spicy.

It doesn’t have to burn your taste buds

“A lot of people fear Indian food because they worry it is too spicy,” Radhakrishnan said.

“Since we grew up eating spicy food, our digestive (systems) are used to it so we can take it. If you grew up with a bland diet … it’s better to take it slow.”

Thus, she caters both her chutney and her classes to individual tastes. Radhakrishnan also adjusts menus to nutritional needs, made clear in our group: we had one with a food allergy and one vegetarian. Both students had meals they were able to eat with no issues.

Even when it was time to enjoy our meal, the lesson was far from over. Radhakrishnan showed us how to eat in the style of her home country, sans fork.

“Place four fingers together on the plate to make a scoop,” she explained, “and then just eat it with your fingers.”

The first few bites felt bizarre, then eating with fingers seemed a natural way to do it.

“I love Indian cuisine and I feel that it is a treasure. I wanted to share it with everyone and have everyone know how beautiful and amazing it is,” Radhakrishnan said. “To learn to cook is a life skill; I would say it’s a lifesaving skill.”

This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Chef brings wisdom to Fort Mill through Indian cuisine."