व्यंजन

Chettinad kozhi or aatu kuzhambuमांसाहारीMain

Chicken or mutton in a gravy built on a masala roasted for that pot — pepper, star anise, kalpasi, marathi mokku, fennel and a little chilli — with shallots, tomato and ground coconut. The heat should register on the back of the tongue as pepper, not on the front as chilli.

कहाँ चखें: Karaikudi and Kanadukathan, in the heritage houses that serve meals.

Uppu kariஉப்பு கறிमांसाहारीDry fry

Salted, sun-dried mutton soaked back to life and fried hard with pepper, shallot and curry leaf. Chewy, intensely savoury and completely unlike fresh mutton — a preservation method eaten as a delicacy.

Karuvadu kuzhambuमांसाहारीMain

Dried fish rinsed, roasted and simmered in a thin, very sour tamarind gravy with brinjal or drumstick. The standard protein of the interior villages, and the smell is half the dish.

Mundu milagai vathal kuzhambuशाकाहारीMain

Sun-dried vegetables fried in gingelly oil and cooked down in tamarind with the local round Mundu chilli, which gives colour and body more than raw heat.

Idiyappam with mutton kuzhambuमांसाहारीBreakfast

Rice string hoppers pressed fresh and steamed, eaten with a peppery mutton gravy. The Nagarathar breakfast, and a form the community carried to and from Ceylon and Malaya where it has near-identical cousins.

Kuzhi paniyaramशाकाहारीSnack

Fermented idli batter cooked in a dimpled pan with a tempering of shallot, chilli and curry leaf pressed into each well, so the outside crisps and the inside stays soft.

Vellai paniyaramशाकाहारीSnack

Unfermented raw-rice batter fried in the same pan into a pale, lacy disc with a soft centre — deliberately white, deliberately not sour, and eaten with coconut chutney.

Paal paniyaramशाकाहारीSweet

Small fried urad-and-rice dumplings dropped into thickened sweetened milk with cardamom and left to soak. A Nagarathar wedding item that has escaped into general use.

KandarappamशाकाहारीSweet

A batter of rice with several pulses and jaggery, deep-fried into a dense, dark, slightly chewy cake. It is one of the ritual sweets of the Nagarathar clan temple offerings and is almost never made outside the community's own kitchens.

SeeyamशाकाहारीSweet

A ball of sweetened chana dal and jaggery paste, coated in a rice or urad batter and deep-fried, so it comes out crisp outside and soft in the middle. There is a savoury masala seeyam as well.

UkkaraiशाकाहारीSweet

Soaked pulses ground coarse, steamed, then broken up and cooked with jaggery, ghee and cardamom into a crumbly mass. Ritual food, made in quantity for temple and family occasions.

AthirasamशाकाहारीSweet

Rice flour and jaggery dough rested for a day and deep-fried into a dense disc, pressed between two ladles as it comes out to force the oil back out. The resting is what separates a good one from a hard one.

Kavuni arisiशाकाहारीSweet

Black glutinous rice cooked slowly with jaggery and coconut into a dark, sticky pudding. The rice came back from Burma with the banking families and stayed; the dish is the clearest single trace of that trade on a plate.

Milagu varuvalमांसाहारीDry fry

Mutton or chicken cooked down with a great deal of coarsely crushed black pepper until the liquid is gone and the pepper has caramelised onto the meat. The most direct statement the kitchen makes.

Chettinad kola urundaiमांसाहारीStarter

Minced mutton pounded with roasted gram, fennel and pepper into a tight ball and fried, with a stock made separately from the trimmings.

Rameswaram meen kuzhambu and nandu masalaमांसाहारीMain

Reef and bay fish in a thin tamarind gravy, and Palk Bay crab cooked down with pepper and shallot. The island's catch changes with the season and the boat, and the menu follows it rather than the other way round.