South Indian Cuisine - Tamil Nadu

 South Indian Cuisine

South Indian Cuisine or desi cuisine is a term used to refer to the cuisines found in the four southern states of India including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Below you will find some of the popular South Indian foods.

In South India, the popular breakfast food item consists of idli, dosa, poori, vadas, pongal, uppuma, chapati, puttu and appam. Idli, dosa and vada are served with sambar, coconut chutney and tomato chutney. Poori are served with potato curry or sambar. Puttu and appam are served with coconut milk.

Idli and dosa are made with rice, urad dal and fenugreek seeds.

South Indian lunch food items:

In Tamil Nadu, lunch items fall into four categories:

1. The first category is sambar, kuzhambu, rasam, 1 or 2 vegeatable curry, appalam and pickles. These are served with white rice, which is the staple food of the region. Lunch items are often served with plantain leaf or banana leaf

2. Second are the side dishes which include kootu/kari, and veggie poriyal.

Kootu - vegetables in wet style.

Poriyal - Vegetables in dry style.

3. Third are the desserts. Favorite South Indian sweet dishes incude payasam, kheer and kesari.

4. Fourth one include betel leaves or beeda.

 Sambar is a vegetable stew and is prepared using tamarind pulp, toor dal, herbs, spices and vegetables. You can use any kind of vegetables such as onions, potatoes, tomatoes, brinjals, beans, okra, drumsticks, carrots, raddish etc. Also you can use any one or a mix of these vegetables. Sambar powder can be made in large quantities and stored up to 6 months or 1 year.

Sambar preparation:
Soak the lemon size tamarind in a cup of water for ten to 15  minutes. Boil the half cup of toor dhal in a pressure cooker with turmeric powder and asafoetida. Extract the tamarind juice keep it aside for later use. Cut your favorite vegetables into small pieces. Heat a little oil and add mustard seeds, curry leaves, sliced onions, tomatoes and green chillies and fry for a minute. Now add vegetables and pour 200 ml of water, sambar powder, tamarind extract and salt to it. Keep boiling for 15 to 20 minutes on medium flame. After that add the cooked toor dhal and let it simmer for 5 to 7 minutes. Delicious sambar is ready to serve.

 Rasam is a popular South Indian soup and often served with white rice. Rasam is good for fevers, coughs and cold.  Rasam powder is prepared using coriander seeds, cumin seeds, asafetida, whole red chilli, black pepper and mustard seeds.

Other popular dishes include bisibele bath, vangi bath, tamarind rice, coconut rice, lemon rice, and tomato rice. These are some the variety rice eaten by tamilians.

Non vegetarian foods: Common meats in South India include mutton (goat), chicken, fish, mutton liver, and prawns. Some of the popular non vegetarian foods incude chicken biryani, mutton biryani, chicken curry,  fish fry, chicken 65, and prawn curry.

 Filter coffee:

Tamil Nadu is famous for its filter coffee as most Tamils have a subtle contempt for instant coffee. Filter coffee is made with roasted coffee beans 80% and chicory 20%. Then the coffee powder is put into a filter coffee set and hot water is added to prepare the decoction. It is then allowed to set for about 15 minutes. The liquid is then added to milk with sugar to taste. Delicious filter coffee is ready to drink.

 Common spices used in South Indian foods: Some of the spices include, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, garlic, cloves, turmeric powder, cumin seeds and coriander seeds.

Some of the common south Indian spices incude sambar podi or sambar powder, rasam powder, idli podi and freshly ground garam masala. Garam masala is a blend of cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper.