Get Spicy: A 5 Week Indian Cultural, Spice and Cooking Workshop

A 5-week immersive Indian cultural experience exploring chai, spices, cooking, stories, and traditions.


Chai Walli
Chai Walli
5.0 (66)

5 x 2 hours Class size 1 to 15 guests

  $460 - $495 (Earlybird price of $460 applies if you book into a public session 10+ days ahead) (Afterpay & PayPal Pay in 4 available)

Get Spicy: A 5-Week Journey Into Indian Spices, Chai, Culture & Cooking
What if you could learn about Indian food and spices from someone who didn't learn it from a cookbook? Welcome to Get Spicy, an intimate five-week Indian cultural experience at the Chai Walli Studios in Kilsyth, Melbourne.
This isn't your traditional cooking class. It's an invitation to explore the stories, customs, language, traditions, and knowledge that sit behind Indian food and spices. As the granddaughter of an Ayurvedic doctor, Chai Walli founder Uppma Virdi grew up surrounded by a deep understanding of spices, food, and their place in everyday Indian life. Much of this knowledge isn't written down. It's passed from person to person, generation to generation, through stories, rituals, observation, and experience. This 5-week series is an invitation into that world.
Over five intimate sessions, we'll sit around the table, drink chai, talk, taste, cook, listen, and learn. We'll explore Indian food culture, spices, traditions, and stories, with hands-on experiences and grounding breathwork woven throughout.
Week 1: Masala Chai
  • Explore the history, culture, and rituals of Indian chai
  • Discover tea, spices, technique, and the language of chai
  • Make, share, and experience chai together
Week 2: Masala Box & Tadka
  • Explore the iconic Indian masala dabba
  • Discover the stories and traditions behind Indian spices
  • Learn the art of tadka and building flavour
Week 3: Roti
  • Explore roti's place in Indian food and family life
  • Learn about dough, kneading, rolling, and cooking
  • Get hands-on and make your own roti
Week 4: Dal & Sabji
  • Explore the foundations of an everyday Indian meal
  • Discover lentils, vegetables, spices, and balance
  • Learn to cook with your palate, not just a recipe
Week 5: Aloo Parantha
  • Make spiced potato filling and traditional dough
  • Learn the art of stuffing, rolling, and cooking paratha
  • Finish around the table with food, stories, and a final feast
More than a cooking class
Get Spicy is for anyone who wants to understand the culture behind Indian food, not just learn a few recipes. We'll explore Indian customs, traditions, language, spice knowledge, Ayurveda, food rituals, stories, and grounding breathwork alongside hands-on cooking. This is knowledge that has travelled through generations.
An Intimate Experience
There are just 4-5 places per cohort. That's intentional. We want this to feel less like a cooking school and more like being welcomed into someone's kitchen. There is time to ask questions, taste, talk, share stories, make mistakes, and learn the things you won't find in a recipe. Five weeks. Four people. Centuries of knowledge.
Come curious. Leave with a little more knowledge, a lot more spice, and stories you'll remember. ️

money_off
Save $35 per guest, when you book 10+ days before a session
What you'll get
  • A 5-week immersive journey into Indian spices, chai, food, and culture
  • Hands-on experiences and cooking across all five sessions
  • Chai, spices, and all ingredients provided during workshops
  • Tastings of all things made
  • Stories, traditions, and cultural knowledge shared by Chai Walli founder Uppma Virdi
  • Grounding breathwork and mindful practices
  • Recipes and knowledge to take home
  • An intimate experience with just 4-5 guests
Knowledge required
None
What to bring
  • An open mind and plenty of curiosity
  • Comfortable clothes suitable for hands-on cooking
  • A reusable water bottle and any snacks you may need for yourself
  • A notebook and pen
Session repeats

This class series runs over 5 consecutive sessions, at the same time every week.

Suitable for

This class is great for individuals and couples as well as for a date idea, team building activity, birthday or hens party.

This experience would also be a unique gift for her, gift for mum, Father's Day gift or gift for couples.

Location

Chai Walli - 15/97-107 Canterbury Road, Kilsyth VIC

Get Spicy: A 5 Week Indian Cultural, Spice and Cooking Workshop location
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Your teacher

Chai Walli
Chai Walli

5.0 (66)
female Women-owned

Uppma is the granddaughter of an Ayurvedic doctor who specialised in herbs and spices. She is a first generation Indian Australian migrant who left her career as a lawyer to follow her passion to share her ancient family recipes with the world.
Frustrated with the lack of authenticity, she started Chai Walli to educate people on the genuine beauty of Indian teas and spices that her grandfather gifted her with.
Uppma grew up with her mother’s love of cooking ingrained in her veins. She uses her innate senses to balance spices according to their Ayurvedic elements and teach others the Art of Chai.
Leading a team of passionate individuals, Uppma runs her small Australian business with deep values. All the blends are formulated and created by Uppma using her love of natural wholesome ingredients and family recipes.
We are grateful that we can share our ritual of chai and our art of creating beautiful blends with you. Thank you for choosing to support artisan makers like us. Your love for quality handcrafted products means that we get to share cultural heritage and age old techniques in a modern light with you and many others.
We care deeply about the suppliers we work with. We choose to have a tea farm to tea cup policy, which allows us to support some truly amazing tea estates in India producing organic and fair trade teas.
Our humble beginnings started with Uppma blending spices in her parent’s basement recreating her grandfather’s blends. Today, we are proud to have several award winning and well renowned masala chai and spice blends which are experienced by our amazing customers all around the world.
So come, join Uppma, Australia's leading educator in all things flavour, spice and tea.

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