Special South Indian Culinary Delights @ Rasam, The Stadel, Kolkata 😊

Food Festival: Happy Pongal

Duration: 15 – 17 Jan 2019, 12 noon – 10 pm

For the year 2020’s Pongal i.e.the multi-day harvest festival of South India, the Special South Indian Culinary Delights on offer are –

Kanchipuram Idly, Venn Pongal, Bisibele Bhath, Sakkarai Pongal, Appam With Korma, Lemon Rice With Korma and Pesarattu

Basically, these are the age old favorite special dishes of the patrons of Rasam, the popular 100% vegetarian South Indian restaurant.

Around every Pongal, the Rasam loyalists seek these dishes along with the South Indian Thali available in the usual menu.

The dishes presented to me for tasting were –

– Kanchipuram Idly (Rs. 100/-): As per it’s name, this special type of Idly hails from Kanchipuram, an ancient city in Tamil Nadu. It’s a traditional and authentic Idly recipe, wherein the Idly batter is tempered with pepper, cumin and curry leaves before steaming.

Two wholesome Kanchipuram Idlys were served with Sambhar, Tomato-Onion Chutney and Coconut Chutney.

Kanchipuram Idly

– Bisibele Bhath (Rs. 160/-): Having it’s origin in Mysore Palace and Vellore Fort in Karnataka, Bisibele Bhath translates to ‘hot lentil rice dish’ in Kannada language.

Made with special Bisibele Bhath Masala, it’s basically a flavorsome vegetable rich Khichdi.

Piping hot Bisibele Bhath was served with pickle, banana chips and South Indian papadum.

Bisibele Bhath

– Venn Pongal (Rs. 160/-): This dish is basically a healthy south indian breakfast made with rice and yellow moong lentils. It’s also like Khichdi, albeit whitish in color and infused with only black pepper, cumin seeds and curry patta, in terms of spices and seasonings.

Piping hot Venn Pongal was served with Pickle and Banana Chips.

Venn Pongal

– Appam With Korma (Rs. 160/-): An Appam is a type of fluffy pancake, made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk. It is a common food in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.

Veg Korma is a coconut gravy based stew of assorted vegetables. It is paired with Parotta, Poori, Appam, Idiyappam or any other Indian bread.

A big bowl shaped, soft and fluffy Rice Appam was served with a medium bowl full of Veg Korma and some Banana Chips.

Extra Appam was available at Rs. 60/-.

Appam With Korma

– Pesarattu (Rs. 180/-): This breakfast snack of Andhra Pradesh was basically moong beans Dosa sans any urad dal.

It was served with Upma, Sambhar, Tomato-Onion Chutney, Coconut Chutney and Banana Chips.

Pesarattu

All the items were fresh and tasted quite good. Each item was relatively healthy and like a full meal in itself.

Service was fast and hospitality was good.

The food festival is on till tomorrow. If you have the liking and appetite for South Indian culinary delights, then grab your bite soon!