Dakshin: keeping culinary heritage alive

 

 Change sometimes means going back in time. It also means bringing alive recipes, cooking methods and culinary traditions, like they constantly do at Dakshin, Chennai. 

Chef Prakash and I

Chef Prakash, the new Chef De Cuisine at Dakshin, Crowne Plaza Chennai’s crown jewel, brings with him more than a thousand documented recipes from his family’s food heritage. 

Born into a family of caterers, as a child Chef Prakash’s father and grandfather always had a little shadow following them around, into the villages, ‘helping’ them pick out the best ingredients. On school holidays, Prakash had one agenda - he went where they went. This constant shadowing gave him insights into the detailed nuances of the food they cooked. At home, he watched his mother and grandmother create gourmet delights out of seasonal produce. 

I was very pleased when Mr. Anand Nair (2nd from right), GM, Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park invited me to try Chef's food. Right: Chef Manpreet, Executive Chef, Crowne Plaza. Left: Chef Prakash.

Each dish Chef presented fulfilled a promise he must’ve made to his grandparents. 

Hot and thick, the Swagat Parreeyam is sweetened with dates

Thickened with ragi and barnyard millet, it has small pieces of nuts. The drink, served in a tumbler, is rustic yet sophisticated, and very, very South Indian. I imagine this would be what mothers forced their children to have before the school bus arrived and ferried them to school. 

Natukodi Miryalu Charu

Natukodi Miryalu Charu is more like Rasam, made using country chicken stock, pepper, ginger and some coriander. Simple, this one is for the soul. Chef Prakash charms the vegetarian palates with Gummadikaya Charu (red pumpkin broth). It is dominated by four of the five pillars of taste: salty, sweet, sour, spicy. And supported by the sixth – umami from garlic. 

Chiru Thindi

Looking fully coated with homemade masala, Chiru Thindi - King fish - arrives on a banana leaf. Freshly roasted spices are ground into garam masala powder. The fish also distinguishing flavours from coconut. Lemon juice provides its tangy personality. 

Guntur Bilal Biryani

I simply have to tell you about Dakshin’s new Guntur Bilal Biryani. From the name, it is obviously a Muslim style mutton biryani, made using local lamb. Guntur Bilal Biryani doesn’t have any red chilli powder. Instead, it is aromatic with ghee, basmati rice, ginger and garlic. The ‘kaaram’ comes from green chillies. Cooked slowly over live charcoals it brings along some elements of smokiness. Of course, there’s onion raitha on the side. 

Palathalikalu Payasam and Ragi Burfi

The five course meal, with many other noteworthy additions, ends on a sweet note with Palathalikalu Payasam. No ordinary payasam, this. It has small, soft little pasta like steamed rice flour bits of intrigue nestled inside a milky saffron and nut slivered payasam. 

IMHO, this newly added Andhra / Telangana culinary celebration on Dakshin’s menu is different yet recognizable.