Here’s a breakdown of South Indian chef and kitchen helpers’ responsibilities, tailored to traditional South Indian culinary operations like restaurants, catering, or home-style kitchens:
Menu Planning: Design and plan authentic South Indian dishes like dosas, idlis, vadas, sambar, rasam, biryani, poriyal, and payasam.
Ingredient Selection: Ensure the use of fresh, region-specific ingredients like curry leaves, mustard seeds, tamarind, coconut, etc.
Preparation & Cooking: Execute cooking techniques like tempering (tadka), steaming, frying, and grinding with precision.
Quality Control: Maintain taste, presentation, and hygiene standards consistently.
Time Management: Coordinate meal prep to serve fresh dishes, especially for breakfast and lunch rushes.
Supervision: Guide and instruct kitchen helpers and junior cooks on tasks.
Inventory Management: Keep track of pantry stock, order spices, lentils, vegetables, and other ingredients as needed.
Kitchen Hygiene: Ensure compliance with food safety and sanitation protocols.
Customer Satisfaction: Adapt spice levels and recipes to suit customer preferences if needed.
Innovation: Experiment with modern twists on traditional dishes while preserving authenticity.
Ingredient Prep: Wash, peel, chop vegetables; grate coconut; grind chutneys and masalas as directed.
Assisting the Chef: Help in dosa batter prep, boiling dals, cooking rice, frying snacks, and arranging meal platters.
Cleaning Duties: Maintain cleanliness of cooking stations, utensils, and storage areas.
Dishwashing: Regular cleaning of vessels, plates, and cooking tools.
Serving Help: Assist in plating and delivering food to serving areas if required.
Stock Handling: Unpack and store groceries and ingredients under chef's supervision.
Basic Cooking Support: Cook basic items like rice, upma, or poriyal under direction.
Waste Management: Proper disposal of food waste and maintaining a clean workspace.