If you are someone who loves to explore regional Indian cuisines, you would be well-versed with the many regional cuisines of south India. The south Indian region has a repertoire of delicacies that differs in everything, from flavour to texture, depending upon the state. Chettinad cuisine, for instance, is from the chettinad region of Tamil Nadu that boasts of some brilliant delicacies. The cuisine is deemed to be one of the spiciest in India and is known for the complexity of flavours. One of the distinct qualities of the dishes in chettinad is that it uses freshly ground local spices such as star anise, kalpasi (stone flower) and maratti mokku (dried flower pods).
Chettinad cuisine has a string of non-vegetarian dishes to its credit and due to the vast coastline, seafood adorns many dinner tables in the region, but that does not let the vegetarian specialities shy away. While chicken chettinad or chettinad fish fry might be the star dishes, mushroom chettinad is sure to please the taste buds.
And if you are all for vegetarian dishes donning your next dinner party and wish to give chettinad cuisine a try, we have the perfect recipe for you to begin with. Palkatti Chettinadu or Paneer Chettinad is a drool-worthy curry that is sure to set your taste buds racing.
(Also Read: 11 Best Chettinad Recipes)
This recipe has shallow-fried cottage cheese cubes cooked together with urad dal and a freshly made chettinad paste. The chettinad paste is a lip-smacking mix of spices and herbs, including cinnamon, clove, peppercorns, kalpasi, star anise fennel seeds, red chillies, poppy seeds, coconut and more, all of which together lends a distinct aromatic flavour to the delicacy. For this recipe, paneer is tossed in a tantalising masala of tomato-onion, sesame and mustard seeds. Addition of such local spices makes this one a rich curry that you just won't be able to resist!
Find the full recipe of palkatti chettinadu here. You can pair this with rice or roti.
Try this delicious chettinad recipe at home and share your experience with us in the comments section below.