Food inspired by culinary trails in search of the lost Chettinad recipes

Chef Gokul Kannan from the restaurant and the property’s head chef N Kishore Kumar share anecdotes from their two-month long journey into Tamil Nadu’s hinterlands in search of the lost Chettinad spices and recipes.

“The journey was taken across the regions of Sivaganga, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Karaikudi for authentic recipes which have been passed on in Chettiar family homes over centuries. We found spices like white mustard, long pepper corns, pandan leaves and black rice, which are not commonly seen around in our state. We found that the pandan leaves, which were once used extensively in Chettinad cooking, travelled along with the Chettiars many centuries ago to the South East Asian countries as well. It was an extremely enriching journey for us to find the lost ingredients and bring them back through the menu,” the chefs tell DT Next.

For instance, for many assuming that pandan leaves can only be used in South East Asian cooking, the prawn pandan leaves ghee roast (yera rampa ilai nei thokku) demonstrates that the ingredient can be blended perfectly with South Indian food, too. “In a town named Thaneerpandal, close to Coimbatore, we found that pandan leaves were being sold at all vegetable markets along with the leafy greens. We learnt that pandan leaves were being used as a substitute for bay leaf in cooking. That inspired us to use the leaves with seafood,” chef Kishore adds.

Chef Gokul, who undertook the tour, says he found mini ragi dumplings being cooked in a vegetable stew at one of the Chettiar homes he dined at. “The method of using dumplings in a stew is uncommon. We took the recipe from the local home and have added it to our menu,” he says. Another such discovery from the trip was the athikay maanga kuzhambu (a sweet and sour fig, mango curry), which the chef got a taste of at a wedding. “The recipe involves many different tastes coming together in a single recipe. We stepped into the weddingparty’s kitchen to borrow the recipe,” Kishore points out.

Ayira meen kuzhambu (Indian spiny loach curry), which is a delicacy out of a unique millimetre-long tiny fish available in Madurai, has also travelled to be served at the restaurant. The white mustard, which is milder than the black mustard, used as a rub for lamb to create an extremely tender meat preparation. Love the smell of Madurai malli poo? There’s also a jasmine rice out of the malli, whichcan be a fragrant pairing for any curry.

The restaurant is also replicating the age-old ways of cooking in stone pots to nail the authenticity while serving its curries. The restaurant allows one to try a chef’s taster’s menu, breaking away from the traditional thali-style South Indian dining, which could get too heavy.