One of my favorite thing about learning and experiencing another culture is tasting their food! I must say South Indian cuisine does offer some very tasty dishes. For example, I cannot seem to get enough chutney!
Chutney is a sauce which is made of coconut and spiced with hot chilly peppers and black pepper. Every time it is served it tastes slightly different. Some times it is so spicy I need to eat tons of yogurt after. Other times it is nice and cooling to counter act the flames coming off the sambar. Don't worry I will tell you what sambar is very shortly!
Typically we hear the word curry and we think sauce with spices and some meat or veggies--served over rice! Not the case. We have been wildly mislead by Indian restaurants in America. Curry is actually a vegetable dish and it is dry. No sauce to be found in South Indian curry, just some veggies and lots of spice! What we generally think of as curry (the saucy dish with vegetables or meat) is called kooteuh. There are really just two varieties of this: sambar and rasam. Sambar has veggies, leaves to season, blended lentils, and tons of spice!! Rasam, my favorite, is tomato based and it is usually just seasoned with lots of garlic.
Now what do we eat these saucy dishes with? RICE. Okay we do eat other things, however, rice is the staple. We frequently have idlies. Idli is a fermented rice cake. They are delicious! Seyiyah upmah is one of my favorites. It is made with rice noodles and has lentils mixed into it. Pongal (my least favorite) is served often. It is rice that has been finely ground and it sort of resembles polenta but white in color! Now on to my favorites: dosas and chapati!!! Dosa tastes like sourdough and they are soft and warm and oh so delicious! Dosa is round and sort of looks like a pancake. Lastly, chapati is the best food ever. It is like a crepe except fried more.
Spicy Wednesday Lunch!! Left to right: Sambar (where all the spice is), Rasam, RICE, curry, yogurt (to ease the flames)
Wednesday Dinner: Chutney, Sambar, Dosas!
Close up of the delicious Dosas!
Thursday Breakfast: Coconut rice with spicy chutney. The black bits in the chutney are hot peppers which have been cooked into the chutney!
Thursday Lunch: This is the tower which Ravanan brings lunch to us in each day. Ravanan is enjoying his meal!
Thursday Lunch: Rice, Sambar, plantain curry (extremely spicy), Rasam, and an additional sweeter curry!
Aww Thursday dinner: Chapati!!
Chapati and Korma-The Korma was very spicy this week but very delicious.
Friday Breakfast: Nothing like starting the day out with some spice. Chutney (which was sooooo spicy), idlies, and Sambar!
Now do keep in mind that while our food is delicious--it is hostel food which means that it is repetitive. So just imagine the possibilities out there at those fine restaurants! Stay tuned for more food!!!
Chutney is a sauce which is made of coconut and spiced with hot chilly peppers and black pepper. Every time it is served it tastes slightly different. Some times it is so spicy I need to eat tons of yogurt after. Other times it is nice and cooling to counter act the flames coming off the sambar. Don't worry I will tell you what sambar is very shortly!
Typically we hear the word curry and we think sauce with spices and some meat or veggies--served over rice! Not the case. We have been wildly mislead by Indian restaurants in America. Curry is actually a vegetable dish and it is dry. No sauce to be found in South Indian curry, just some veggies and lots of spice! What we generally think of as curry (the saucy dish with vegetables or meat) is called kooteuh. There are really just two varieties of this: sambar and rasam. Sambar has veggies, leaves to season, blended lentils, and tons of spice!! Rasam, my favorite, is tomato based and it is usually just seasoned with lots of garlic.
Now what do we eat these saucy dishes with? RICE. Okay we do eat other things, however, rice is the staple. We frequently have idlies. Idli is a fermented rice cake. They are delicious! Seyiyah upmah is one of my favorites. It is made with rice noodles and has lentils mixed into it. Pongal (my least favorite) is served often. It is rice that has been finely ground and it sort of resembles polenta but white in color! Now on to my favorites: dosas and chapati!!! Dosa tastes like sourdough and they are soft and warm and oh so delicious! Dosa is round and sort of looks like a pancake. Lastly, chapati is the best food ever. It is like a crepe except fried more.
Spicy Wednesday Lunch!! Left to right: Sambar (where all the spice is), Rasam, RICE, curry, yogurt (to ease the flames)
Close up of the delicious Dosas!
Thursday Breakfast: Coconut rice with spicy chutney. The black bits in the chutney are hot peppers which have been cooked into the chutney!
Thursday Lunch: This is the tower which Ravanan brings lunch to us in each day. Ravanan is enjoying his meal!
Thursday Lunch: Rice, Sambar, plantain curry (extremely spicy), Rasam, and an additional sweeter curry!
Aww Thursday dinner: Chapati!!
Chapati and Korma-The Korma was very spicy this week but very delicious.
Friday Breakfast: Nothing like starting the day out with some spice. Chutney (which was sooooo spicy), idlies, and Sambar!
Now do keep in mind that while our food is delicious--it is hostel food which means that it is repetitive. So just imagine the possibilities out there at those fine restaurants! Stay tuned for more food!!!
Not sure how I would feel waking up and eating spicy food! It all looks yummy though!
ReplyDeleteLove you!
xoxo