Chef Akhilandeshwari has come all the way from Dharapuram to curate the menu for 'Kongu Samayal' an authentic food festival offering sumptuous dishes of the Kongu region hosted at The Residency Towers, Coimbatore. This authentic food fest is a part of the Coimbatore Vizha celebrations.
The 'Kongu Samayal' menu lures the foodies with some lip-smacking kongu recipes like Pallipalayam Kozhi Roast, Attur Kozhi Kozhambu, Pollachi Kaima Kozhambu, DharamapuriIraichi Curry, Pallapatti Kozhi 65, Namakkal Kozhi Kurma, Arakeerai Kadasal, Thuvaram paruppu sambar Tulasi Rasam, Kollu Idly, Paruppu Adai, Uzhundu Kanji, Ragi Kali and many more enticing dishes. A variety of chutneys, starters and traditional soups will also be a part of the menu. The Kongu samayal food festival at residency will be serving dinner on week days, lunch and dinner on weekends.
The food festival has brought to the palette the forgotten cuisines of the Kongu region. The recipe of the food that is served at the food festival includes some ever-lasting collection of dishes from the Kongu regions including Coimbatore, Salem, Erode, Tirupur, Namakkal, Dharapuram, Nilgiris, Kangeyam, Parts of Trichy and Dindugal.
Chef Akhilandeshwari says “I have always been involved in cooking with an intention to revive the forgotten flavors of Kongu food. Food in Kongu region is inspired from agriculture. The taste of Kongu food changes according to the region. Though we have forgotten preparing and consuming many of our traditional dishes, in recent times, awareness regarding our traditional food is returning to where we came from. As far as youngsters are concerned they too will start opting for traditional food as it is getting served according to today's trend in many places.”
Chef Ashok Kumar of Residency hotels shared that he had been invited as the judge for various cooking contest in Kongu region and in every competition the winner would be Akhilandeshwari. “Everyone would prepare all exotic and modern dishes but she will always stick to the traditional food and that's the reason we called her here', he said.
She was accompanied by Chef Shankar Ganesh who has expertise in the industry for 22 years who said “Each place in Kongu region is famous for a particular dish. Pallipalayam is famous for its chicken gravy, and so on. This attempt is to revive the forgotten foods and get people to know how healthy and important our traditional food is.”
