Mother, daughter revive forgotten heirloom recipes

“Thaligai in Tamil means cooking, but we also do it with love and devotion. I wanted the restaurant to be an extension of my kitchen. Having gathered recipes from my family members, including my grandmothers, we are aiming to keep traditional Tamil food alive,” 50-year-old Nalina tells us, as the restaurant recently turned four.

Twenty-five-year-old Akshaya, who works as an architect, was involved in the design aspect of the restaurant, while Nalina took care of all the food — right from training her staff personally, to interacting with the guests and taking in their suggestions on a daily basis. With their no-onion, no-garlic sattvic food, the restaurant is all about humble food with no-frills. Think of sambar saadam served with sides of home-style paruppu usili, aviyal and thayir saadam with a simple mango pickle —these are some of the best sellers among their regular diners, whose ages range from 3 to 95.

Apart from these classics, Nalina is keen to preserve traditional recipes that not many cook today, owing to shortage of time. “We make mor kali, which is a mash of rice flour cooked along with curd, which is a very traditional dish in Iyengar homes. Our version of puli chutney, which uses tamarind, red chillies and salt, was made in households decades ago as a condiment to various dishes and also as an appetiser. Elai vadam is another such recipe that isn’t seen around in the current day — it is a papad made of fermented rice flour batter, spread on a banana leaf, and then dried and fried,” she elaborates.

These traditional recipes are not only being loved by her customers, which includes political and film industry bigwigs, but many of them are also going to their homes to recreate them, Nalina says. She has also brought in the recipes like Kashi halwa (ash gourd halwa), which tastes just as rich as the prasadam served in temples, the famed coconut milk-based payasam made in Thirupullani Temple near Rameshwaram and kadamba sadam. All the dishes at the restaurant are cooked in brass vessels, as done decades ago by our grandmothers.

“The way we have named the dishes is also in old-style Tamil — instead of saying payasam, we call it thirukkannamudhu, as traditionally done. We are proud of protecting not just Tamil food, but also the language. Our aim is to see Tamil Brahmin food become just as promoted at restaurants as Chettinad food,” Nalina asserts. The mother and daughter are now excited as they plan to start another restaurant soon — to offer traditional South Indian food plated in a contemporary way. “We want even the younger crowds to be able to enjoy good sattvic food,” she adds.