Shashi Kumar Keswani
Want to enjoy a royal feast like a true Chettiar! Courtyard by Marriott, Bhopal is here with Chettinad food festival at MoMo Café- the multi-cuisine restaurant. Starting today, this ten-day food the festival will bring in an array of authentically spiced Chettinad vegetarian and non-vegetarian delicacies like idiyappam, paniyaram, vellai paniyaram Chettinad chicken, Vazhsipoo Meen Kuzhambu, Kuzhi Paniyaram and many more. In order to recreate the authentic flavours of the Chettinad cuisine Hotel has invited Executive Chef G Somasundaram from Courtyard Marriott, Madurai.
Ravish Mishra, Executive Chef, Courtyard by Marriott, Bhopal addressing a press conference said “Chettinadu Cuisine – a dinner time feast – is vibrant, vivid and vivacious by all means. Generally synonymous very spicy food, in reality, Chettinadu cuisine is a complex blend of well-balanced flavours. There is a famous saying in south India that one is lucky to eat like a Chettiar. Chettiars -also called Nagarathars- were a small community of traders, merchants and bankers who lived at Poompuhar and Kaveripatnam under the Chola kingdom”.
Chef G Somasundaram said “We would be offering numerous vegetarian and non-vegetarian options alongside made to order varieties. The Chettinad food festival is not only focussing on the flavours of Karaikudi but is providing a complete experience of a Chettiar meal, from starters to dessert. From the Vazapoo Vadai, {banana flower fritters} to the pal payasam {an almond flavoured dessert} there are many varieties of food for you to try”.
Among the starters, two vegetarian and two non-vegetarian options will be available to guests. You may try some of the vegetarian dishes such as idiyappam, paniyaram, vellai paniyaram, karuppatti paniyaram, paal paniyaram, kuzhi paniyaram, kozhakattai, masala paniyaram, adikoozh, kandharappam, seeyam, masala seeyam, kavuni arisi and athirasam. The dishes like Chettinadu biryani, mutton pepper fry, Chettinadu chicken, Dindigul biryani, Vicchey parota, Kuttu parota, Appam, Paniyeram, Payasam will also be on the menu.
Live-stations will serve varieties of dosas and appams. One can end the meal on a sweet note, with desserts such as ‘Mysore Pak’, ‘Semiya Payasam’, ‘Paruppu Poli’, ‘Sakkarai Pongal’ etc.
