A FOOD TRADITION
Tamil Cuisine
Tamil cuisine encompasses the long-established food traditions of Tamil-speaking regions, including both vegetarian and nonvegetarian home, temple, agrarian, and coastal cooking. Rice, lentils, tamarind, coconut, sesame, black pepper, curry leaves, and dried chilies are central ingredients. Common techniques include tempering spices in oil, pressure-cooking or simmering lentils, fermenting batters, steaming, roasting, and preparing rice-based meals with multiple accompaniments. Sambar, rasam, and pongal are widely recognized examples, while seafood and meat traditions vary by locality and community. Tamil cooking is broad enough to include specialized subtraditions such as Chettinad cuisine.
Dishes linked to this cuisine
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Ashoka Halwa
Explore the dish and its connections.
Madurai jigarthandai
A popular chilled Madurai drink-dessert combining condensed milk, freshly made ice cream and sarsaparilla syrup.
Madurai kari dosa
A thick Madurai dosa layered with omelette, spiced minced mutton, caramelised onion, curry leaf and ginger-garlic paste.
Madurai keerai vada
A Tamil tea-time fritter of crushed black gram and dried moringa leaves seasoned with cumin and pepper.
Madurai kola urundai
Masala-filled Madurai minced-mutton balls fried until browned and served alone or with rice.
Madurai sooji appam
A Madurai street sweet of refined-wheat dough filled with sweet semolina or coconut porridge and deep-fried.
Catalogue preview Cuisine connections may be unreviewed. Regional comparisons include their food references and do not establish the ingredients of a particular meal.