Setting the table…
பிராந்திய சிறப்பு
Six regions. Six dishes. One table.
South India is not one cuisine. Each month we cook one dish from each of six regions, the way it is cooked at home there, and tell you where it came from.
ChettinadTamil Nadu
Pepper Chicken Roastமிளகு கோழி வறுவல்
The Chettiar merchant households of Karaikudi cooked with what the trade routes brought home: black pepper, star anise, kalpasi and a confidence with spice that still sets the region apart.
Our pepper chicken is roasted rather than stewed. The chicken goes into the pan almost dry, with a paste of freshly crushed Tellicherry pepper, fennel and small onions, and is turned until the masala clings and darkens.
There is no cream and no cashew here. The richness comes from the bones, the shallots and patience.
- To go with it
- Order it with parotta to catch the masala, or with plain rice and a ladle of rasam to soften the heat.
MaduraiTamil Nadu
Kari Dosai
Madurai does not sleep, and neither do its tawas. The kari dosai was born on street-side griddles that served the temple city's night shift.
A thin dosa is spread, an egg cracked over it, then a layer of mutton keema cooked down with ginger, chilli and coriander. It is folded once, cut in half and eaten with the hands.
We keep ours exactly that simple. The keema is made fresh each evening from Dindigul mutton and the dosa batter is the same one we use at breakfast.
- To go with it
- A small bowl of coconut chutney and a glass of spiced buttermilk.
Kongu NaduWestern Tamil Nadu
Arisi Paruppu Sadam
The farming belt around Coimbatore and Erode cooks for people who have worked since dawn. Food here is direct, gently sweet with coconut and jaggery, and built around what the land gives.
Arisi paruppu sadam is rice and toor dal cooked together in one pot with garlic, shallots, turmeric and dried red chilli, then finished with cold-pressed coconut oil.
It is a dish most Kongu families would never think to put on a restaurant menu. We think that is exactly why it belongs on ours.
- To go with it
- Eaten with a spoon of ghee, a crisp appalam and the day's poriyal.
Malabar CoastKerala
Prawn Curry
Along the northern Kerala coast, coconut milk is the base of everything and kokum provides the sourness. The spicing is gentler than in Tamil Nadu, the colours brighter.
Our prawns are cooked briefly in a first-press coconut milk with green chilli, ginger, curry leaf and a little kokum, so the gravy stays pale and the prawns stay sweet.
It arrives in a shallow clay pan and is best spooned over steamed matta rice, or scooped with a soft appam.
- To go with it
- Appam, or red matta rice with a wedge of lime.
UdupiCoastal Karnataka
Set Dosa & Sambar
The temple kitchens of Udupi shaped vegetarian cooking across the south. Their sambar is a touch sweeter, their dosas softer and spongier, their restaurants everywhere.
Set dosas are small, thick and fermented a little longer so they rise on the tawa like crumpets. Three come to a plate.
The sambar follows the Udupi recipe — a fresh-ground masala with coconut, a little jaggery, and vegetables cut large enough to find.
- To go with it
- Coconut chutney and a filter coffee, in that order.
AndhraAndhra Pradesh
Gongura Mutton
Andhra cooking is proudly the hottest in the south. Gongura — sorrel leaf — gives it a sourness that cuts through the chilli and makes a second helping feel reasonable.
Mutton is browned with onion and Guntur chilli, then simmered until it gives, before a handful of gongura leaves is stirred through for the last ten minutes.
We make it at a heat we are happy with. Ask and we will make it the way Guntur would.
- To go with it
- Plain steamed rice, a spoon of ghee and curd on the side.
Ask for it the way they make it there.
Every regional dish can be made at its home heat. Tell your server when you order.