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Tamil Nadu is famous for its hospitality. The deep belief among people here that serving food to others is a service to humanity is common to the Indian belief system. This region has a rich cuisine involving both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. It is characterized by the use of rice, legumes and lentils, its distinct aroma and flavour achieved by the blending of spices including curry leaves, tamarind, coriander, ginger, garlic, chili, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, cumin, nutmeg, coconut and rosewater. The word 'curry is derived from the Tamil word kari which means sauce.
Rice and legumes play an important role in Tamil cuisine. Lentils are also consumed extensively, either accompanying rice preparations, or in the form of independent dishes. Vegetables and dairy products are essential accompaniments.
On special occasions, traditional Tamil dishes are prepared in almost the same way as they were centuries ago preparations that call for elaborate and leisurely cooking, and served in traditional style and ambience. The traditional way of eating a meal involves being seated on the floor, having the food served on a banana leaf, and using clean fingers of the right hand to transfer the food to the mouth. After the meal, the fingers are washed, and the banana leaf becomes food for cows.
Because of modernization, urbanization, cosmopolitan culture and the break up of the joint family system, compromises and adaptations are being made. A movement towards a simpler cuisine can be sensed. Urbanization has introduced Western-style seating arrangements at traditional events with tables, chairs, plates and cutlery becoming the norm, and food being served buffet-style.
Despite changes in practices and their cultural implications, Tamil cuisine retains its basic character in the use of ingredients, and its aroma and flavour remain unchanged.
Regional variations in Tamil cuisines
Over a period of time, each geographical area where Tamils have lived has developed its own distinct variant of the common dishes in addition to dishes native to itself.
The Chettinad region comprising of Karaikudi and adjoining areas is known for both traditional vegetarian dishes like appam, uthappam, paal paniyaram and non vegetarian dishes made primarily using chicken. Chettinad cuisine has gained popularity in non-Tamil speaking areas as well.
Madurai and the other southern districts of Tamil Nadu are known for non vegetarian food made of Mutton, chicken and fish. Parota made with maida or all purpose flour, and loosely similar to the north Indian wheat flour-based Paratha, is served at food outlets in Tamil Nadu, especially in districts like Virudhunagar, Madurai and the adjoining areas. Parota is not commonly made at home as it is laborious and time consuming. Madurai has its own unique foods such as Jigarthanda, Muttaiparotta (minced parotta and scrambled egg), Paruthipal and Ennaidosai (dosa with lots of oil) which are rarely found in other parts of Tamil Nadu.
Nanjilnadu (Kanyakumari district) region is famous for its fish curry since the region is surrounded by the three great water bodies of Asia (Indian Ocean, Arabian. Sea and Bay of Bengal), Fish forms an integral part of life. Owing to its cultural affinity with neighboring Kerala, coconut and coconut oil forms a base for almost all the preparations of the region.
The western Kongunadu region has specialities like Santhakai/Sandhuvai (a noodle like item of rice), Opultu (a sweet tasting pizza-like dish that is dry outside with a sweet stuffing), and kola urundai (meat balls). Thengai Pal (Sweet Hot Milk made of Jaggery, Coconut and cotton seeds), Ulundu Kali(Sweet made out of Jaggery, Gingely Oil and Black Gram), Ragi puttu maavu, Arisi Puttumavu, Vazhaipoo Poriyal. The natural crops of this region forms the main ingredients in this Kongunadu cuisine.
Ceylon Tamil cuisine bears similarities to Tamil Nadu cuisine but also has many unique vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. It features dishes such as puttu (steamed rice cake) and idiyappam and Sevai, (known in other parts of the world as string hoppers).
Eating-out in its capital city Chennai, is a great experience and provides a glimpse of the unique lifestyle of the city. Chennai is known for its cuisine, brought to the city by people who have migrated from different parts of Tamil Nadu. Chennai has a large collection of restaurants, some of them are unique Speciality Restaurants,' which serve 'Indian Cuisine with an ambience to match, while most others cater South Indian tiffin and meals, at very reasonable prices.
Typical Tamil feast-Virundhu Sappadu
Virundhu' in Tamil means feast', when guests (friends and relatives are invited during happy ceremonial occasions to share food. "Sappadu means a full course meal, which can be either lunch or dinner.
During Virundhu Sappadu, guests sit on a coir mat which is rolled out on the floor and a full course meal is served in the traditional way, on a 'banana leaf which is spread in front of the guests, with the tip pointed left.
The host makes sure that the menu includes as many varieties of dishes as possible. Several helpings are served to the guests and it is insisted that they have much more. The dishes are served in a particular order. Each dish is placed on a particular spot of the banana leaf. Guests are expected to begin and end eating the meal together and do not leave in the middle of a meal. With a look at the food on the leaf, guests will have a good idea of the community, wealth, and the region from which part of Tamil Nadu the hosts originate. Meals may be served on a silver or stainless steel plate.
The top half of the banana leaf is reserved for accompaniments, the lower half for the rice. In some communities, the rice will be served only after the guest has been seated. The lower right portion of the leaf may have a scoop of warm sweet milky rice payasam, kesari, sweet pongal or any dessert items. While the top left includes a pinch of salt, a dash of pickle and a thimbleful of salad, or a smidgen of chutney. In the middle of the leaf there may be an odd number of fried items like small circles of chips either banana, yam or potato, thin crisp papads or frilly wafers appalams and vadai.
The top right hand corner is reserved for spicy foods including, curry, hot, sweet, or sour and the dry items. If it is a vegetarian meal, the vegetables are carefully chosen, between the country ones-gourds, drumsticks, brinjals and the 'English' ones, which could be carrot, cabbage, and cauliflower. (Ifit is a non-vegetarian meal, a separate leaf is provided for the fried meats, chicken, fish, crab, and so on). But again, the variations are presented carefully, one dry one next to a gravied one.
There may be side attractions such as poli, poori, chappati, few of the famed rice preparations such as ghee pongal or puliyodarai (tamarind rice) particularly if the family comes from Thanjavur, known as the rice bowlof Tamil Nadu.
Traditionally, sweets are eaten first. After having worked through the preliminaries, the long haul starts with rice. Sambar is added to rice and eaten with maybe a sprinkling of ghee. This is followed by rice with kuzhambu and rice with rasam. A final round of rice with curd or buttermilk signals the end of meals. Though there are varieties of kuzhambu, only one will be on offer in a given day. A banana may be served last.
After the meals, betel leaves and nuts are chewed in a leisurely way. Hearty banter and small talks of the times gone by are discussed with nostalgia. It is a time to reminisce the past. The betel leaf chewing is a traditional habit and was a preserve of the older folks. The betel leaf is packed into a little package with edible calcium paste layered on top and a pinch of coarsely powdered betel nuts.
Commonly consumed items
Rice is the major staple food of most of the Tamil people. Lunch or dinner is usually a meal of steamed rice, served with accompanying items, which typically include sambar, dry curry, rasam, kootu and thayir (curd, but as used in India refers to yogurt) or more (buttermilk).
Tiffin or light meals, which is often served for breakfast or as an evening snack, usually include one or more dishes like idli, pongal, dosai, chapathi, sevai, vadai which are oftwo kinds (medhuvadai meaning soft vadai and paruppuvadai i.e., lentils vadai) Vadai, along with coconut chutney, sambar and milagai podi. Tiffin is usually accompanied by hot filter coffee, the signature beverage of the city. Some other popular breakfast items are:
• Chettinad dishes like appam, uthappam
• Parota made with maida or all-purpose flour, perhaps similar to the north Indian wheat flour-based paratha
• Upma, made from wheat (rava), onion, green chillies. It may also substituted with broken rice granules, flattenned rice flakes, or almost any other cereal grain instead of broken wheat.
• Sevai or idiyappam, rice noodles made out of steamed rice cakes.
Coffee is the most popular beverage in Tamil Nadu. It is, in fact, a major social institution in southern Indian Tamil tradition; also called the Madras Filter Coffee, it is unique to this part of the world. This unique beverage uses gourmet coffee beans of the premium Peaberry or the less expensive Arabica variety. The making of filter coffee is like a ritual, as the coffee beans are first roasted and then powdered. Sometimes chicory is added to enhance the aroma. Then a filter set is used in which few scoops of powdered coffee and enough boiling water is added to prepare a very dark liquid called the decoction. Then, three-fourth mugful of hot milk with sugar and a small quantity of decoction is served in dabarah/tumbler set, which is a unique coffee cup.
Dosai, crepes made from a fermented batter of rice and urad dal (Black gram), and is accompanied by sambar:
Idli, steamed rice-cakes, prepared from a fermented batter of rice and urad dal (Black gram), and side-dishes are usually different kinds of chutney or sambar.
• Upma/Uppittu, prepared from semolina (rava), onion, green chillies, and certain spices
• Puliyodarai, Puli=Tamarind, thorai/thoran-fry, is a popular Tamil dish and widely specialized among Tamil Iyengars and famous throughout Karnataka as Puliyogare. It is a mixture of fried tamarind paste and cooked rice. The tamarind paste is fried with sesame oil, asofoetida and fenugreek powder, dried chilly, groundnuts, split chickpea, urad dal, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, turmeric powder and seasoned with light jaggery and salt.
• Sambar, a thick stew of lentils with vegetables and seasoned with exotic spices
• Rasam, lentil soup with pepper, coriander and cumin seeds
• Thayir sadam, steamed rice with curd
•Sevai or Idiyappam, rice noodles made out of steamed rice cakes.
Other snack items include murukku, seedai, bajji, mixture, sevu, and pakoda, which are typically savoury items.
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