CHETTINAD CUISINE-A SPICY FUSION OF CULINARY ADVENTURES

The seafaring days of Tamil Nadu’s Nattukottai Chettiar community played a pivotal role in reshaping some of the traditions of Tamil culinary pursuits. Hailing from the Chettinad region, comprising 76 village settlements in the Sivagangai district, the Chettiars made their fortunes in trading salt and spices, as well as by serving as moneylenders in Malaysia, Singapore, Burma. Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Laos, and Indonesia in the 19^th and early 20^th century. The political upheavals in the aftermath of World War II rang a death knell for the fortunes of the community, many members of which had chosen to migrate to these South East Asian and Asian countries.

The deep influences of the culinary traditions and culture from the foreign sojourns of the Chettiars still resonate deeply in Chettinad cuisine to this day.  It’s reflected in the manner in which meat is sun-dried or pickles made in brine or certain ingredients that go into preparing a particular dish— all part and parcel of the influences brought home by their seafaring forbears. It is evident even things like serving only an odd number of dishes, a concept they picked up from South and Southeast Asian cuisines, where serving an even number of dishes was considered inauspicious.  So, the Chettinad banana leaf meal will comprise either five, seven, or 11 vegetables.

Tamil food traditions have been largely dominated by the Tamil Brahmins and have veered sharply towards vegetarianism. The proximity of the habitations of the Chettiars to the sea and their exposure to non-vegetarian fare on their travels led to a preponderance of fish, crabs, lobster, and prawns. Dwellings closer to the hinterland added mutton, chicken, quail, turkey, and rabbit to their menus. That said, the Chettiars don’t eat pork or beef.

Slow cooking, precision, and faultless timing, and the mastery of spices are at the very heart of Chettinad cuisine. Even the humblest Chettinad dish is revered for its judicious use of spices to stitch together a fantastic tapestry of aromas, flavours, and textures. Critical components of this slow cooking technique are hand-pounding, hand-grinding, and slow-roasting spices, herbs, and other ingredients, traditionally carried out by the aachis/ammas.

What distinguishes Chettinad cuisine from traditional Tamil fare is its spiciness. It’s not about chillis, it’s about the masterful blending of spices that give their curries that special heat.  To tone it down, the dish is accompanied by mild rice-based options such as Idlis, Idiyappams, Appams, Dosais and Adais— all washed down with generous helpings of cooling buttermilk.

The Chettinad spice box traditionally features black peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, saffron, mace, bay leaves, cardamom, turmeric, fenugreek, fennel, cloves, cumin, nutmeg, and star anise. A unique ingredient is kalpasi or black stone flower which along with maratti mokku or dried flower pods, are used in both non-veg and veg dishes. Onions and garlic are used with a lavish hand. Also used are green and red chilies, tamarind, cashew nuts, and rose petals. As the region tends to be quite arid sundried sundried legumes, berries, vegetables and meats have an important place as they hold in their nutritional values.

Popular vegetarian dishes include Panniyaram, Kozhukkattai, Palkatti Chettinadu, Urlai Roast, Vendakkai Mandi, Seedai and Athirasam, Karunakilangu Masiyal a dry yam curry and, Kodamilagai Mandi.

The flag bearer of its non-veg specialties is Chettinad Chicken, a symphony of spices with black pepper leading the show. At least 15-16 ingredients, along with coconut, ginger, and garlic, come together to prepare this delicious curry.

Some other yummy options are Meen Kal Varulval or Chettinad-Style Fried Fish, Karaikudi Chicken Biriyani, Manga Meen Kozhambu or raw mango fish curry, Sura Puttu or shark fin curry, Karaikudi Era Masala, Milagu Kozhi Varuval or pepper chicken fry, Mutton Chukka and Kada Fry or fried and spiced quail meat.

A lavish Chettiar wedding feast would feature six main course grain dishes, nine savoury side dishes, and six different sweets, all carefully crafted by the samayalkar or team of cooks under the watchful eyes of the senior aachis.

Traditionally meals are served on banana leaves and portions are served and eaten in a distinct order. Rice, salads, pickles, papads, and buttermilk are par for the course.