04-26-2004, 07:40 AM
Tongue tingling fare from southern India of yore
Chennai, Apr 24 (IANS) :
Jasmine scented rice, tongue tingling sauces and some spicy southern
Indian history have food connoisseurs and critics raving at a
restaurant here.
What is so unique about a Tamil food fest in Tamil Nadu, one might
want to know. The fest at the Dakshin speciality restaurant of ITC
Hotel Park Sheraton & Towers, Chennai, is a treat that traces its
origins to Sangam literature and era.
Baga Sastiram, as the food fest has been named, is "history on a
platter", says chef Praveen Anand who has put up the show to mark
Dakshin's 15th year here.
After researching ancient Tamil literature, including a 125-year-old
Tamil recipe book, Anand has served up traditional recipes that take
the food buff through a time machine!
Very few places in Tamil Nadu today offer unadulterated and
uninfluenced Tamil food.
"During the Sangam era, for example, there were no potatoes or
tomatoes growing on this land," says historian S. Suresh. So traces
of meals in archaeological finds help to date the era of the find,
especially pottery found at cooking fire remains.
A Sangam-era meal will not have onions or garlic, which came to the
cuisine later with trade, he adds.
Sambar, a popular lentil curry used with rice or idli or vadai, has
these days become a symbol of Tamil food. But its origin is
comparatively recent, just a few hundred years, Suresh says.
"It was created out of a mistake" when the Maratha rulers from
Shivaji's court ruled the Deccan and had southern fiefdoms, he said.
The story goes that Sambaji, Shivaji's son, one day returned home to
find his wife and daughter away. He was very hungry and he attempted
to make himself rice and dal but added some tamarind to it by mistake
that gave it an entirely different complexion.
"Unaltered traditions of food is the leitmotif of southern culture,"
chef Anand insists.
His recipes for the Baga Sastiram have been taken out of a cookbook
of the 1880s, the "Hindu Pakka Sastra". So there is a sweet payasam
with onion in it, but there is no tomato in any of the dishes!
Anand has added some dressing innovations that have made the dishes
attractive for the modern restaurant eater. The chef and his team are
very particular, however, that the authenticity of the south Indian
food is retained.
Items like nori vadai, mokhai rasam, vazhakai podi, puli itta aru
keerai, chameli huska, kara poli, ragi sankati, sabja bhath,
nellikkai payasam, mogamsomkani khuska and hengai pal halwa are rare
these days even in household cooked meals.
Anand and his team readily show guests at lunch how certain recipes
have evolved. Hot water is poured slowly over jasmine flowers to get
scented water in which rice is cooked.
Or they show how palaakkai curry made with tender jackfruit is
prepared, how persngikkai puli parappu, a lentil and gourd
preparation, gets its right texture.
But in the final count it is the mouth watering fare, the vendakkai
puli kozhambu and the karuvepali kozhambu, the sauces and chutneys,
the flavours of jasmine and pomegranate in black wild rice, along
with Thyagaraja's music for company that has drawn the discerning to
the food fest. <!--emo&:rocker--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rocker.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rocker.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Chennai, Apr 24 (IANS) :
Jasmine scented rice, tongue tingling sauces and some spicy southern
Indian history have food connoisseurs and critics raving at a
restaurant here.
What is so unique about a Tamil food fest in Tamil Nadu, one might
want to know. The fest at the Dakshin speciality restaurant of ITC
Hotel Park Sheraton & Towers, Chennai, is a treat that traces its
origins to Sangam literature and era.
Baga Sastiram, as the food fest has been named, is "history on a
platter", says chef Praveen Anand who has put up the show to mark
Dakshin's 15th year here.
After researching ancient Tamil literature, including a 125-year-old
Tamil recipe book, Anand has served up traditional recipes that take
the food buff through a time machine!
Very few places in Tamil Nadu today offer unadulterated and
uninfluenced Tamil food.
"During the Sangam era, for example, there were no potatoes or
tomatoes growing on this land," says historian S. Suresh. So traces
of meals in archaeological finds help to date the era of the find,
especially pottery found at cooking fire remains.
A Sangam-era meal will not have onions or garlic, which came to the
cuisine later with trade, he adds.
Sambar, a popular lentil curry used with rice or idli or vadai, has
these days become a symbol of Tamil food. But its origin is
comparatively recent, just a few hundred years, Suresh says.
"It was created out of a mistake" when the Maratha rulers from
Shivaji's court ruled the Deccan and had southern fiefdoms, he said.
The story goes that Sambaji, Shivaji's son, one day returned home to
find his wife and daughter away. He was very hungry and he attempted
to make himself rice and dal but added some tamarind to it by mistake
that gave it an entirely different complexion.
"Unaltered traditions of food is the leitmotif of southern culture,"
chef Anand insists.
His recipes for the Baga Sastiram have been taken out of a cookbook
of the 1880s, the "Hindu Pakka Sastra". So there is a sweet payasam
with onion in it, but there is no tomato in any of the dishes!
Anand has added some dressing innovations that have made the dishes
attractive for the modern restaurant eater. The chef and his team are
very particular, however, that the authenticity of the south Indian
food is retained.
Items like nori vadai, mokhai rasam, vazhakai podi, puli itta aru
keerai, chameli huska, kara poli, ragi sankati, sabja bhath,
nellikkai payasam, mogamsomkani khuska and hengai pal halwa are rare
these days even in household cooked meals.
Anand and his team readily show guests at lunch how certain recipes
have evolved. Hot water is poured slowly over jasmine flowers to get
scented water in which rice is cooked.
Or they show how palaakkai curry made with tender jackfruit is
prepared, how persngikkai puli parappu, a lentil and gourd
preparation, gets its right texture.
But in the final count it is the mouth watering fare, the vendakkai
puli kozhambu and the karuvepali kozhambu, the sauces and chutneys,
the flavours of jasmine and pomegranate in black wild rice, along
with Thyagaraja's music for company that has drawn the discerning to
the food fest. <!--emo&:rocker--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rocker.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rocker.gif' /><!--endemo-->