Rooting for vegetarianism

This week's column is dedicated to those who sitteth on the right side of Maneka Gandhi. Often vegetarianism is projected as part of our ancient culture and tradition and meat eating as something of an interloper that came from the West. But this is not exactly true. It was only Buddhism and Jainism that brought vegetarianism in vogue. Anyway in our country they say, it was easy to turn a total 'veggie' even in 1000 BC because such was the bounty of Nature.

Offering food to gods and having special items on festive occasions have been a part of the Indian psyche from 200 BC. Actually, in some temples delicious prasad is as well known as the deity itself. Tirupati laddu or Ambalapuzha pal payasam of Kerala are cases in point.

So when Hotel Ambica Empire at Vadapalani on the Ring Road, announced a Temple food festival, it fired my imagination. The laddus, aravana payasams, pal kozhukattai and Palani panchamritham dancing before my eyes had me smacking my lips in no time.

But none of these famous prasadams was there at Samskruti, the hotel restaurant. On the banana leaf were a rather indifferent selection of 'sadams,' savouries and sweet. Even all those items listed on the prasadam menu (yes, there was a separate one) were not available. Among the items, we had sarkarai pongal which was clearly the best, though it was more like a Mallu style ari (rice) payasam. And the prasadam collection comes at a price of Rs. 150.

The rest of the menu was almost entirely North Indian. It seemed ironical, as the restaurant's interior design is predominantly South Indian. Also Utsav at Hotel Nest International, Egmore, the other restaurant I visited too had more Northern dishes. A solitary avial and a Chettinadu vegetable looked forlorn amidst all those makhani masalas.

Are sambar, rasam, and dosais prerogatives of Saravana Bhavan, Sangeetha or Woodlands alone? Where have all the kootu-curries and poriyals gone or have they become exclusive to Chettinad eateries?

Coming back to Samskruti, since one couldn't make a meal out of prasadams we fell back on the menu. Bhindi nazakatwali (Rs. 75) and paneer makhani (Rs. 80) were both good. So were the Laccha paratha (Rs. 20) and roumali roti (Rs. 25). With the athirasam, sweet boondi, semia payasam and sarkarai pongal on the prasadam platter, one did not want to go for another dessert.

Utsav, being a multi-cuisine restaurant, also offers Chinese dishes. So we went in for two Chinese starters, crispy fried vegetables (Rs. 25) and mushroom pepper salt (Rs. 25). They came in generous portions and were both good.

What took me by surprise was the Kashmiri naan, (Rs. 15) which had fresh fruit and roasted peanuts on top of it. It was a welcome variation from the usual dry fruit routine. Dum aloo Kashmiri (Rs. 30) was also very nice, with rich creamy white, nutty gravy.

Dal makhani (Rs. 25) was a bit sour and vegetable jalfrazie (Rs. 30) okay.

Among the breads, Aloo Kulcha was soft and yummy, while Methi paratha was the usual kasuri methi one. Both cost only Rs. 12 each. Gulab Jamoon (Rs. 25) was the only sweet available.

The most attractive aspect of Utsav is its pricing. A filling elaborate meal for two comes up to only a mere Rs. 200. With these prices, one cannot afford to carp about minor details. But a suggestion, I hope will not go amiss, roaches are not a welcome sight on the dining table. So call in a pest control agency as early as possible.

MARIEN MATHEW

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