In a local newspaper, I came across a good picture of a typical Tamil (South Indian) vegetarian meal. Since a number of my friends are not Tamils, I thought it would be a good idea to write briefly about it. My purpose is not to provide a recipe for the dishes but to provide some idea about what the dishes are in a meal and what ingredients are present. I have not taken the trouble to mention ALL the ingredients. (source: Times of India)
The Indian meal would consist of a serving of rice mixed with sambar. You would mix (with your hands) rice with sambar. And the same along with a side dish (in this meal: appalam, Sundal and potato poriyal). The next dish you would have is rice mixed with "vathal kuzhambu" and/or "more kuzhambu" and/or rasam. The last serving would be rice mixed with curd (Yoghurt) or buttermilk. "Mango thokku" is a pickle made of mango and red chilies. You would take a small portion of the pickle and mix with curd rice and eat. Appalam is usually made of rice. Its either roasted or fried in oil (the one in the picture is fried). You would break a piece of appalam and eat along with rice mixed with sambar/rasam etc.
"More Kozhambu", in the picture, is made of buttermilk and kinda similar to the north Indian "kadi".
Sambar, rasam, vettha kozhambu are made of tamarind, dals (pulses/lentils). Each has another appropriate premixed non-perishable ingredient: Sambar/rasam/vettha kozhambu powder. Each of these powders is made of dals, red chilies and spices in a specific proportion and ground. Sambar would be very thick and would include cut vegetables. Vettha kozhambu is also a thick dish and spicy. Rasam would be a thinner dish with no vegetables except perhaps for green chili/tomato. Ginger / garlic / ginger / lemon are added to get the right flavor/taste. There are multiple variations of sambar and rasam. A tamil meal is quite intricate.
"Rice Podi" in the picture is a misnomer. I am not aware of any edible stuff of that name. I think the right name is "Molaga podi" (meaning chili powder). It's made of various dals, red chilies and it's usually darker (reddish brown). You would take a piece of idli or dosa and dip it in a mixture of sesame oil and the "podi" and then eat. There is another variation called "paruppu (dal) podi" made of various dals; I think it has less red chili in it. You would mix the paruppu podi with rice and add some sesame oil/homemade ghee and eat the mixture. It is delicious.
Payasam (made of rice/milk and sugar) and Kesari are couple of desserts among many others that are part of Tamil cooking. Payasam is usually eaten after having the sambar, rasam rice and before you come to curd rice.
A typical meal cooked at home would not consist of ALL these dishes shown here. There would be fewer dishes. A chapathi would not be part of a typical tamil meal. The "plate" is the banana leaf. After eating you would dispose off the leaf in the garbage. Or, if there are cows at home (you might if you live in a village), you would give the leaf to the cows to eat. So it's eco-friendly.
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