Chettinad Cuisine—An Ambrosial De-light !

by Geetha Alagappan, Houston ,TX

My number one reason to go to India is visiting my family, but it is also most embarrassing to admit that right up there along with it is - eating the most sumptu-ous Chettinad delicacies! I grew up in Bombay and I don‘t remember how I was introduced to ―Chettinad Cuisine‖ - it simply began with the fact that no matter whose home I visited or which restaurant I ate in Bombay, somehow—nothing could compare to the delights that came out of our small kitchen in Santacruz. As I grew older and wiser, I gradually discerned that here were items that surpassed my Mom‘s cooking and that was every time we visited my Grandma or Chettinad! I secretly began looking forward to these yearly vacations to visit my grand-parents. Every time we were invited to a wedding in Chetti-nad, I was in seventh heaven! Dolling up for the wedding was the least of my concerns and at that time seemed a tre-mendous waste of time! Why dress up in silk when we would just get all sweaty again? The cool cotton frocks that I wore seemed very practical and suited my purpose. I re-member impatiently donning my ―pattu pavadai‖ and the requisite braids and scampering off to ―Pin Kattu‖. It was incredibly fascinating to watch the cooks and their helpers chopping mountainous quantities of veggies, steaming fluffy whiter-than-white idlis; to enjoy the aroma of biriyani and watch the dexterity with which our Chettinad cooks deftly produced mouth-watering delicacies with rudimen-tary cooking gadgets and open-hearth stoves!

Although most of Chettinad cooking is based on rice—the array of dishes that come from that simple ingre-dient is simply amazing! Idli, Aapam, Paniyaaram, Idiap-pam have created waves world-wide! Perhaps the secret to Chettinad cooking is in the proportions and getting the in-gredients, timing and presentation just perfect.

Even today— I look forward to the weddings and feel such an absolute glutton for eating everything on my ―Elai‖! Although health conscious, I would rather slog away on my elliptical when I get back from my vacation that go on any diet on my trip to India! Cooking Chettinad Cuisine is a therapeutic activity for me—akin to listening to good music, reading a good book or walking in the park. Most days af-ter I get back from work, I really look forward to combining different ingredients together to whip up a culinary delight. This would be a good time to also confess that most of my initial cooking efforts did not turn out that way! On other days, I want someone ELSE to serve me some tasty, nutri-tious, gastronomical delight—something that reminds me of the times back home—something authentic, something Chettinad!