Tamil is the official language and the only classical language, other than Sanskrit. Tamil Nadu is the southernmost state of India, bordered by Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Ponducherry
Barnyard Millet -Scientific Name- Echinocloa spp, Kuthiraivali [Tamil],Jhangaro[Hindi]. I will update this space with the names of millets in other languages as well
Even though I have eaten many times in Pondicherry, until now I have never realized that they had a cuisine that is quite different from the Tamil Nadu cuisine
It has got four official languages - English, Malay, MandarinChinese and Tamil. Just like their language and cultural diversity, their food too is an amalgamation of cuisines from Malay, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Peranakan and also some western foods
In South India where rice is a staple food, several distinct varities of biryani emerged from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka (Donne Biryani), Kerala (Malbar Biryani), Telengana and Andhra Pradesh (Hyderabadi Biryani) states
In the Tamillanguage, “rasam” means “juice / extract”. Since this recipe is made with tamarind juice/extract as its base, this recipe is commonly referred to as rasam
But before that,i want to make a post on list of spices used in most of the biryani along with pictures and names in different languages like English, Hindi,Telugu,Malayalam,Kannada & Tamil for people to identify & buy them easily in your place
'Omam' inTamilLanguage means carom seeds/ajwain and 'podi 'means powder. When this sev is made to be added in the mixture, avoid adding the carom seeds ( A tip given by my MIL )
There are various ways to prepare Upma which differs from place to place ,they are as different as their respective names ,like in Telugu it is known by Uppindi/Upma,inTamil -Uppumaavu/Uppuma/Upma,in Kannada - Upiitu/KharaBhath, in Marathi - Uppeet/Upma,in Konkani - Rulanv ,inHindi just Upma aaand in Malayalam,Uppumavu
In the Tamillanguage, the word ponggal means to "boil over" and milk boiling over in a pot is the symbol of a new year's prosperity as shown in the video below as women race to see whos' clay pot boils over first