CHENNAI: Stomach full, and taste buds doing a happy dance, I slop back into my chair and consider spending the entire day in the same spot. Maybe, I could spend it reminiscing about the flavour-intense culinary journey I’d just embarked on.
Stepping through an entrance decked with saffron and yellow flowers, an air of serenity with a soft undertone of nadaswaram music fills Malgudi at Savera Hotel. Empty tables, a sari-clad woman prepping the lentil mixture for the thavala vadai, and fresh-faced staff in veshtis greet us as they prep for the ensuing lunch hour of the Chettinad Food Festival.
The steaming bowls of soup that welcome us at the table, no sooner than we’re seated, kick-off the flavour express into the traditional taste landscape of the infamous Chettinad cuisine. A bowl of well-seasoned naatu kozhi rasam and another, a quintessential Karaikudi-spiced nenjelumbu chaaru, are a suitable first stop in our route. Adding an element of crunchiness as we slurp the soup, are little dishes of papadam and three different starters — keerai kola urundai, thavala vadai and meen vadai. As I watch my guest go through the platter of keerai kola urundais, I turn my attention to the thavala vadai — warm, thin, and perfectly golden.
Culinary journey
Chef Jesu, the executive chef at Malgudi, walks us through the rich history of the Chettinad culture and cuisine. “In south India, during the Sangam period, the regions were separated into Kurinji, Mullai, Marutham, Neithal and Palai. The Chettiars fell into the Neithal region, which was on the seashore, rich with trade, architecture and seafood,” he says. “It became a pot of intense and vibrant flavours which is now the Chettinad cuisine, and that’s what I wanted to re-create with this festival. We’ve sought the help of Chef Gandhi and Chef Subbiah from Nedungudi in Pudukkotai, to access their repository of local and authentic Chettinad taste-notes and family recipes.”
And a tradition-soaked repository it is, with an 18-page menu dedicated just to the festival. Despite the menu being unsurprisingly repast with spice-loaded non-vegetarian options, the sheer number of vegetarian options to balance it out is good to see. The empty thali on our placemat is filled with a short-grain mutton biryani coated with a delicious layer of ghee and succulent meats that fall apart on the touch, with a side of a mutton vaguthu kuzhi kootu — a near-forgotten Chettinad recipe made of mutton blood, liver and intestine. The yeral masala with rice is subtly tangy and loaded with tiny delicious prawns, albeit a tad rubbery. We also try a few vegetarian options; mochai vendakai mandi — quite homely in flavour, parupu kola urunadi kozhambu, kalla veetu aviyal — a spicy potato and brinjal preparation, and mangai vellam pachadi — a sweet, sour raw-mango dish. Although I’ve never found myself drawn to the savoury use of mango, this might have changed my mind a tad.
With just enough space for a little dessert, we try a few spoonfuls of aadi kumayam, paal kozhukattai, godumai sootalva and the badam halwa. Although a big fan of sweet, I didn’t go back for a second bite of any of them, being quite overwhelmed with the taste of jaggery. The seeyam — a sweetened lentil ball dipped in rice batter and fried — that was served as a starter was probably my dessert choice of the day.
As we walk out, Kannusamy, Malgudi’s resident palm-reader offers me his services. As he looks at my left palm and tells me that I’m going to have a good life, stomach full and brimming with happiness, I can’t help but think that I’m living it right now.
A taste of Chettinad
The Chettinad Food Festival will be on until March 22, for lunch and dinner. For details, call: 9710947361
From top: Parupu kola urunadi kozhambu, thavala vadai, mochai vendakai mandi R Satish Babu