Chettinad cuisine with Chennai Chef Jessudoss at Taj Samudra

Navratna, arguably Colombo’s finest Indian restaurant, serves you South Indian delicacies when speciality Chef Jessudoss joins the hotel from Chennai to host the Chettinad Cuisine Promotion from Friday 26 November to Sunday 5 December. This unique food promotion will feature mouth-watering delicacies from the Chettinad region in Tamil Nadu.

Chettinad cuisine is one of the spiciest and the most aromatic of all of India’s fine cuisines. Stemming from the infatuations of the richly cultural Chettiar people this cuisine is truly distinctive with its blend of hot, tangy and pungent, freshly ground “masalas”.

The spices that weave together include marathi mokku (dried flower pods), anasipoo (star aniseed) and kalpasi (dried bark), tamarind, whole red chillies, cinnamon and cloves to mention a few. Whilst Chettinad food is spicy, you need not worry about it setting your palate on fire… the spiciness is less from chilli and more from pepper, ginger and cumin.

Spices are deep passion in Chettinad and no self respecting Chettinad chef settles for anything other than freshly blended dry or wet combinations of spices, herbs and nuts.

Navratna will bring you some of the most famous dishes to emerge from the kitchens of Chettinad in a choice of vegetarian and non-vegetarian.

Navratna’s menu during the Chettinad Food Promotion will feature an extensive array of signature dishes including karuvepilai era (prawns marinated in a unique curry leaf paste and deep-fried), era manga kozhambu (fresh prawns cooked in spicy raw mango gravy), kozhi varutha curry (tender pieces of chicken cooked in a tangy curry), paalkatti pattani thokku (cottage cheese and green peas cooked in a Chettinad onion tomato masala). Most of the dishes are eaten with rice and rice based accompaniments such as dosas, appams, idiyappams, and idlis.

Experience the extraordinary diversity of India’s cuisine at the Navratna during the Chettinad Food Promotion and be a part of this culinary adventure.