When enterprising women from hills decide to carve their own path, extraordinary stories emerge. This is the story of Pavithra and her friend, two determined women from Mudigere, Chikmagalur, who brought the essence of Malnad cuisine to life. Their journey toward financial independence and preserving the region’s flavors through their restaurants is inspiring.
Our lunch at Hale Mane was a celebration of authentic, homestyle Malnad food:
Akki Roti: A traditional rice flour flatbread, perfectly crisp on the outside and soft inside, paired with Malnad Mutton curry Akki Unde: Steamed rice dumplings, dense yet delicious, served a hint of ghee for a rich, earthy taste. Mutton Curry: A spicy, slow-cooked dish infused with traditional Malnad spices, offering tender, juicy pieces of mutton in a flavourful gravy. Fish Curry: Fresh fish cooked in a tangy, mildly spicy coconut-based gravy, highlighting the coastal influence in Malnad cuisine. Fish Fry: Tawa fried fish fry with some flavourful tangy Malnad masala.
The next day, our breakfast at Malnad Mane Atithya was just as exceptional, featuring an array of traditional dishes:
Mangalore Buns: Soft, slightly sweet, deep-fried banana puris that were warm and comforting, perfect with coconut chutney. Shevige: Delicate, hand-pressed rice noodles served with a mild green kurma, offering a wholesome and light start to the meal. Thatte Idly: Thick, fluffy idlis that melted in the mouth, served with sambar and spicy chutney. Akki Unde: A repeat from the previous day, but this time paired with a green kurma for a fresh twist. What made the breakfast truly special were Pavithra’s personal touches:
Red Ant Chutney: A rare delicacy made famous by her appearance on the Gordon Ramsay show, this chutney combined the tangy zest of red ants with traditional Malnad spices. Horse Gram Chutney: A labour-intensive dish taking two days to prepare, packed with robust flavors and a nutty undertone. Bamboo Shoot Stir Fry: Tender bamboo shoots sautéed with spices, offering a unique crunch and a taste reminiscent of the forest. We ended the meal with piping hot tea and coffee, brewed with fresh milk from Pavithra’s own farm, adding an unparalleled freshness to the experience.
This journey into Malnad cuisine was not just about food but also about the love, dedication, and authenticity that Pavithra and her friend poured into every dish. Their passion for preserving the region’s culinary heritage was truly heartwarming.
An evening of rediscovering the history of Amir Mahal and their food using heirloom recipes.
Our heartfelt gratitude to Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, Nawabzada Mohammed Asif Ali and their entire family for extending their palace to recreate some untold memories.
This one was very special for me since it was not only regional or micro cuisines that I usually hunt for, but royal food from the kitchen of the Nawabs of Arcot.
Zaika-e- Amir Mahal was a collaboration between Hyatt Regency Chennai, Soul On A Plate by Yogita Uchil and Amir Mahal. I would also like to say kudos to the entire team at Hyatt Regency Chennai.
When we started planning this event one thing we were very sure about was that we will showcase everything including the food the way it was and the palace. We did not want to alter any flavours just for the delight of the guests but wanted our guests to understand the flavours of the palace’s heirloom recipes.
The team at Hyatt Regency Chennai under the leadership of Ruban Das was all set to take on the challenge. Chef Manish and his team worked on the food when Varun and team worked on the service, while Saurav and Kimberly took care of the event coordination. This event was created with style, royalty and elegance.
Team Hyatt Regency
On the D day 3rd February at around 7 pm when we arrived at Amir Mahal, we were welcomed by fire torches on both sides of the pathway it was as if we were entering a different Era and now this was something to be thought of, entering the palace door Jasmine and itar ( perfume) was presented to us and ofcourse a photo booth that captured the moment.
Finally a picture with the chefs who worked very Hard behind the scenes, chef Manish and team take a Bow!
The energy, color, music and chit chats in the huge hall with tall ceilings were melody to the ears and a grandeur to experience.
We had quite a few people from the consulate to the ministers to the royals at the gathering. The prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali and his son Nawabzada Mohammed Asif Ali welcomed all the guests with their warm welcome speech followed by the beautiful piece of music by the Nawabzada.
The welcome drink Aab-e- bahaar (a tender coconut drink with honey and mint) and litchi anar sherbet was as refreshing as the place. We had an array of appetisers that were passing around in royal serving platters with enough choice for vegetarians and non vegetarians. My favourite of course was their authentic and traditional kolsa kebab and roti kheema. Also here would like to mention that the service staff who were so well groomed were students from IHM Chennai.
In the main course of course it was my most favourite Arcot mutton biryani, the interesting combination for this was not the usual brinjal salna but a bitter gourd salna and this enhenced the flavour of the biryani all together ( frankly this was my first experience having bitter gourd salna with mutton biryani) two very interesting dishes that i have never ever had before, one being Ambadey ki bhaaji ( tender mutton chunks with roselle leaves) and the lal baingan anda jhinga ( eggs and prawn in Tomato gravy) who would even imagine a dish with prawn and egg really!!!
Badam halwa, pheni, Amrit phal and sevaiyan thalko was the sweet royal finish to this beautiful night as we stood at the porch and enjoyed piping hot masala chai and paan.
The world’s longest and happiest table at Hanu Reddy Mango farm, also called as Hanu’s table creates history in the culinary world! This 156ft table that is made using the mango trees that were uprooted during the varda cyclone in 2017 is now the talk of the town. The beautiful table can seat 150 happy people making joyful conversations.
10 best chefs of India showcase their regional cuisine on the world’s longest and happiest table in Chennai, India.
20th January 2024 was a very special day and my happiness knew no bounds! I still remember on a sunny day around the last week of June 2023 Nirupama and I drove to the Hanu Reddy mango farm to just sit under the mango trees and discuss what we could possibly do here. My eyes twinkled with excitement as my mind envisioned something very special.
For the last few years my mind body and soul only feels regional food and I said how about chefs from all around India come and showcase their regional food and I remember I told Nirupama for all you know this might go to the Guinness Book of World records!!! To me the only person who could pull this off with all his might was Chef Regi, our next farm visit was with Chef Regi and we walked around the farm to imagine what it would be like to put Chennai on the world culinary map.
And the rest is history, Chef Regi gathered his army of chefs and Team Hanu Reddy gathered their team to get a kitchen constructed and do some massive work in the farm in such a short time.
Walking through the farm after 6 months was like a fairytale with an ” India’s Culinary Odyssey” logo all around, it was a proud moment for me who has made Chennai my home for 25yrs now. The place was beautifully lit up and the reception was warm.
As we entered the farm the huge mango trees were lit up, the music was Indian and it complimented the Indian cocktails that were curated with classic Indian ingredients like tamarind, pepper chillies and more.
Indian ingredients infused cocktails Indian ingredients infused cocktails
As we moved on to the dining area, the table that would seat 106 guests was brimming with colors from the beautiful flowers and Indian elements like the tiffin carriers and dabbas. Nithya along with her friend did a fabulous job with the decor ( well she is a professional)
The 156ft happy table
We got seated and we had our own Ashwin Rajagopal who was the emcee for the evening. The warm welcome speech by Mr. Hanu Reddy and Chef Regi Mathew were building up the excitement.
Amuse Bouche
The amuse bouche was synonymous to the mango farm and that mild sour flavour of the raw mango set the mood for the rest of the evening.
Being a Sindhi Chef Vicky Ratnani decided to showcase the lotus stem which is a Sindhi delicacy. The lotus stem project: tikki chat was a great starter to this magnificent evening.
Lotus stem tikki chat
My goan brother Avinash Martins had his own style to present the goan sea bass with style and vibrance. Sunset kissed recheado delight made using fermented sun-dried tomato recheado, sea bass, kalchi Kodi, kokum, chempde torr and delicate edible flowers was like going back to my childhood days. Especially the chempde torr ( salted raw mango) that we brought from hand carts outside our school in Goa.
Goan seabass recheado
The flavours of Bannuwali cuisine inspired by north west frontier are supposed to be very subtle yet comforting. Chef Vanshika Bhatia presented the Burke waale chole made using tender chickpeas coated in aged mango pickle adored with a delicate layer of moongdal and a tadka of amchur with kapali wheat Paratha. This is an heirloom recipe from her grandmother to her mother and now she is wooing us with this food from her home.
Burke waale chole
There is something about the Koli community and the Koli food in Mumbai the Koli community are the fisherman community and their food is actually the native food of Mumbai. My love for Koli food started when our driver who belonged to the Koli community got his lunch and that invariably became my lunch. I love the flavours of their food and this one was very nostalgic for me. The goda masala is mostly used for vegetarian curries. Chef Varun Tolani from masque Mumbai has blended the masalas seamlessly and presented The Koli masala mud crab, goda masala and onion amti, karandi loncha with those cute little pillowy pav.
Koli mud crab
Blue pea pidi, well I have nothing to say about this dish, like they say silence speaks a thousand words. When you have a golden heart everything you make turns to Amrit. These rice dumplings, cooked in coconut milk and served with ramapuram style chicken curry was definitely Nirvana.
Blue pea pidi
The humble ragi mudde stuffed with karamani with dhantin chutney, uchellu chutney, fried drumstick and served with bottle gourd lentil soup opened my eyes and soul to how something so simple can be simply delicious Chef Mythrayie Iyer namma Chennai ponnu is creating waves in Bangalore at the farmlore.
Ragi mudde
Chef Auroni Mookerjee’s confit patha in a niramish jhol using Bengal goat, notun aloo, radhatilak rice and bonolokki ghee was a dish blessed by Ma. This dish prepared without onion or garlic laced with ghee and hing enhanced the flavour of the meat. Loved the presentation of this dish and I actually had this dish through my eyes even before tasting it. Kudos to this accidental chef who has made his mark in the industry without formal training.
Niramish jhol
Reliving a culinary heritage of what it was to sit around the table and have a family lunch on a Sunday is what Chef Harish Rao recreated for us. From Pushpa’s kitchen to our table Pushpa’s Sunday Shrimp fry and Nei Annam made with tiger prawns, coconut milk rice and gongura crisp from the state of Andhra Pradesh was a delight.
Pushpa’s kitchen special Shrimp fry with Nei Annam Ambur duck biriyani
Ambur Duck Biriyani was Chef Hussain Shahzad’s take on recreating the most loved biriyani in Chennai. The succulent pieces of those marinated duck was for me the highlight of the dish.
Inspired by the flavours of India Chef Vinesh Jhony decided to give us a sweet finale with his two outstanding desserts. Passion fruit and coconut ais kachang with passion fruit and mango sorbet, frozen coconut dots, caramelised salted peanuts and Jasmine tender coconut veil.
Carrot ginger and brunost
Carrot ginger and brunost, carrot halwa veloute, whipped brunost cheese, pineapple ginger ale, brown butter pineapple, salted cashew streusel, carrot paper, ginger icecream and ginger tuile.
Passion fruit & coconut ais kachang
And just when we thought this was fabulous, we had a beautiful return gift that was presented to us. A long bag with Pallanguli or Pallankuli this is a traditional ancient mancala game played in South India, especially Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Pallanguli holes were beautifully filled with desserts by Vinesh Jhony.
Pallanguli
This event has definitely created history in the culinary world. For how beautiful the venue was and how seamlessly the entire event was conducted there was so much hard work that went behind the scenes.
Gratitude and kudos to my dear friend Nirupama who is an epitome of strength and husband Suresh who is that quiet pillar for support. Chef Regi Mathew for leading the army of chefs with his able leadership. Mr. Hanu Reddy for being a visionary and the entire family for the support. Nithya and Ram for being a huge part of the event from construction to decoration. The service staff for their impeccable service under the guidance of Mirelle. Chef Ram, chef Siddiqui, chef Babu, chef Vignesh, chef Rajesh apologies if i have missed anyone.
It was a very unplanned trip, we were in Coimbatore thinking if we should or shouldn’t go for the tharavad festival, keeping my mother in law’s health condition in mind. It was the once in a year tharavad ( family temple) Pooja and we are just 3hrs away by train, the night before we decided with loads of prayers in our hearts to make the decision to go.
4.30am out alarm rings and we started getting ready to hop into the cab to take the intercity train at 6am from Coimbatore station. We decided not to carry breakfast with us since we have had breakfast at shoranur station before and it was always so good. 7am and we were at palakkad and we couldn’t resist the call from the station outside ” vada, parapu Vada, pazham pori” our eyes widened and we ran outside to get one pack of it. Disappointed, the parapu vada was rock solid, the pazham pori was full of thick soda mixed batter with a thin slice of nendra pazham ( Banana) that barely had any taste or flavour and the medu vada was just like there! We took some pictures cause well they looked good and it went straight to the bin after one bite. Now we were waiting for Shoranur for the most awaited breakfast that we have always had few years ago. 8am Shoranur and we are ready to get off the train to get a pack of the breakfast with chaya. I excitedly open the pack and see 3 beautiful looking idlys with one vada. Hungry and happy next I open the sambar pack that smelt good, poured it next to the idly, next opened the chutney pack and ohh it was just plain sour green water with some salt and there started our disappointment, the whole packet of 3 idlis, Vada, sambar and chutney after one bite goes to the bin, I really feel bad to waste food, but this tasted off and couldn’t help but trashing it the tea was equally bad. Our memories of Shoranur station breakfast just shattered. Our plan was to get off at Calicut station and try out some nice breakfast near the station, but our cousin had other plans for us, he surprised us at the station and droves us straight to his house for the soulful appam and payar curry, our search for good breakfast ended at 10am at beypore, Calicut.
It was the tharavad festival and we headed to the temple soon after the breakfast. The Pooja had started a day before and it was a typical small town fare that I really love and miss most of the time. I was visiting the temple after a long time, the last time I was here, there was nothing only a few deities and stones. Must say my mother in law and husband have been instrumental in getting the temple into shape by supporting them with whatever they really needed each time, like few years back they wanted a well to be dug and they happily did it and ofcourse monetarily supported every initiative. We were glad we could atleast be there for a day to witness this splendid Pooja, wait as it unfolds.
The afternoon started with women chanting Amma narayana, Lakshmi Narayana and ended with various gods and goddesses showcasing their presence and blessings till wee hours of the morning, 6am to be precise. The community lunch was vegetarian Kerala food made using wood fire need not mention anything further it was divine.
The next morning after few hours of sleep and a sumptuous breakfast at home we decided to visit pappan ( our uncle, father in-laws younger brother) who due to his health couldn’t attend the temple festivities. We stopped buy a local bakery to pick up some goodies for pappan and I really wanted to eat it all, but resisted since I had a Big break of ottappam and chicken stew at home.
On our way back from visiting uncle/ pappan we stopped by a very small place that makes pappadam, this is so different from appalam made in tamilnadu and papad made in rest of India, this one puffs up like poori and is so delicious when fried using coconut oil. Spent sometime with the person making these and to my surprise they don’t individually roll them they take a big pile and pat it till thin like paper, ingredients used urad dal, salt, papad soda also know as papad khar and tapioca flour to pat it. Watching the process of making the papadam and packing it was soul touching. Special mention to the packing part the papadam were put into a plastic cover and sealed using candle flame and packed again in a newspaper. Life is so simple yet we make it complicated.
On our way back we also stopped by to buy some special kaima rice from a store I assume it’s the same as jeera samba but this one I hear is grown in the Malabar region. Hence wanted to try kaima rice from its birth place.
Came home to the flavours of Malabar briyani in the back yard. Our cousins had decided to surprise us with wood fire Malabar biryani. We surely were running out of time and did not know if we had the time to relish this one and hence decided to pack it for our train journey. We felt so bad that they took so much efforts to make the biryani with so much love for us and we were like why all this trouble after a sleepless night, they said “this is our way of showering love to the people we love the most” and that for me was definitely the highlight of this beautiful one day trip to Calicut/ Kozhikode!
Grateful that we could make the best of these 24hrs that was gifted to us! We are thankful to every person we encountered during the best 24hrs is Calicut/ Kozhikode! Looking forward to spend a few more days to really enjoy so much more that “God’s own country” has to offer us!
When I look back on this 24hrs round trip Chennai to Dharamsala and back that I did on 1st December of 2014, loads of memories flash in front of my eyes!
First, how the hell did I even do it! But they say “where there is a will there is a way” so when my mother was going through her treatment a friend of mine recommended that I meet a Tibetan doctor in Dharamshala. I didn’t even blink an eyelid and packed my bags to take the next flight to Dharamsala. 6am flight to Delhi, 11am flight from delhi to Kangra, 2pm we were in the cab towards Dharamsala. My sister who stays in mumbai was a little worried about me going to an unknown place alone and insisted she would join me.
They say when your intentions are right and your heart is pure and above all if you are going to do something good for your parents, you will be guided on every step you take. That’s exactly what happened to us, we found a very good car and driver who is an ex-armyman who was our guide and driver for the next 24hrs. As we started chatting we told him our purpose of visit and also that we are going to be around only for 24hrs. The moment he understood that it was our first trip and that too a very short one, he insisted that we do a small tour of this beautiful hill station.
First he took us to a very small dabba after checking our food preferences to enjoy the best ever mutton curry, steamed rice and Radish salad. I must admit I have never ever in my entire life tasted a mutton dish like that, it had very basic masala and that is what enhanced the flavour and taste of the mutton. The mutton pieces were huge but tender and juicy. Secret of the meat, they graze on the Himalayan mountains and have fresh Himalayan grass and herbs. This lunch was such a perfect welcome Dharamsala.
Next the driver stopped the car on every beautiful view point on our ride uphill, he let us take pictures and kept explaining about the significance of each place.
We reached our hotel around 5pm. Since it was December the driver told us if we wanted to see a few more places we just had to drop our bags and continue our sight seeing else it would get dark and we might not be able to see much and so we just went with the experts suggetion. He showed us a few more places before sunset and we also got to witness the beautiful sunset.
It was dinner time and knowing me I wanted to try every local food there and so we headed to McLeod Ganj, boy oh boy the place was brimming with people, food, light and music. We walked through the streets looking around and finally settled at Tibetan kitchen to have a hot Bowl of tukpa and momos. Walked through the streets just enjoying the vibe before we called it a day.
We had an early morning appointment with the doctor and the driver picked us up from the hotel and we were in time for our appointment. Again we experienced something very special at the doctor’s place, although we had spoken to someone about the appointment we were not sure if we could go in on time, since there was a very long queue that went in circles and we found people from all around the world who had come to meet the doctor, when I saw the queue my heart sank, since we had a flight to take at 2pm. I walked in with lots of gratitude and prayers in my heart NMRK! The moment I met the person at the counter and handed him my moms urine sample, they just let me in without any questions asked. The doctor came out checked the urine sample ( thats how they do their diagnosis) and immediately called me inside for a discussion, I couldn’t believe that all this was really happening. Another 20mins of discussion, medicines and we were out in 30mins. Our driver couldn’t believe what happened because he has never ever seen someone come out in 30 Mins, he said we were blessed and lucky.
But guess what, I think everything has a purpose in life and we had a bigger purpose and hence all that 30mins appointment happened for us. Since we were done with our purpose of visit the driver told us, that he can show us a few more places as it was 9am and our flight was at 2pm. So we hopped into the car and started wondering around, as a matter of fact he asked us if we wanted to visit the Dalai Lama temple/ office in McLeod Ganj, but he told us that Dalai Lama might not be there since he does not do too much public appearances. We agreed and we started our journey towards the temple( well I have no pictures of that place since photography is not allowed) we went in, it was quite and did not find too much movement of people, but there too much security checks. We left our hand bags and started walking towards the temple and we could hear faint voices and saw a few people around, we climbed up the stairs and oh my god whom do I see in front of my eyes, tears started rolling from my eyes for a minute I thought I was dreaming ” Dalai Lama” looked at us showed his hand in blessing gesture and smiled. That day I understood the purpose of this trip and why this 24hrs of my trip worked out the way it did! We took our flight back to Delhi and than to Chennai and was back home the next day!
My heart was full of gratitude to everyone who made me do this trip first my mother, the doctor, our driver, Dalai Lama and the entire universe came together to conspire this trip! Name’s of the actors who conspired this trip: My mother – Hemalata Uchil Dr. Yeshi Dhonen ( he was the personal physician of Dalai Lama from 1960 to 1980) Driver – Rajkumar My sister – Neeta Uchil. Above all faith in my prayers ( NMRK) and the intention of finding the best medication for my mother. They say if you take care of your parents with all your heart that is the biggest gratitude one can pay to them. My mother, the universe and my karma gave me an opportunity to pay my debt of gratitude to my mother! I could ask for nothing more!
yogitauchil 