After our food exploration in Odisha, we had a break for more than 3 months due to the rise in Covid cases once again in India. Once the things are back to normal by end of June and with the onset of Monsoon, FoodCulture planned to find some authentic cuisine very specific to this season. 

Traditional Malenadu Breakfast

The only place we have in our minds is Malenadu region in Karnataka. Malenadu translates to the land of rains. Located in the western Ghats looked to be a perfect choice for our exploration.

This time we are visiting a local family from Malenadu region and experience the Cuisine in most traditional and authentic way.

Malenadu welcomed us with the mist and showers and continued through out journey to Athihally village.

Once we are back home, we straight away went to kitchen to see the preparation of akki roti(rice flour roti). Susheela aunt is an expert in making akki roti. She follows the traditional methods of making Roti with hands and then cook directly on firewood. She mentions the authentic flavor can be savored only when you cook on firewood directly. This akki roti when served with ghee or butter will enhance the taste.

Our dining table is spread with Akki roti, Kesa curry, Coconut chutney, Ghee, Butter and local mushroom specially fried on charcoal. Kesa is also one of the Malenadu dish made of Tari leaves. The rolled leaves and stem are directly used in making curry. Vivek's Grandma aged about 90 years actively rolled the leaves and precisely cut the stem as well.

The amount of butter and ghee we had in the breakfast is equal to the Kesa curry. Ghee and butter are prepared in Vivek home only. "We use traditional method to prepare butter. Our equipment is also limited to this region and few other places" told Vivek. 

After having breakfast, we left to procure fresh bamboo sticks for bamboo shoot fry. Not all bamboo sticks can be made into curry. Only fresh and soft sticks are used in making fry. Bamboo sticks are also used in sambar in Malenadu Region. All the outer layer is peeled off to get the soft and fresh bamboo stick. 

After our lunch, we are back to our room and enjoyed the rain. It rained through out the day and night without any stop. We started exploring the place on day 2 and had other Malenadu dishes as well, which will be published in the next article. 

 This is our day 3 in Odisha. After having Chenna Jhilli in Nimapara, we had call off the day and reached the capital city Bhubaneshwar.

Today’s itinerary includes breakfast at Ravi Bhaina shop, lunch in Odisha hotel then finish the day with home grown chat Dahi bara aloo dum and sharbat from lingaraj lassi shop.

Ravi Bhaina shop located in unit-6 is famous for two things.

First one is for serving the tastiest Bara Ghughuni. Bara ghuguni is the classic breakfast of Odisha. Bara(Vada) is very crisp from outside and soft inside. Bara is served with ghuguni, curry made of potatoes and white peas.

The another specialty of this shop is Ravi bhaina use his bare hands while deep frying the bara in oil. He flips the bara, takes out from oil with his bare hands. 

Deep frying of bara at Ravi bhaina shop

We had Bara and Aloo Bonda with ghuguni which tasted really good. Apart from Bara, they also sell Odisha based sweets Chenna ghaja, Chenna poda, Rasagola.

 

After breakfast we headed to Odisha hotel, on the way we had darshan at Ram Mandhir located in Rupali Square. 

Odisha hotel started in 1997 with aim of reviving the traditional practices of not just eating food but also its preparation as well. “People of Odisha used to prepare and have their food in bell metal crockery which got gradually vanished in late 90’s ” states Mr. Rajiv. He is the second generation who handles Odisha hotel.

 

In Lunch we had aloo bartha(mashed potato), karela chips(Bitter gourd chips), Badi chura(traditional Odiya dish made from pulses), Mustard prawns, Mutton kasa, Chilika crab and the regular rice, papad, dal. We didn’t have Pakhal Bhata, since we already had it on day 1 at Odianee. 

Glasses made of heavy bell metal.

It is a royal treat when you have lunch in bell metal plates and I am sure will you feel it. If you make a visit to Bhubaneshwar, give it a try and experience it.

Later in the evening, we went to Rupali square and had dahi bara aloo dum at a local vendor and Lassi sharbat in Lingaraj lassi shop. These two are suggested by the local people over here.

Dahi bara aloo dum is made from Bara and aloo dum curry. Bara(vada) is soaked in curd for few hours. This soaked bara is served with spicy aloo dum curry.

 

Lassi sharbat is the combination of curd, rabdi(milk based sweet) and dry fruits. One glass of lassi sharbat has filled our tummy and made it as our dinner. 

So I would conclude our Odisha exploration has come to an end with lassi sharbat. On next day we started back to our home. But this is not the end of Odisha cuisine, team FoodCulture will visit again to explore the unexplored.  As mentioned in our first article on Odisha Cuisine, I would repeat “Odisha is the most underrated food destination in India”.

See you all in next cuisine or thali. 

After exploring various food from different places of Odisha our day-1 has come to end. in case you missed out reading day 1 article please find the link : https://www.thefoodculture.in/2021/04/explore-odihsa-in-its-cuisine-part-1.html

This is our day2 in Odisha. Odisha trip is incomplete without Puri Jagannath's Darshan. So on day 2 we went to Puri and had the darshan of lord Jagannath. Prasad offered to Lord Jagannath is called Chappan Bhog. 56 items are offered as prasad to lord Jagannath. Kaja is one among the 56 items.

There are many shops which sell kaja. Of them all Sri Nrusingha Sweets located in swargdwar road is popular in serving tastiest kaja in entire town. Its so popular that you find many shops with the same name in entire Puri.

The ingredients in making Kaja are wheat flour, all purpose flour, Ghee, Sugar syrup. Wheat flour and all purpose flour are kneaded into a dough. Ghee is also added while making the dough. Then dough is rolled as per the required size and deep fried in oil. Later the plain kaja are soaked in hot sugar syrup to absorb the sweetness.

Keeping aside the origin of this sweet, it has become the prasad of Lord Jagannath.

After having Kaja in Puri, we headed to Nimapara to have Chenna Jhilli. We took Puri-Konark marine drive to reach Nimapara. 

This forest route is scenic with hidden beaches and the famous Konark sun temple.

Sun temple was built with Kalinga architecture. The temple is designed in such a way that first rays of sunrise falls on the entrance first. This chariot temple has 24 wheels which can be used to calculate time accurately. 

Chenna Jhilli was first prepared by Arthabandu Sahoo in Nimapara which later spread entire Odisha. Late Mr. Arthabandu Saho established a small shop named “Patitapaban sweets” and sold his signature dish ‘Chenna Jhilli’. Gradually with the word of mouth, this sweet had spread entire state and became one of the traditional sweets of Odisha.

 Chenna Jhilli is prepared using Cottage cheese, All purpose flour and sugar syrup. Chenna Jhilli is so soft that it just melts when you put in your mouth.

With this our day-2 has come end. On day-3, we have explored the local breakfast, lunch and bit of evening snacks in Bhubaneswar. Day-3 will be published in next article. 

Odisha, formerly Orissa is the most underrated food destination. It’s the misconception that the Odisha Cuisine was inherited from Bengal which made Odisha cuisine forgotten.

 Team Food Culture in its third exploration visited Odisha to explore the local cuisine from different parts of the state. Odiya cuisine is very simple yet distinct from place to place. Odiya Cuisine uses less oil and the spice levels are on the lower side. People prefer using mustard oil for cooking.

Our first stop is hotel Odianee located in Soti, which is known for serving traditional and authentic Odiya food. This restaurant was started in 2009 to revive the traditional Odiya cuisine which is gradually missing from the place.

Dilip Panda took us to the kitchen, where we had a glimpse of Odiya cooking. A regular Veg Thali would consist of 30 dishes, which includes 8 types of chutneys, salads, rice and curries. One thing that grabbed our attention is Fermented rice dish called “Pakhal”. Pakhal or Pokhada is the popular traditional Odiya dish mainly consumed in summer to maintain body cool. Cooked rice is soaked over night in water with curd, ginger, lemon, chilly. This fermented rice is consumed next day for lunch.  

We were surprised when 9 out 10 persons had pakhal bhata in odianee, might be the summer effect. Pakhal can be consumed with accompaniments like fried vegetables or curries as well.

We began our lunch with Pakhal bhata. Aloo bartha, bendi Bartha, badi chura, chutneys and other condiments are served with the fermented rice. Rice absorbed the water and is swollen.  The sour fermented rice with condiments tasted really well. 

Next we were served with traditional Odiya thali, which has chutneys, veg and non-veg dishes. People of Odisha eat chutneys a lot. Chutneys are as important as the main course. Veg dishes includes Mirchi chutney with mustard, drumstick, zinga, simba, kunduri and non-veg includes the regular chicken, mutton, fish and prawns. Fish is deep fried and steeped in mustard gravy. Mustard is the common ingredient in most of the Odiya dishes. Though all the dishes are common and available in most of the states, the ingredients and the style of cooking makes the difference. 

After lunch we departed to Salepur to taste iconic Rasagola of Bikalanandakar. Late, Bikalanandakar ji started with a small outlet in 1924, is now spread across the state. Late Bikalanandakar ji is the man behind popularizing the Odiya rasagola which is completely different from the Bengal rasagola.

Top: Bikalananda kar's Rasagola in Salepur Bottom-Left: Chenna Ghaja Bottom-Right: Rasagola

Currently the third generation took responsibility of the business. Pradiptha kar, son of Bikalanandakar ji warmly welcomed us and shared their journey.

We ordered rasagola and surprised to see the size of rasagola we got. Its almost the size of a big apple. Rasagola of this place is soft and golden brown in texture. Pradipthakar mentioned that it is the iconic dish of their shop.  It is sweeter than the regular rasagola. Odisha Rasagola has the G.I tag as well. To revive traditional Odiya sweets, Govt. of Odisha started an ITI college and named it after Bikala ji.

After having a big apple sized Rasagola, our team called off for the day and were returning to  Bhubaneswar via Cuttack. Though our tummies were full, we could manage  a soft drink. Hence we went to Dilbahar Sharbat shop located in Buxi Bazar. 

There are two types of sharbat available in Dilbahar sharbat shop. First one is the dahi(Curd) sharbat and second one is Rabdi(sweet dish) sharbat.  

Sharbat ingredients :
sugar syrup
curd or rabdi - depending on type of sharbat
grated coconut 
vanilla and pineapple 
dry fruits 

Sugar syrup and curd( or rabdi)  are mixed well. Then a layer of grated coconut and rabdi is spread. Finally vanilla, pineapple essence and dry fruits are added on top.

2020 A.D  : which is the staple food of India? Answer : Rice and Wheat

3000 B.C  : which is the staple food of India? Answer : Millets

Civilizations and advancement in life has changed the human lifestyle. Due to this, many of the important practices are scarcely witnessed. One such practice is the consumption of millets. Millets are available in India from Neolithic Era. Even Indian Vedas had mentioned about millets. Team FoodCulture(TFC) in its second exploration attempted to show the age old practice to people and revive it.

SiriDhanya Thali

FoodCulture made a visit to Siridhanya darshini(Hotel Hallimane) in Vijayapura, Karnataka. Mr.Mallikarjun, a former software techie quit his job and started Hallimane to provide traditional and healthy food(made from siri dhanya) to the people.

Before we go into details let us know what exactly are these millets?

Millets are group of cereals other than wheat, rice, maize & barley. These are classified as positive and neutral millets. These are rich in protein and fiber.

It's time to dive in to taste the food and know the benefits.Thali is designed in such a way that all the millets are transformed to soup, starters, curries, roti, keeping rice and wheat aside. Be it korale soup, Navane bisibelebath, navane payasa, siridhanya thalipeeth and other dishes are made using millets instead of regular ingredients. 

Top-left: Copper vessel; Top-Right: Thalipeeth on right; Bottom: Organic Millet Thali of Hallimane

We took enough time to complete our lunch and our tummies filled with millets. Then comes the dessert part in the form of Ragi lassi, navane shakarpalya sweet,shenga holige,oodhula badusha, ragi cake, korale cake, ragi laadu, hesarkalu laadu,saame laadu,navane laadu, arika laadu, korale gulab jamun.

Laados and cakes made of Organic Millets.

Later we had a small chat with Mallikarjun to know in detail from his words.

TheFoodCulture(TFC): What exactly is Hallimane and how it started?

Mallikarjun:  I would like to divide my life as before and after hallimane. Before starting hallimane, I was a software employee with 15years of experience. My homeland(Vijayapura) is a semi-arid region where rain fall is less. So this region mainly cultivates non commercial crops and the millets are missing here. Millets have many health benefits over the modern food and it gave me an idea to start cultivating millets in my own land in an organic way. Millets are considered to be rich in Protein and Fiber than the regular rice and wheat. Due to the change in life style, people adopted to have rice and wheat. I felt a homestyle hotel will be a good medium to bring millet food to people. So I have quit my job and started Hallimane to serve people with organic millet food.

TFC: How is the journey so far?

Mallikarjun: Initial days(in 2016) were very tough. Due to lack of awareness on health benefits from millets, people didn’t show much interest towards this age old food practice. We reached people through melas, events and showcased our products made of millets. Gradually people started accepting this food. Pandemic played a major role in making people realise the importanc of healthy and organic food. Now people are inclined towards healthy food and we are happy about that.

TFC: What’s your future plans on Hallimane?

Mallikarjun: Hallimane is not just a hotel. Hallimane started as a project to bring awareness about millets, its benefits and revive the food tradition followed in the past. Eventually that makes people healthier and also benefits the farmers from semi-arid region in millets production. Therefore, we plan to expand hallimane to serve organic food to more people

Some important points regarding millets:

•  Millets are resistant towards any climatic conditions, hence the cultivation does not require huge water supply. 

• Nearly 40% of the food produced in India is wasted  every year. Millets are source of food, which can be used even after 10 years, thus providing food security, and playing an important role on avoiding food wastage. 

• Millet is fibrous in content, has magnesium, Niacin (Vitamin B3), is gluten-free and has a high protein content. They provide low and high nutrient options as well.

• Millets contain amylose, which helps in sustainably release sugar to our blood and enable to work for long duration. Millets are a rich source of phosphorus which is an important mineral for energy production and is an essential component of ATP – the energy store of the body.  

With this our exploration came to end. While leaving we are tempted with their breakfast menu, especially palak puri. So we made a plan to stay over night and leave next day after breakfast.

DAY 2:

Top: Siridhanya breakfast (Dosa, Uthappam, Idly) Bottom: Palak Puri

We reached Hallimane and are ready to have our breakfast in Hallimane style. Breakfast menu had all the regular dishes but made of ragi and navane expect puri which had palak in addition. We had ragi dosa, navane dosa, ragi idly, navane idly and palak puri. The taste of millets can be felt in every dish available at Hallimane. But that didn’t deroute the items taste from how its supposed to be. They also prepare millet snacks. All the credit to Mallikarjun and his staff for all their efforts to revive the age old traditional food.

FoodCulture wishes Hallimane to expand its operations and offer siridhanya food to more number of people.

Hope this article gave you the experience of Siridhanya food and also the importance of our minute traditional practices and their benefits.

See you in next Cuisine/Thali.

 A recipe has no soul. You, as a cook,bring soul to the recipe. Though the recipe is same, taste differs from place to place. It all lies in the region where the recipe came from, and that becomes the cuisine.

FoodCulture team’s first exploration is savoring Kongunadu cuisine. Northwest region of Tamilnadu is called Kongunadu. Salem, Erode, Coimbatore, Ooty etc. comes under Kongunadu. Vast the region, equally the cuisine is.

Before we go into details, FoodCulture wanted to dedicate this article to Late. Chef Jacob Sahaya Aruni, who did an extensive research on Kongunadu cuisine and revived. He served Kongunadu cuisine to dignitaries at a week-long official dinner at Rashtrapathi Bhavan during Abdul Kalam’s term of office .

FoodCulture team headed to Kongunadu to know the cuisine in detail. We tried our best to contact local people and experience authentic Kongu food in their homes. But pandemic didn’t permit us and left us to look for some authentic food joints which serve Kongu cuisine.  

Our exploration started with breakfast at Junior Kuppanna, famous for its kongu food. Junior Kuppanna has lot of Kongu food to offer. We are served Erode Style Dosai (Fluffy on the top and crispy at the bottom) with Mutton gravy and chicken kothu parotta. Having dosa with mutton gravy is a different experience and indeed tasty too. Next we had chicken kothu parotta, which is also a local dish to the region. The blend of parotta with chicken gravy smashed on a tawa and added tempering is served with curd/raita. Though the amount of spices and masala used are very minimal, it can be felt in each byte. That's the specialty of Kongu food. We finished the breakfast with a gulp of paneer soda. Goli Soda brought back the childhood memories, when we struggled to release the marble and have soda. 

Left: Dosa with mutton gravy, Chicken Kothu Parotta with Raita. Right: Paneer Goli Soda

Special thanks to Mr. Karthik(operates Junior Kuppanna in North-Coimbatore) for giving this experience. Karthik says "we keep the traditional recipe unchanged and work on improving the taste as per the customer feedback. Primary ingredients available in this region play a major role in bringing up the taste. Best turmeric of India is produced in this region and Siruvani water(world's second sweetest water) are few examples".  

Without wasting any time we headed to Kongunadu Parampariya Mansatti Varuval(KPMV) located near Tiruppur to experience the traditional Kongu style of cooking. Coconut plantations are abundant in this region, which is clearly visible on our way to Tiruppur.

Use of firewood, earthen pots, mortar&pestle are common in traditional cooking. True to the name, food is cooked and served in traditional way at KPMV. Shallots and red chilies are the basic yet main ingredients in many of the Kongu meat recipes which is clearly visible in the kitchen. We watched the making of chicken pallipalayam. Fresh coconut is additional ingredient along with shallots and red chilli.

    Coming to food, we had rice with Chicken pallipalaym, Chicken Chintamani, Naatu Kozhi kulambu(Country chicken), mutta poriyal(egg), karavattu kulambu(Fish gravy), pachaipuli rasam, Thakkali rasam, Masala curd. Chicken Pallipalayam, Chintamani and pachaipuli rasam are the famous kongu dishes. We don't find enormous masala or spices used in preparation of this dishes. 

Though masala curd is commonly available everywhere, the taste we got in KPMV is totally different from the regular masala curd. Curd and shallots acquired the color from turmeric and turned yellowish. It just turned out to be yellowish cream with highlighted red chili in the middle. 

Special thanks to Ramu and his team from KPMV who introduced us to authentic kongu food in traditional way. 

With this our exploration on Day 1 came to an end.

Next day we prepared ourselves for a big fat wedding. But the team isn't attending any wedding. We went to Valarmathi Kongunaatu samayal, located in the race course road. The reason for calling it a big fat wedding is because of its enormous food options you get here. It was started in 1986 by Late R. Jayaram with very less seating capacity. 30 years down the lane, it has become a hotspot of kongu food in Coimbatore.

We had a warm welcome from Mr. Rajan(S/O of late Jayaram), who now look after valarmathi. Since we have already experienced the kongu cuisine on day 1, we didn't find it difficult in understanding the kongu food and its roots.

"The people of kongu region loves simple meals with two or three meat dishes like mutton chukka, naatu kozhi kulambu. One thing to note is that the kongu cuisine is simple and remained same all these years. People started adding new dishes to existing cuisine. Shallots and red chilies are still the primary ingredients" said Mr.Rajan.  

We had Chicken Pallipalayam, Pichu pota kozhi, Kongu Naatu Kozhi kozhambu, Mutton keema ball, Mutton Chuka, Vanjaram shallow fry, Nethli and mutton biryani made of seeraga samba rice. Tradition of eating in banana leaf is still in practice here(Banana leaf contains polyphenols, called as cancer preventing agents). With this our kongu food exploration came to an end. 

Some of the key features of Kongu Cuisine are

With all these in consideration, Kongunadu Cuisine stands unique from the other available cuisines.

We have spent two days in Kongu region and got a little knowledge on the Cuisine. This is just tip of the iceberg. Many more dishes are unexplored during our visit which will be covered in near future...

Hope you have enjoyed the article. See you in next cuisine.

Pichi Potu Kozhi	Vanjaram fry	Parotta	Kothu Parotta
Naatu Kozhi Kulambu	Nethli	Mutton keema balls	Mutton Chuka
Chicken Chintamani	Chicken Pallipalayam	Mutton Biryani	Masala Curd