Padayal No Oil No Boil: a South Indian feast without fire or oil, from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu to Lumi Hub

Padayal No Oil No Boil · Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India · Founder: Dr. R. Padayal Sivakumar

No boiling, no frying, no oil

"No Oil No Boil" is both a philosophy and a brand name. The man behind it is Dr. R. Padayal Sivakumar, a natural food expert based in Coimbatore. In 2021 he opened the Padayal restaurant in Coimbatore, which serves full South Indian meals, vada and payasam included, without cooking a single dish. Homegrown, an Indian magazine, described it as the world's first exclusive South Indian raw vegan restaurant; its walls carry portraits of agricultural scientist G. Nammalvar and farmer-activist "Nel" Jayaraman, two figures of Tamil Nadu's natural farming movement.

According to his introductory video, his cooking uses no oil, gas, tamarind, garlic, onion or dairy, and relies on three techniques: soaking, grinding and binding by hand. A single recipe can take three to seven years to perfect. He has developed more than 2,500 recipes without oil, guided by a principle he returns to again and again: food is medicine.

From lottery-ticket seller to "fireless" records

Dr. Sivakumar's story begins in hardship. He describes growing up in a poor middle-class family and starting work at 12 selling lottery tickets, then making gold ornaments, selling groceries, working as an office assistant on 800 rupees, running a travel agency and keeping accounts for a steel company. The turning point came when he volunteered at a hotel and travelled across India, meeting different food traditions and coming to value ingredients in their most natural form.

His fireless cooking has been put before the public more than once. In January 2019 in Chennai, 300 people, airport staff and college students he had trained for 48 hours, made 300 dishes without oil or fire in five minutes, supervised by the Geo India Foundation with the Airports Authority of India (Deccan Chronicle). In September 2022, the "Flame Off No Oil No Boil" event he hosted saw 319 students aged 4 to 16, from schools in Tamil Nadu and Bengaluru, make 319 dishes in 4.27 minutes using 30 traditional rice varieties, seven kinds of millet and edible flowers, vegetables, herbs and fruit (DT Next). According to his video, he holds six world records, has received the Coimbatore Icon Award and founded the Padayal Academy, which trains students in 40 countries.

A plate of food, a lesson about fuel

Fireless cooking is not only about health. Not lighting a stove means not burning gas or firewood. According to the video, Padayal's methods have helped thousands of people cut the fuel they use in their own kitchens. At a day devoted to green business, Padayal's small table was a concrete example of a meal that is good for the people eating it and light on the environment.

On the morning of 4 November 2026, the Padayal team, dressed in blue-and-white indigo prints, stood behind the table and offered plate after plate for guests to taste. Vietnamese and international visitors lingered, asked about each dish and took photos with the cooks from Tamil Nadu. Dr. C.K. Ashok Kumar, Founder & Chairman of First World Community, also stopped by the corner.

Dr. Sivakumar lives by an ancient Indian saying: when food is pure, everything is pure. At Lumi Hub, that saying was served on banana leaves, with no fire needed.

Green Business Matching Day Vietnam is co-organised by INCHAM with Canopus, AnChay.TV and Chay Vietnam, with the support of the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City, Ministry of External Affairs of India.

Based on material provided by the company; compiled by the organisers of Green Business Matching Day Vietnam as a gift to the businesses that joined the day.