Heart warming food from Tamil Nadu

Hints of spices, used in South Indian food, dance on the palate. This monsoon might be just the right time to get a taste from the region

Food from Tamil Nadu is often stereotyped to be idly, vada and sambhar. However, when you delve deeper, you understand there’s more about food from the region. Dishes from Chettinad are greatly lauded world over for their use of spices and flavourful outcomes. And we are not just talking about the famous Chettinad chicken curry.

The ongoing food fest, ‘Flavours of Tamil Nadu’, at the Waterside Café, Taj Banjara, offers a mixed variety of dishes from the neighbouring state. The fest, which will be on until August 30, has a menu that changes every few days with its featured dishes like Kozhi Melagu, Meen Varuval, Karuveppillai Chicken Curry, dosais, appams and idiyappams.

Master Chef from Taj Gateway Hotel, Chennai, Chef Jabaraj T, has curated the menu with care. Let’s taste some of the vegetarian dishes in the spread. They say simple and classic flavours always win. The plain kadak dosa was served with freshly tempered coconut chutney, which was bursting with indigenous flavour.

A mixed vegetable dish Kari Kari Kadhambam had the coconutty taste true to the coastal regions. Apart from this, was Urulai roast that is was potatoes cooked in South Indian spices. In non-veg, a major surprise for the Hyderabadis was the biryani. One would wonder if bringing Ambur Kozhi Biryani to the land of the Nawabi dum biryani was a good idea, but the team managed to ace it.

The biryani is homely and flavoured with a hint of bay leaves that is not overpowering yet lingers on the palate. Ambur masala is borrowed from a district in Tamil Nadu named Ambur. “I would say, the Chennai version of biryani is even more difficult than the Hyderabadi counterpart because you have to make sure the rice does not get mashed while cooking,” explains Chef Jabaraj.

The spread would be incomplete if not for the seafood. The Chennai Meen Kozhambu is a fish curry in tangy gravy. Chef Jabaraj says, “We wanted to use local fish found in Hyderabad but with the procedure used in Chennai.” However, the street food item on the menu, Kothu Paratha, which has bits of stir fried paratha with crunchy veggies, would be better appreciated if it weren’t chewy.

For dessert were the delectable Payasam and Ashoka Halwa. Made of moong dal, flour, milk, sugar, saffron and nuts, Thanjavur’s famous Ashoka Halwa with its creamy consistency was a major hit. Overall, the taste of Tamil Nadu wafted from every dish. Nearly every dish had the presence of curry leaves – whether roasted, powdered or fresh – that is incidentally liberally used in the region.

By:Elita Enoch