FOOD IN CHENNAI:
TRADITIONAL ITEMS:
Digs at South Indian eating habits have long since stopped being funny and many a Tamilian is known to have taken umbrage at being referred to as an idle-sambhar specimen, a rice eating sloth whose languour is attributed to his food habits. Why not poke fun (clean wholesome fun) at our channa bhature-dal-roti brothers? I still remember vividly my acute embarrassment at the dining table as a young bride. My in-laws after years of residence in the north, plainly scoffed at the eating habits of the south. Se how she loves her rice was the open remark and imagine enjoying it with dollops of sambhar and ghee to go with it! I remember blushing with shame, and valiantly trying to much chapattis to gain their approval. Fortunately I was as thin as a beanpole and my frame gave scant evidence to my partiality to rice!
Rice, of course is the staple food of the south Indian. Excepting very cosmopolitan families, its presence is felt in some form or the other in every meal. In south India, after the rice is cooked the water or conjee is drained. Packed with nourishment, the working class downs it with a pinch of salt-a real filler to stave off those premature hunger pangs. Warmed and poured over the legs, rice conjee is supposed to alleviate pain in the legs. Lightly soaked and ground to a powder rice flour has infinite uses. Steamed and mixed with sugar and a little ghee, it makes rice puttu for tiffin. A small amount added to gram flour paste, it helps make crisp bajjis or pakoras. Ground rice flour paste can be utilized to create varieties of dosas and of course with the fright proportions of ground lentils, it lends itself to the making of the standard idli and dosas after fermentation. Rice is used also for payasam, a thick sweet soup specially concocted during festivals.
non-vegetarian
The non-vegetarian Tamils have their regular vegetarian days- Saturdays, a day for Venkatesh Perumal(Balaji), Thursdays for Baba and so on. Meat is usually not prepared on kirthigai or Amavasai- certain phases of the moon. I know that even today, certain families fact during eclipse and either mop or wash the house after it is over. The pregnant woman lies still during the eclipse with the curtains drawn, for superstition holds that she begets a malformed child if she indulges in activity.
The unforgettable flavours of Chennai:
