The traditional cuisine of Tamil Nadu’s Chettiar community, Chettinad cuisine is vibrant, vivid and vivacious!

Though touted as ‘very spicy’, Chettinad cuisine is a complex blend of well-balanced flavours.

Legend has it that a great flood in the 8th century prompted a mass exodus of Chettiars (also called Nagarathars) from the Coromandel coast to the arid heartland of Tamil Nadu, eventually resettling in the Karaikudi region.

Having lived in proximity to the sea, the Chettiars used seafood to create many of their signature dishes — such as the meen kuzhambu (fish curry), nandu (crab) masala, sura puttu (shark fin curry), and eral (prawn) masala.

The community’s gastronomy eventually went on to include wild game, such as jungle fowl, kada (quail), muyal (rabbit), and pitta (turkey).

These dishes were eaten with rice-based accompaniments, such as dosais, appams, idiyappams, adais, and idlis.

The traditional Chettinad dishes mostly used locally sourced spices like star anise, pepper, kalpasi (stone flower), and maratti mokku (dried flower pods).

Since food was such an essential part of a Chettiar’s life, the kitchen was one of the largest and most important places in a Karaikudi house.

Here, the womenfolk or aachis prepared elaborate meals for the household — hand-pounding fragrant spices in stone grinders, chopping vegetables with the aruamanai (iron blade), and burning different firewood to develop specific flavours.

At the lavish Chettiar wedding feasts, the samayalkar (team of cooks) would toil under the guidance of senior aachis of the family. The result of hours of cooking would be six main course grain dishes, nine savoury side dishes, and six types of sweets.

Traditional meals served Chettinad style on banana leaves follow a specific protocol — each dish has a designated space and order in which it has to be served.

Items served first are placed at the top left corner of the leaf, progressively moving towards the right in the following order — salt, pickle, mor milagai (sun-dried chillies in curd), varuval (a spicy dry dish), kootu (a lentil curry), urundai (fried lentil balls), poriyal (sautéed vegetable dish), and masiyal (a vegetable mash).

Appalams (papadums), fritters, and fries are placed at the bottom left while rice and chapatti, paired with sambar, rasam or kuzhambu, occupy the centre.

The bottom right is reserved for sweet dishes like ukkarai or paal payasam.

Here are some signature dishes of Chettinad: 1. Idiyappam - These steamed string hoppers are served with sweet coconut milk, jaggery syrup or spicy stew. 2. Kozhukattai - These steamed rice flour dumplings can be sweet or savoury. 3. Chettinad Chicken - A culinary gem and one of the most popular Chettinad dishes.

4. Vazhaipoo Meen Kuzhambu - Made from batter-fried banana flowers (vazhaipoo) soaked in a spicy tangy (kuzhambu) gravy. 5. Milagu Kozhi Varuval - This pepper chicken fry is a classic side dish that can jazz up any meal. 6. Karaikudi Eral Masala - Juicy prawns laced in a fiery spice paste.

7. Cabbage Carrot Poriyal - The dish tastes best when served with tomato rasam and steamed rice. 8. Ennai Kathrikai - Fried eggplant stuffed with a roasted masala mixture and wrapped in a rich, spicy and deliciously tangy curry. 9. Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu - Lentil balls in a tangy tamarind sauce. 10. Kada Fry - Fried and spiced quail meat.