On a Chettinad food trail

Chettinad, the land where spices have travelled from across the world to create a cuisine that is out of this world! Well, Chettinad and the cuisine, do deserve the eulogy. Chettiar traders had travelled across the world and found some amazing spices to be included into Tamil cuisine making it robust and flavourful.

Chef Jagadeesh from Westin Chennai came down to Seasonal Tastes at Westin Hyderabad Mindspace to recreate this vibrant cuisine for the Chettinad Food Festival during lunch and dinner buffets. For the occasion, the restaurant’s food counter is made up to look beautiful with the display of spices and ingredients used in the cuisine even as the fragrant aromas wafting around makes the hunger pangs go overdrive, setting stage for a scrumptious meal.

Originally from Karaikudi, Chef Jagadeesh’s menu for the food fest, in addition to popular dishes, includes lesser known delicacies from the region like the Kottaiyur Kozhi Masala (chicken made in masala and tomato gravy) and Aranmanai Kari Melagu (lamb made using rich gravy of cashew and spices) from the royal households of Chettinad.

Also on the menu is the typical of region, Kothu Paratha (scrambled paratha mixed on the tawa with spices, onions, chicken or lamb, making it a standalone dish). There is also the must try Kal Appam (this appam made using locally harvested fresh toddy usually doesn’t find space in restaurant menu) that can be had with Urlai pattani paal khorma.

There is no dull moment when one is on a Chettinad food trail be it the Meen Varuval pan-fried fish marinated in variety of masalas, masala parippu wada, murukkus, pickles made using elaborate process typical of the region, the fingerlickingly good vegetarian curries like Pudalanlai vengaya gos (using snake gourd), Sepangilangu porichu kootu (using colacasia), Palakkai perattal (jackfruit curry) or the Chettinad biriyani made using 23 spices.

The desserts on the other hand share commonality with other south Indian cuisines – like rawa laddu and parippu payasam. Chettinad Food Festival will end on February 12.

By Rajeshwari Kalyanam