Chettinad cuisine is the cuisine of a community called the Nattukotai Chettiars, or Nagarathars,[1] from the Chettinad region in sivagangai district of Tamil Nadu state in India.[2] Chettinad cuisine is perhaps the most renowned fare in the Tamil Nadu repertoire. [3][4][5][6] It uses a variety of spices and the dishes are made with fresh ground masalas. Chettiars also use a variety of sun-dried meats and salted vegetables, reflecting the dry environment of the region. Most of the dishes are eaten with rice and rice based accompaniments such as dosas, appams, idiyappams, adais and idlis. The Chettiars, through their mercantile contacts with Burma, learnt to prepare a type of rice pudding made with sticky red rice.[7] The chefs of manapatti village near singampuneri are experts in cooking chettinad cuisine. They always used to cook in bulk orders for marriage functions, political functions, etc.[8] though manapatti cooking is portrayed as madurai cuisine because it is located near to madurai district, it comes under chettinad cuisine only and it also comes under the chettinad region of sivagangai district. The entire village people is famous in the art of cooking.
A non-vegetarian dish sample tray in Chettinad Hotel
Chettinad cuisine offers a variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. Some of the popular vegetarian dishes include idiyappam, paniyaram, vellai paniyaram, karuppatti paniyaram, paal paniyaram, kuzhi paniyaram, kozhukatta, masala paniyaram, aadikoozh, kandharappam, seeyam, masala seeyam, kavuni arisi, maavurundai, and athirasam. In Chettinad food, major spices used include anasipoo (star aniseed), kalpasi (a lichen), puli (tamarind), milagai (chillies), sombu (fennel seed), pattai (cinnamon), lavangam (cloves), punnai ilai (bay leaf), karu milagu (peppercorn), jeeragam (cumin seeds), and venthayam (fenugreek).
Historical influences
In the 2014 book The Bangala Table: Flavor and Recipes from Chettinad by Sumeet Nair and Meenakshi Meyyappan, historian S. Muthiah writes:
The Chettiars have traditionally been vegetarians. Their feasts at lifestyle ritual functions remain vegetarian. But trade once had them criss-crossing the southern reaches of peninsular India and absorbing non-vegetarian influences from the Malabar Coast, where Christians of the Orthodoxy of West Asia and Muslims lived in large numbers and Hindus too tended to non-vegetarianism. Further non-vegetarian influences became entrenched in Chettiar food habits from the late 18th Century after they established businesses in Ceylon, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, French Indo-China and what is now Malaysia and Singapore. So did non-vegetarian fare from other parts of India through which they traveled en route to their overseas businesses.
Writer Guy Trebay adds in the foreword of the same book:
One is lucky to eat like a Chettiar, they say in South India. Chettiars say it themselves. They say it because a Chettiar table is a groaning board but also because the cuisine is uncommonly subtle and aromatic, a heritage of Chettiar participation in the centuries-old spice trade, the global import and export of pungent seeds and fruits and barks from places like Cochin and Penang, the Banda Islands, Arab ports in the Straits of Hormuz. To the coconut and rice and legumes that are staples of South Indian cooking they added Tellicherry pepper, Ceylon cardamom, Indonesian nutmeg, Madagascar cloves and blue ginger, or galangal, from Laos and Vietnam.
In places like Penang, in what is now Malaysia, the Chettiars developed a liking for the sweet-sour piquancy of Straits Chinese cooking, In Saigon, they adapted their cuisine to absorb the herbs that perfume Vietnamese food. In Buddhist Ceylon, they relaxed their dietary prohibitions typical of orthodox Hindus and came to enjoy meat.
Thus, the Chettinad region—a semi-arid zone comprising scores of villages, sleepy and agrarian, studded with important ancient temples yet far from major commercial centers—became an unlikely locus of internationalized tastes.
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chettinad cuisine.
^Nair, Sumeet; Meyyappan, Meenakshi; Donenfeld, Jill (2014). The Bangala Table: Flavors and Recipes from Chettinad. S. Muthiah. India. p. 37. ISBN978-93-5156-707-3.
^Rajagopalan, Ashwin (12 July 2017). "Chettinad Food: 10 Ingredients That Make It A Lip-Smacking Affair". NDTV. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
^Nath, Parshathy J. (23 June 2016). "All the way from Karaikudi". The Hindu – via www.thehindu.com.
^Verma, Rahul (1 August 2014). "Little Chettinad in East Delhi". The Hindu – via www.thehindu.com.
^"Delicious destinations: From Dindigul biryani to Bikaneri bhujia". 14 June 2016.
^Kannadasan, Akila (12 July 2016). "When Hyderabad came to Chennai". The Hindu – via www.thehindu.com.
^. Archived from the original on 9 May 2005. Retrieved 11 January 2006.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^"Delicacies from the kitchens of Manappatti". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
May 04, 2023
chettinad, cuisine, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, possibly, contains, original, research, please, improve, verifying, claims, made, add. This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article possibly contains original research Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations Statements consisting only of original research should be removed August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Chettinad cuisine news newspapers books scholar JSTOR August 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Chettinad cuisine is the cuisine of a community called the Nattukotai Chettiars or Nagarathars 1 from the Chettinad region in sivagangai district of Tamil Nadu state in India 2 Chettinad cuisine is perhaps the most renowned fare in the Tamil Nadu repertoire 3 4 5 6 It uses a variety of spices and the dishes are made with fresh ground masalas Chettiars also use a variety of sun dried meats and salted vegetables reflecting the dry environment of the region Most of the dishes are eaten with rice and rice based accompaniments such as dosas appams idiyappams adais and idlis The Chettiars through their mercantile contacts with Burma learnt to prepare a type of rice pudding made with sticky red rice 7 The chefs of manapatti village near singampuneri are experts in cooking chettinad cuisine They always used to cook in bulk orders for marriage functions political functions etc 8 though manapatti cooking is portrayed as madurai cuisine because it is located near to madurai district it comes under chettinad cuisine only and it also comes under the chettinad region of sivagangai district The entire village people is famous in the art of cooking Chicken Chettinad popular dish from the region A non vegetarian dish sample tray in Chettinad Hotel Chettinad cuisine offers a variety of vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes Some of the popular vegetarian dishes include idiyappam paniyaram vellai paniyaram karuppatti paniyaram paal paniyaram kuzhi paniyaram kozhukatta masala paniyaram aadikoozh kandharappam seeyam masala seeyam kavuni arisi maavurundai and athirasam In Chettinad food major spices used include anasipoo star aniseed kalpasi a lichen puli tamarind milagai chillies sombu fennel seed pattai cinnamon lavangam cloves punnai ilai bay leaf karu milagu peppercorn jeeragam cumin seeds and venthayam fenugreek Historical influences EditIn the 2014 book The Bangala Table Flavor and Recipes from Chettinad by Sumeet Nair and Meenakshi Meyyappan historian S Muthiah writes The Chettiars have traditionally been vegetarians Their feasts at lifestyle ritual functions remain vegetarian But trade once had them criss crossing the southern reaches of peninsular India and absorbing non vegetarian influences from the Malabar Coast where Christians of the Orthodoxy of West Asia and Muslims lived in large numbers and Hindus too tended to non vegetarianism Further non vegetarian influences became entrenched in Chettiar food habits from the late 18th Century after they established businesses in Ceylon Burma the Dutch East Indies French Indo China and what is now Malaysia and Singapore So did non vegetarian fare from other parts of India through which they traveled en route to their overseas businesses Writer Guy Trebay adds in the foreword of the same book One is lucky to eat like a Chettiar they say in South India Chettiars say it themselves They say it because a Chettiar table is a groaning board but also because the cuisine is uncommonly subtle and aromatic a heritage of Chettiar participation in the centuries old spice trade the global import and export of pungent seeds and fruits and barks from places like Cochin and Penang the Banda Islands Arab ports in the Straits of Hormuz To the coconut and rice and legumes that are staples of South Indian cooking they added Tellicherry pepper Ceylon cardamom Indonesian nutmeg Madagascar cloves and blue ginger or galangal from Laos and Vietnam In places like Penang in what is now Malaysia the Chettiars developed a liking for the sweet sour piquancy of Straits Chinese cooking In Saigon they adapted their cuisine to absorb the herbs that perfume Vietnamese food In Buddhist Ceylon they relaxed their dietary prohibitions typical of orthodox Hindus and came to enjoy meat Thus the Chettinad region a semi arid zone comprising scores of villages sleepy and agrarian studded with important ancient temples yet far from major commercial centers became an unlikely locus of internationalized tastes See also Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chettinad cuisine Tamil cuisineReferences Edit Nair Sumeet Meyyappan Meenakshi Donenfeld Jill 2014 The Bangala Table Flavors and Recipes from Chettinad S Muthiah India p 37 ISBN 978 93 5156 707 3 Rajagopalan Ashwin 12 July 2017 Chettinad Food 10 Ingredients That Make It A Lip Smacking Affair NDTV Retrieved 16 August 2020 Nath Parshathy J 23 June 2016 All the way from Karaikudi The Hindu via www thehindu com Verma Rahul 1 August 2014 Little Chettinad in East Delhi The Hindu via www thehindu com Delicious destinations From Dindigul biryani to Bikaneri bhujia 14 June 2016 Kannadasan Akila 12 July 2016 When Hyderabad came to Chennai The Hindu via www thehindu com Varieties from Chettinad cuisine Archived from the original on 9 May 2005 Retrieved 11 January 2006 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a CS1 maint unfit URL link Delicacies from the kitchens of Manappatti The New Indian Express Retrieved 3 April 2022 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Chettinad cuisine amp oldid 1150437694, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
