Monday, March 26, 2007

Tamil cuisine - RCI - April 2007

As one of the oldest vegetarian culinary heritages of the world, Tamil cuisine is characterized by its aroma and flavor. Achieved mainly by a combination of spices, recipes from the Tamil cuisine use a variety of ingredients like coconut, ginger, coriander, tamarind, curry leaves, etc. As rice is the staple food for most Tamilians, there are a variety of rice preparations that you will come across like lime rice, coconut rice, vegetable rice, tomato rice, etc. And of course there are the side dishes that accompany rice like kootu, sambar, rasam, mor kozhambu, puli kozhambu, vatral kozhambu, etc. A bowl of steaming hot rice with a dash of ghee, a piece of papad and a side dish served on a banana leaf is all but a simple Tamil meal.

Not to forget the sweets, tiffins and the savories that are so much a part of the Tamil cuisine. Some examples of tiffin include sevai, idli, dosa, adai, upma, vada, pongal, etc. served with coconut chutney and sambar on the side.

Snacks are murukkus in all shapes and forms - where there is a delicate balance of flour and spices rolled into a dough, made into different shapes and fried in oil for a longer shelf life. Some sweets include rava laddoos, coconut burfi, mysore pak, etc.

Some parts of Tamil Nadu like Madurai are famous for non-vegetarian foods that include goat meat, chicken and fish. A popular bread called Parota (a blend of flour and ghee) is consumed with a non-vegetarian side dish or vegetable kurma. You will also find similarities between Indian Tamil cuisine and Ceylon Tamil cuisine. Click here and here to learn more about Tamil Cuisine.

So, start your hunt for recipes from the Tamil cuisine and get cooking. Send in your entries by April 25th and I will do a roundup on May 1st. Please feel free to insert the logo in your post. Here is line up of the RCI event.

May - Andhra Cuisine - Latha from Masala Magic
June - Maharashtrian Cuisine - Nupur from One Hot Stove
July - Punjabi Cuisine - Richa from As Dear As Salt
August - Cuisine not finalized - Swapna from Swad
September - Karnataka Cuisine - Asha from Foodie's Hope and Aroma HopeOctober - Bihar/Orissa Cuisine - Sangeeta from Ghar ka Khana
November - Still open
December - Yet to decide cuisine - Trupti from The Spice who Loved me

Thanks for the overwhelming response to the event! Looking forward to all the great recipes from the different cuisines of India. Hope all of you have a lot of fun hosting and participating in this event.

34 comments:

FH said...

YAY!!! September it is LK!! Can't wait.Good one,thank you:))

Sia said...

wow lakshmi...i love this event. we will get to learn so many cuisines from particular state:)

bee said...

will add this to the dining hall events list, lakshmi.

Lakshmik said...

Thanks Asha.

Lakshmik said...

Hi Sia

Yes, this is surely an attempt to learn recipes from different cuisines.

Lakshmik said...

Thanks Bee.

J said...

Wow! I'm curous to see the array of dishes from various states of India!! :)

Shivapriya said...

hmmm..... I have to ask my husband for authentic tamil recipes:D. He know's better than me.

Prema Sundar said...

Hi Lakshmi,
good event .. and Iam in there for this months tamil cuisine.

swapna susarla said...

Hi lakshmi k
I think u are mistaken.I am not the SWapna u are thinking of.That swapna is from here..
http://www.swadofindia.blogspot.com/
Please verify it.Will definitely participate in this.

Viji said...

Sorry Lakshmi for the delayed reply. Put me for Nov. Can I make it as TN festival foods. Let me know if its ok. Viji

Anonymous said...

Hi Lakshmi,
I thought about this, and will be happy to host either Gujarati or Kashmiri cuisine...I think Pooja was interested in the Gujarati cuisine...either way, you let me know.

thanks.

Unknown said...

Nice thought! Coincidentally, i did a pakka tambram post today absolutely befitting the first round of RCI...hope you like it :)

Sig said...

Lakshmi, great event, will definitely cook up something Tamil...

Arundathi said...

Hey Lakshmi, sounds like a great idea. I'm definitely gonna participate and hope to get lots of good recipes from the upcoming months as well! :) Thanks!

Seema Bhat said...

Lakshmi, This is gonna be real fun. I am sure all the foodies like me with thank you for coming up with such a wonderful theme that will help us learn so much about all the different cuisine that India has.

Radhika said...

wow.. lakshmi Tamil cusine when i'm visiting Tamilnadu,what a coincidence.I'll get some authentic recipes from my mother-in-law.

Coffee said...

ok.... so its all decided!!!!! I am running to google some tambram dishes!!!!!!!!!

Sheela said...

What a great idea. if Nov is open would like to do it, how about mallu/kerala cuisine?

Lakshmik said...

Hi Swapna

Sorry for the mix up. I have made the change in blog name in the post. Do let me know when you are ready to host the event.

Lakshmik said...

Hi Viji

Sure go ahead and do Tamil festival foods for November.

Lakshmik said...

Hi Trupti

Yes you can host Kashmiri cuisine. Looking forward to the event.

Lakshmik said...

Thanks for participating Nandita. Can you send me a picture of the recipe and the link from your blog to veggiecuisine@gmail.com so that I can post it during the roundup.

Lakshmik said...

Hi Sig, Arundathi, Seema, Radhika, and Coffee

Glad you liked the event. Looking forward to your entries.

Lakshmik said...

Hi Sheela

Jyothsna wanted to host Kerala cuisine in November. Will let you know once I get her confirmation. Do you want to host some other cuisine in February 2008? Do let me know.

DesiGirl said...

wow! what a super idea!
new to food blogging tho not to the blogosphere and am loving these food events!
I would love to take part in this event. can I submit a dish I have already posted in my blog or shld I post a new one?

musical said...

Dear Lkshmik,

thanks for the shout-out in your blog-roll!

Your RCI event is really commendable.

Lakshmik said...

Hi Desigirl

Sure you can participate in the event. It is open to everyone. It would be great if you could make a new dish for the event. Looking forward to your entry. BTW, I also started cooking when I was in class VII - what a coincidence.

Ayesha Seerin said...

should the entries be only veg??
If so is egg considered Veg :-)

Anonymous said...

Wow This is really cool.Will get to learn so many recipes from different places.What about including mangalorean and goan cuisines.Hope someone can host that cuisine too.Loooking forward to participating.

Anonymous said...

HI,

I found ths while surfing and i have really liked your Idea. Can i post some recipes for goan cuisine ?

Meera Prabhu said...

Hi Lakshmi,
Wonderful work...keep it up.
Am a first time visitor and stay in Dubai. Found u'r receipes quite useful.
Prabhu

Anonymous said...

Interesting! :-)

Paru ... said...

Hi Lakshmi,,

Came across your blog today.. Excellent and lovely..
I am a fairly new blogger with age old Karnataka reciples..

Amidst all the lovely creative bloggers who are hosting the RCI events every month..It would be a pleasure if you give me a chance sometime to host RCI--Karnataka in 2008...

Happy Holidays everybody
Paru
(www.brindavanrecipes.blogspot.com)