Go beyond dosa and idli, relish the new taste of southern India with Nilgiri korma and Kerala mulugu parotta, says Eram Agha
Don’t expect a repetitive raga of south India — idli, sambar — at Jaypee Siddharth’s Jewels of South Food promotion. There is Kerala mulugu parotta, nilgiri korma and pavakke khichadi for food lovers who are on the hunt for new flavours. “We chose Eggspectations for this festival and not Paatra because former gets a cosmopolitan crowd that is ready to break their gastronomical comfort zone and try out new offerings from different regions,” Ashish Joshi, executive chef said.
Chef Sudheesh Kumar was called from Kerala to whip out some new numbers — Kerala mulugu Parotta — was a paneer chilli look alike, but it was nothing close to it. Parotta is made of small Malabar paranthas tossed with onions, capsicum and red chillies. He added some tomato ketchup to lend the taste of familiarity. The parottas sell like hot cakes at the restaurants in Kerala. It went well with mor the south Indian version of mattha, made with ginger, green chilli and coriander. The aarambham episode extended for a bit as chef’s another offering kuzhi paniyar, occupied the table and conquered our tastebuds. Joshi said, “It is made of idli batter and steamed in paniyar pan, it can be both sweet and spicy.”
The main course had dishes made of curd and coconut. Nilgiri korma prepared with vegetables was cooked in curd and coconut, as was the bitter gourd dish pavakke khichadi. “In Kerala cooking is all about the play of spices, and sometimes it acquires the flavours of main ingredient like fish or vegetables,” said Kumar. Malabar parantha was hot and crunchy and went well with both the dishes and rice was enjoyed with the thin fish curry meen moilee.
The south story ended with Kerala version of kheer called payasam, made of moong dal. The chef served it with banana leaf that lent its smell throughout the sweet sojourn!