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Tamil Cuisine
Tamil cuisine is a culinary style originating in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and other countries of South Asia like Sri Lanka. Both vegetarian cuisine and non-vegetarian cuisine are popular among the Tamil people and have been since ancient times. Meats, along with rice, legumes, and lentils, are also popular. Dairy products and tamarind are used to provide sour flavors. On special occasions, traditional Tamil dishes are served in a traditional manner, using banana leaves in place of utensils. After eating, the banana leaves are then used as a secondary food for cattle. A typical breakfast meal consists of idli or dosa with chutney. Lunch includes Rice, sambar, curd, kuzhambu, and rasam. Typical meals (a typical meal), along with other Tamil dishes are served on a banana leaf (vaazhai illai), which adds flavor. Puddings such as payasam are eaten first. Coffee and tea are the staple drinks. "Virundhu" refers to the core elements of Tamil cuisine offered ...
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Indian State
India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-independence The Indian subcontinent has been ruled by many different ethnic groups throughout its history, each instituting their own policies of administrative division in the region. The British Raj mostly retained the administrative structure of the preceding Mughal Empire. India was divided into provinces (also called Presidencies), directly governed by the British, and princely states, which were nominally controlled by a local prince or raja loyal to the British Empire, which held ''de facto'' sovereignty (suzerainty) over the princely states. 1947–1950 Between 1947 and 1950 the territories of the princely states were politically integrated into the Indian union. Most were merged into existing provinces; others were organised into ...
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Payasam
Kheer, also known as payasam, is a sweet dish and a type of wet pudding popular in the Indian subcontinent, usually made by boiling milk, sugar or jaggery, and rice, although rice may be substituted with one of the following: daals, bulgur wheat, millet, tapioca, vermicelli, or sweet corn. It is typically flavoured with desiccated coconut, cardamom, raisins, saffron, cashews, pistachios, almonds, or other dry fruits and nuts, and recently pseudograins are also gaining popularity. It is typically served as a dessert. Etymology The word ''kheer'' is derived from the Sanskrit word for milk, ''ksheer'' (क्षीर). Kheer is also the archaic name for sweet rice pudding. Origin Kheer was a part of the ancient Indian diet. According to the food historian K. T. Achaya, kheer or ''payas'', as it is known in southern India, was a popular dish in ancient India. First mentioned in ancient Indian literature, it was a mixture of rice, milk and sugar, a formula that has endure ...
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Kheer
Kheer, also known as payasam, is a sweet dish and a type of wet pudding popular in the Indian subcontinent, usually made by boiling milk, sugar or jaggery, and rice, although rice may be substituted with one of the following: daals, bulgur wheat, millet, tapioca, vermicelli, or sweet corn. It is typically flavoured with desiccated coconut, cardamom, raisins, saffron, cashews, pistachios, almonds, or other dry fruits and nuts, and recently pseudograins are also gaining popularity. It is typically served as a dessert. Etymology The word ''kheer'' is derived from the Sanskrit word for milk, ''ksheer'' (क्षीर). Kheer is also the archaic name for sweet rice pudding. Origin Kheer was a part of the ancient Indian diet. According to the food historian K. T. Achaya, kheer or ''payas'', as it is known in southern India, was a popular dish in ancient India. First mentioned in ancient Indian literature, it was a mixture of rice, milk and sugar, a formula that has ...
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Vada (food)
Vada is a category of savoury fried snacks native to South India. Vadas can be described variously as fritters, cutlets, or dumplings. Alternative names for this food include vadai, vade, and bada. Vadas are sometimes stuffed with vegetables and traditionally served with chutneys and sambar. In North India and Pakistan, Bhalla is a similar food. It is sold in chaat shops and kiosks; Green bean paste is added with spices, which is then deep fried to make croquets. They are then garnished with dahi (yogurt), Saunth chutney (dried ginger and tamarind sauce) and spices. Bhalla is usually served cold unlike the Aloo Tikki. The various types of vadas are made from different ingredients, ranging from legumes (such as medu vada of South India) to potatoes (such as batata vada of West India). They are often served as a breakfast item or a snack, and also used in other food preparations (such as dahi vada and vada pav). History According to K. T. Achaya, Vadai (Vada) was popula ...
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South Asian Pickles
South Asian pickles, also known as avalehikā, pachchadi, achaar (sometimes spelled as aachaar), athaanu, loncha, oorugaai, or aavakaai, is a pickled food made from a variety of vegetables and fruits preserved in brine, vinegar, edible oils, and various South Asian spices. The pickles are popular across the South Asian subcontinent, with many regional variants. Etymology Etymology for pickles in South Asia varies regionally. The pickles are known as ''uppinakaayi'' in Kannada, ''avakaya'' in Telugu, ''oorugaai'' in Tamil, ''uppillittuthu'' in Malayalam, ''loncha'' in Marathi, ''athanu'' in Gujarati, and ''achaar'' in Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu), Nepali and Bengali. Early Sanskrit and Tamil literature uses the terms ''avalehika, upadamzam'', ''sandhita,'' and ''avaleha'' for pickles.The Story of Our Food by K.T. Achaya (2003) ''Āchār'', a loanword of Persian origin, entered popular use as the Hindustani term for pickles under the Mughal Empire. In Persian, the word ''āchār' ...
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Salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantities in seawater. The open ocean has about of solids per liter of sea water, a salinity of 3.5%. Salt is essential for life in general, and saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. Salt is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous food seasonings, and is known to uniformly improve the taste perception of food, including otherwise unpalatable food. Salting, brining, and pickling are also ancient and important methods of food preservation. Some of the earliest evidence of salt processing dates to around 6,000 BC, when people living in the area of present-day Romania boiled spring water to extract salts; a salt-works in China dates to approximately the same period. Salt was also prized by the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, By ...
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Pachadi
Pachadi ( te, పచ్చడి, kn, ಪಚಡಿ, ta, பச்சடி, ml, പച്ചടി) refers to a traditional South Indian fresh pickle served as a side dish. Broadly translated, it refers to food which has been pounded. In Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, pachadi is a side dish curry similar to the North Indian raita, and is made with vegetable, yoghurt, coconut, ginger and curry leaves and seasoned with mustard. Pachadi generally is a hot or mildly spiced coconut, green chillies, red chillies and yogurt-based dish made with seasonal vegetables or fruits. It is made of fresh vegetables and is served as an accompaniment for rice and for snacks like idli, dosa, and pesarattu. Many kinds of vegetables are included. Sometimes the peel of a vegetable is used, such as the peel of the ridged gourd, known as ' in Telugu. Varieties In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana * Vegetable pachadi is made with vegetables like bottle gourd, aubergine, and ...
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Buttermilk
Buttermilk is a fermented dairy drink. Traditionally, it was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cultured cream. As most modern butter in western countries is not made with cultured cream but uncultured sweet cream, most modern buttermilk in western countries is cultured separately. It is common in warm climates where unrefrigerated milk sours quickly. Buttermilk can be drunk straight, and it can also be used in cooking. In making soda bread, the acid in buttermilk reacts with the raising agent, sodium bicarbonate, to produce carbon dioxide which acts as the leavening agent. Buttermilk is also used in marination, especially of chicken and pork. Traditional buttermilk Originally, buttermilk referred to the liquid left over from churning butter from cultured or fermented cream. Traditionally, before the advent of homogenization, the milk was left to sit for a period of time to allow the cream and milk to separate. During this time, naturally occur ...
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Kootu
Kootu (Tamil:கூட்டு) is a lentil and vegetable stew in South Indian, particularly Tamil and Kerala cuisines. The etymology for kootu derives from the Tamil word "kootu" which means "add" or "mixture/medley" i.e. vegetable added with lentils form the dish, which is semi-solid in consistency. The dish is noted for its nutty and complex flavors and textures, likely owing to the liberal addition of lentils and coconuts. It is typically less watery than sambhar, but more so than dry stir-fries. Virundhu Sappadu (typical Tamil feast) comes with a combination of boiled rice (''Choru'' in Tamil), sambar, rasam, curd, poriyal, kootu, appalam, pickles and banana. All kootus by default have some vegetables and lentils, but many variations of kootu exist: * Poricha Kootu: A kootu made with urad dhal and pepper is called poricha (means "fried" in Tamil) kootu. Fried urad dhal, pepper, few red chilies, some cumin and fresh coconut are ground together. Moong dhal and the cu ...
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Poriyal
''Poṟiyal'' ( ta, பொரியல்) is a Tamil word for any fried, or sometimes sautéed, vegetable dish. It is called ''palya'' in Kannada, ''vepudu'' in Telugu, and ''mezhukupuratti'' in Malayalam. It is usually made by shallow frying shredded or diced vegetables and greens along with spices. The preparation would normally involve frying mustard seeds, urad dal, onions and then the main vegetable, and finally adding turmeric, various spices, dried red chillis, and coriander. In Tamil Nadu, shredded coconut would be added as a dressing. All ''poṟiyal''s by default have some vegetables and lentils or greens, but many variations of the main vegetable exist. ''Poṟiyal'' serves as a side dish to a three-course meal of rice with sambhar, rasam and yogurt (curds in Indian English). Poriyal is also commonly eaten with chapati. Many other regional variations exist. Palya, a very common dish in the South Indian state of Karnataka is very similar to the ''poṟiyal''. ...
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Sambar (dish)
Sambar (, romanized: Sāmbār) is a lentil-based vegetable stew, cooked with pigeon pea and tamarind broth. It is popular in South Indian, Sri Lankan and Maldivian cuisines. The stew has been adapted into Burmese cuisine as a popular accompaniment to Burmese curries. History According to food historian K. T. Achaya, the earliest extant mention of sambar in literature can be dated to the 17th century in Tamilakam. The word ''sambar'' () stems from the Tamil word ''champāram'' (). A Tamil inscription of 1530 CE, shows the use of the word champāram in the sense of meaning a dish of rice accompanying other rice dishes or spice ingredients with which a dish of vegetable rice is cooked: Regional variations Sambar is variously called ''thizone chinyay hin'' (သီးစုံချဉ်ရည်ဟင်း; ), ''thizone pe kala hin'' (သီးစုံပဲကလားဟင်း, ), or derivatives like ''thizone hin'' or ''pe kala hin'' in the Burmese langua ...
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Paruppu
In Indian cuisine, ''dal'' (also spelled ''daal'' or ''dhal''; pronunciation: , Hindi: दाल, Urdu: ) are dried, split pulses (e.g., lentils, peas, and beans) that do not require soaking before cooking. India is the largest producer of pulses in the world. The term is also used for various soups prepared from these pulses. These pulses are among the most important staple foods in South Asian countries, and form an important part of the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Use The most common way of preparing dal is in the form of a soup to which onions, tomatoes and various spices may be added. The outer hull may or may not be stripped off. Almost all types of dal come in three forms: (1) unhulled or ''sabut'' (meaning whole in Hindi), e.g., ''sabut urad dal'' or ''mung sabut''; (2) split with hull left on the split halves is described as ''chilka'' (which means shell in Hindi), e.g. ''chilka urad dal'', ''mung dal chilka''; (3) split and hulled or ''dhuli'' (mea ...
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