A South Indian restaurant in Chandigarh

      Chandigarh: Indian cuisine is as diverse as its culture, languages and climate. The ingredients, spices and cooking methods vary from region to region. Like North Indian cuisine, South Indian cuisine enjoys worldwide popularity. A Chandigarh-based restaurant going by the name of `Sundaram', is gaining popularity for its authentic South Indian food. It all lies in the preparation and the use of quality ingredients to rustle up the most delicious treat. `Sundaram' offers you a variety of Dosas, Idlis, Uttapams and Vadas - all served with hot Sambar and coconut chutney. Within four years of it hitting the Chandigarh skyline, Sundaram is one of the top names in culinary delights. "People are coming from Ambala, Patiala and Kurukshetra to have their food here. We have created a good ambience here as customers continue coming till 11:00 in the evening. Professionals, bureaucrats, doctors and even south Indian actors who come for a shooting in Chandigarh, Kullu and Manali do come here to have their food," said S.Sundaram, the owner of the restaurant. Located in Sector 35, dining at Sundaram's is indeed a treat. Reasonably priced, it is the right place to head for, if you want the very best of South Indian food. An excellent blend of flavours, with just the right nutrition, fragrance and taste, the meal is served on a "vazhailla", a freshly cut plantain leaf. You may find the North Indian dishes spicy, but South Indian recipes are palatable to the blandest of taste buds. "There are so many places where we get South Indian food, but mostly we have North Indianised the South Indian food. But, this is the one place where I find the original taste," said one of the guests at the restaurant. "Punjab's `Makki ki Roti' and `Sarson ka Saag' is quite good, but for a change South Indians food is good and cheap," said another guest. South Indian dishes give a run for its money to the Chinese quick-meal-formula that has the entire continent raving, but the dosa-idli cult is being seen as a delightful, vegetarian option to other greasy food. And in contrast to many other Indian gourmet dishes, South Indian fare offers quick, light and universally edible options. The cuisine of the northern and southern parts of the country, if observed, provides an interesting study.

      North Indian cuisine is distinguished by the use of dairy products-such as milk, paneer (cottage cheese), ghee (clarified butter), yoghurt and wheat. The gravies of North Indian cooking are typically dairy-based and usually contain pastes of cashew and poppy seeds making them rich and thick. Milk-based sweets are a huge favourite too and are a specialty of Bengal and Orissa. Other common ingredients include chillies, saffron and nuts. Northern Indian cooking features the use of the tandoor for the baking of breads such as the naan and Khakhra, and the cooking of such meat dishes as tandoori chicken. Fish and seafood are very popular in the coastal states of Orissa and West Bengal. Another important feature on North Indian cuisine are flat breads. These come in many different forms such as naan, paratha, roti, puri, bhatoora, kulcha. South Indian cuisine is distinguished by a greater emphasis on rice as the staple grain, the liberal use of coconut and curry leaves particularly coconut oil, and the ubiquity of sambar and rasam (also called saaru) at meals. South Indian cooking is even more vegetarian-friendly than north Indian cooking. The practice of naivedya, or ritual offerings, to Krishna at the Krishna Mutt temple in Udipi, Karnataka, has led to the Udipi style of vegetarian cooking. The variety of dishes which must be offered to Krishna forced the cooks of the temple to innovate. Traditional cooking in Udupi Ashtamatha is characterized by the use of local seasonal ingredients. Garam masala is generally avoided in South indian cuisine. The vada, bonda, and bajji are typical South Indian snacks.
- Nov 1, 2006