Indulge in authentic coastal cuisine at this Neithal food fest

CHENNAI: Sangamithirai, known for focusing on authentic Tamil cuisine, has never missed a chance to illuminate micro-regional cuisines with a touch of historical significance. This time, they are back with the Neithal Sangamam Food Festival, featuring coastal flavours.

For the unversed, Neithal is one of the five types of landscapes mentioned in ancient Sangam literature. Kurinji (Mountain), Mullai (Forest), Marutham (Farm fields), Neithal (coastal) and Paalai (Desert) are the five classifications of land. “As we are in the first month of 2025, we started with Neithal and will be concentrating on the other landscapes in the coming days,” says chef Murthi.

The festival showcases rich and diverse flavours from Kanyakumari, Nagercoil, Tenkasi, and Thoothukudi. To serve authentic flavours, the team has invited K Abitha Mohamed and K Benazir Bina from Kanyakumari to share their treasured recipes, which have been passed down through generations.

“I have travelled to 90 villages in Tamil Nadu approximately, to document dishes from those particular regions. We have an array of dishes that are unique to that geographical location and cannot be relished anywhere else. I wanted to combine the authenticity with the references from Sangam literature. It was stunning to know that most of the dishes are prevalent from the Sangam era,” he shares. “The specialty of the Tamil cuisine is that the food will tell stories,” adds the chef.

To start with, we supped the mutton elumbu saaru. The Vallioor chicken pakoda is not your regular chicken pakoda. The flavours stood out with the inclusions of lemon, spices and herbs. The bold flavours of the Marthandam mutton chukka were mouth-watering with scrumptious meat pieces. The rasa vadai was spicy but tasty.

In the main course, the aattu thalakari kuzhambu paired with appam was lip-smacking. We then munched the poricha paratha accompanied by Kumari chicken kozhambu. The chicken curry did not reach the expectations and had raw masala flavours. For all the seafood lovers out there, the tangy yet subtle nei meen kuzhambu with fish with a buttery texture is a must-try.

One of the unique delicacies we tasted was the koonimeen murunga keerai thoovaram. This is basically dried baby shrimps cooked with drumstick leaves and onions. The Nagercoil bai veetu kalyana mutton biriyani was light and refreshing with apt spices.

The wobbling texture of the Thuthukudi muscoth halwa was mind-blowing and the sweetness of arisi pal payasam was just perfect.

Explore the coastal flavours at the Neithal Sangamam Food Festival at Sangamithirai, Feathers A Radha Hotel, till February 2.