Chettinaad Festival
Afan of South Indian cuisine? Then we suggest you check out the Chettinaad Festival at Navratna before February 5. The Food Factor paid a visit to Navratna for lunch to try out some of the delicacies especially prepared for the promotion and revelled in the flavours, spices and aromas. A delightfully crafted menu by Chef Arasakumar (who was brought down to Sri Lanka for the food promotion), it features Chettinaad cuisine in all its glory. “Chettinaad is a very dry region in Tamil Nadu and the people in that area are called Chettiars. Typical ingredients in their cuisine would include star anise, marathi mogu and South Indian onions.” explained Chef Arasakumar.
Kicking things off with a tall glass of vasantha neer, I am assured that my Chettinaad culinary experience will be a good one. Vasantha neer is tender coconut water with honey, mint and lemon. This refreshing drink is authentic to the Chettinaad region. Another exquisite drink is paanagam, which is made with jaggery, dry ginger and tamarind. Next, we move on to the appetizers, which consist of pickled idli tossed in molagaipodi and gingelly oil and kozhi melagu (pieces of chicken in a pepper masala).
Moving onto lunch itself, we are served with elumitchai saadam (lemon rice), veechu parotta (flaky South Indian bread), era manga kozhambu (fresh prawns cooked in spicy raw mango curry) and kozhi chettinaad (boneless chicken cooked in authentic chettinaad curry). The rich flavours and pungent aromas of every dish is enough to make me savour every bite I take. This cuisine isn’t for the fainthearted. Every single dish is an adventure on its own. Patting our tummies in satisfaction, we await dessert in anticipation. For the icing on the cake, we choose rosappu gulkandu, which is a combination of rose petals, dates, honey and white pumpkin. It is an unusual dessert for people whose tongues are accustomed to
cheesecake and chocolate ice cream but we have no complaints. A heavy dessert, it is sweet and the aroma of the rose petals keep making you eat more.
The Chettinaad Festival at Navratna, Taj Samudra ends on February 5 and is available for lunch and dinner at the restaurant. Wide ranges of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options are available so do go ahead and take your taste buds on an exciting journey to Chettinaad. They won’t complain, we assure you!
PHOTOS BY KITHSIRI DE MEL