The mother of all dishes: How a vegetarian chef makes authentic Chettinad cuisine for Delhiwalas

Express News Service

Hema Gupta, who grew up in a baniya family in Chennai, is that rare vegetarian who is the practitioner of non-vegetarian Chettinad gastronomy without tasting a morsel of Meen Kuzhambu or Kozhi Masala.

Her family, that settled in Chennai in 1948, has been running the iconic Ratna café since Independence. In the 1980s, Hema’s husband’s business brought the family to Delhi. She packed a trove of Chettinad recipes and moved North with her husband and three young children.

Her daughter, Anjali, recalls that growing up, her friends couldn’t get enough of Hema’s South Indian fare. “The idlis and sambar served at home weren’t the cookie-cutter stuff available at Delhi restaurants then. The flavours were intense. Eating our food was guaranteed to transport you all the way South,” says Anjali.

In 2016, she and her mother launched Hema’s South Indian at Greater Kailash II in Delhi. Hema is the culinary creative brain, while Anjali is the taster and marketing maven, who also designs recipes and menus, and cooks with her mother.

They conducted workshops in their kitchen, teaching clients the basics of Chettinad cooking. Enamoured by the exotic and unfamiliar tastes, Delhi’s ladies who lunched spread the word. Hema started retailing authentic batter, unlike the packaged variety on sale on supermarket shelves.

Soon, the Gupta ladies expanded their scale of operations by selling the food they cooked, setting up stalls at popular weekly markets and fairs, and catering for small parties.

Now Hema’s South Indian is a byword for Chettinad food in Delhi. In 2020, the lockdown forced Hema’s epicurean enterprise to shut shop, but the regulars didn’t give up. Says Anjali, “The pandemic was a game-changer. We sold everything from batter to customised food. Before we knew it, we were preparing weekly menus and doing zonal deliveries on specified days across Delhi-NCR.”

A client even sends his driver once a week, all the way from Hisar in Haryana to the Gurgaon border, where a delivery guy waits for him with his orders. The Indian gastronomic trend of the noughties was modernising traditional recipes, which has not stopped avant-garde chefs from experimenting until now.

Anjali’s contributions were the Gunpowder Prawns, Chettinad Mutton Chops and Filter Coffee Pana Cotta prepared with the freshest ingredients. She added non-vegetarian and spicy variants of Hema’s traditional dishes to the menu, since she had her finger on Delhi’s belly.

Despite being head-chef, Hema has never tasted meat. Yet, she intuitively knows what meat is best suited to which curry or powder mix. “After the curry base is ready, I taste it and advise Anjali on what kind of meat will go best with it,” shares Hema. 

Though their extensive menu changes on a weekly basis, the popular dishes remain the same – Mutton Pepper Masala, Crab Sukka, and Malabari Fish Curry are the non-vegetarian options. The high-selling vegetarian dishes include Tangy Pineapple Curry, Jackfruit Chettinad Gravy, soft fluffy idlis with home-made podi, appams, neer dosa, idiyappams, and Malabar parottas. For dessert it is Filter Coffee Panna Cotta or Black Rice Pudding. 

After the second wave of COVID-19, the team at Hema’s South Indian noticed a demand for healthier food options. People were choosing nourishment over fulfilment. The menu was modified by adding new dishes that took the change into consideration.

Most appreciated are the prawns cooked in coconut broth without chillies, and appams made with ragi millet. This recent surge in popularity has led mother  and daughter to open their first professional kitchen in Shahpur Jat. Later this year, they will host exclusive chef’s tables for up to six people here. 

(Orders can be placed on Instagram and Facebook @hemassouthindian, at hemasouthindian.com, or through WhatsApp at 9818093238)

Sambar

Ingredients

• 150 gm (1 cup) properly washed arhar dal (split red gram)

• 50 gm tamarind soaked in a cup of warm water for 10 minutes

• 100gm grated coconut

• 2 tbsp sambar paste

• 1/2 tbsp hing powder (asafoetida)

• 2 tbsp mota rai (mustard seeds)

• 1 tbsp salt

• 4 whole red chilli

• 1 tbsp jaggery in small pieces

• 20-25 small onions/3 medium size onions (sliced)

• 4 medium-sized chopped tomatoes

• 4 tbsp refined oil

• 100g (1 cup) yellow pumpkin or any vegetable of your choice

Method

• Cook the soaked dal in a pressure cooker over medium flame. After the first whistle, cook over low flame for five minutes and turn off the gas.

• Allow the cooked dal to rest but add the yellow pumpkin, so the vegetable is cooked in the dal

• Add four tbsp oil in a non-stick pan, and when hot, add mustard and asafoetida with onions. Fry till golden brown.

• Add the sambar paste and cook for about five minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and one tbsp salt.

• Cover and cook over low flame for eight minutes. Fry the mixture to a deep brown.

• Add jaggery and cook for another two minutes till it mixes well

• Add the strained tamarind juice. Cook for two-three minutes over low flame.

• After the dal is cooked, add the roasted mixture and cook in an open cooker. In case dal is thick, add boiled water and cook for 15 minutes over low flame.

• Sambar is ready but tempering can be added separately for flavour enhancement

Recipe for tempering

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp ghee/oil

• ½ tbsp mota rai (mustard seeds)

• A pinch hing (asafoetida)

• 10 curry leaves

• 6 pieces gundu lal mirch/ whole red chillies

Method

• Heat two tbsp oil. When hot, add mustard seeds, asafoetida, curry leaves and red chillies.

• When it splutters, add to dal and immediately close the lid. This will keep the flavours intact.

• Add extra salt if needed