Vegetarian Samayal of South India by Viji Varadarajan
Book Description
The food cooked in a brahmin home was sathvic paying special attention to the balance and nutritive value of the dishes prepared; the ladle of plain cooked dhal served before the rice and the topping of a dollop of homemade clarified butter/ghee; the balance of plain and spicy food, and the benefits of yoghurt as a final course to set right any imbalance in the food eaten for the day – were scruplously maintained. Most days even now, onion and garlic are not used in cooking. The word curry is originally derived from kari a Tamil word for a preparation of a dry vegetable with spices. Gradually the British added water and meat to curry and hence it came to be known as the Madras Curry . Hence curry/kari is basically vegetarian and later began to be associated with all meat dishes. In the Chettiar, Mudaliar, Nadar or Vellalar community a stir-fry vegetable is known as poriyal . This book is specially formatted to suit all who desire to plan a good tamil vegetarian meal – what is today known as combos. The tambram cuisine has an amazing range of vegetables cooked in a variety of methods – in the form of stir-fry, ‘kuzhambus’/gravy vegetables or dhals, sambhars/vegetables with dhals, ‘kootus’/vegetables with coconut or and, with plain dhals.