Ayesha Curry has the world’s cutest sous chef.
The self-taught cook, who loves to get creative in the kitchen when whipping up meals for her family of five, tells PEOPLE that when it comes to her daughter Riley, she’s realized that the apple is not falling far from the tree.
“Lately, my nine-year-old — my oldest — she’s incredible,” says Ayesha, 33, who collaborated on her meat-centric restaurant International Smoke at MGM Grand Las Vegas with chef Michael Mina. “It’s going to be really interesting to see what path she takes because she can throw down in the kitchen already.”
Also mom to daughter Ryan, 6, and son Canon, 3, with Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry, Ayesha says Riley’s talents are “insane.”
“She made us this chicken piccata the other night from scratch,” she says. “I did absolutely nothing. People were hitting me up like, ‘That was fake, right?’ And I’m like, ‘Absolutely not, no.’ She did it from start to finish and it was absolutely delicious. I was so proud I could cry.”
Things are a bit hectic in the Curry household as Ayesha’s husband of 10 years plays in the NBA Finals. She still likes to wind down in the kitchen for dinner with the help of her children.
“My husband will open the wine right now for me because he’s not drinking because he’s still in season,” says Ayesha. “He’ll open the wine for me and I love to have a little glass while I cook. And then, of course the kids are begging to help chop something or prep something.
As Ayesha has been busy whipping up new dishes for her restaurants, it’s no surprise that she’s utilizing her little sous chefs to try out potential new menu items.
“Family is definitely the taste tester,” she says. “It’s therapy for me. There was this lull right towards the end of the pandemic where I was like, ‘I’m over it. I don’t want to cook anymore. I just want the 30-minute meal,’ and that’s how my last cookbook came about. But now, I’m back to this point where I love a long, drawn-out, elaborate meal that takes time, with 15 million steps.”
Ayesha’s love for working with food and family doesn’t stop there. After waiting to take her first sip of alcohol until she turned 21, she recently got into the wine industry with her sister-in-law Sydel, and the duo is having fun learning the ins and outs of the business.
“My sister-in-law and I, we do every blending session together for our wine,” Ayesha tells PEOPLE of her Domaine Curry brand. “It’s one of those industries that’s still, food and wine, hand-in-hand, because it’s [a] conversation piece. It’s something that gets people talking, it gets people together, it gets them around a table enjoying something collectively. For me, that’s why I love it so much. Anything that brings people together, I’m all in for. We are learning very quickly and it’s been such an incredible experience.”
Steph partners with Ayesha on her food-related business endeavors, as well. The Currys recently decided to use their name for good by providing 25 million meals for children in need thanks to local restaurants just like hers.
“It was really great to be able to rely on local restaurants to provide school meals for kids throughout the pandemic,” Ayesha proudly says of her Eat.Learn.Play Foundation. “What that did in turn was it allowed restaurants to stay open, to keep their staff on board. Locally, it kept people working, it kept people eating, and it kept the community fed. For us, we were really grateful for that model.”