Sacred cuisine from south Indian temples

Temples across South India are famous for their sacred cuisine. Hindu mythology has it that Lord Vishnu is a connoisseur of life and its beauty. Special dishes are cooked in the huge temple kitchens called madapalli and served as blessed food to the devotees in these temples. TV show host and food traveller Rakesh Raghunathan lists some of the famed dishes across Vaishnavite temples of south India.

Sacred cuisine

The micro universe of the Hindu temple was not just faith, but the better parts of life including the arts, literature and delectable cuisine. Hindu scriptures lay down rules for the timings when food must be cooked in the temple kitchens and symbolically offered to the deity as neivedhyam and distributed as blessed food or prasad to the devotees in the temple. Temple inscriptions include details about special kinds of wood for lighting the stoves and recipes that the medieval kings, who built these temples, offered. The sacred food was seasonal and the produce of vegetables, grains and milk and ghee from the temple farmlands were offered to be blessed and shared among the community.

Aravanai and chapati at the Big Temple, Srirangam

The 8th century hymn Natchiyar Tirumozhi lists the sublime joy of melting ghee, milk and rice as a divine dessert called akkaraadisal for Lord Vishnu. The Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at the island of Srirangam in Tamil Nadu has many such offerings through the day, but none as famous as the aravani or cooked rice, sweetened with jaggery and tossed in copious amounts of ghee. This rice pudding is offered symbolically at 10pm as a bed-time dessert before the deity of Ranganatha and his consort goddess Ranganayaki before the shrine’s doors close for the night. A quirky dish in the temple is the chapati and keera kootu or spinach stew offered to Lord Ranganatha. The temple legend has it that a Mughal princess called Tulukka Nachiar of the 14th century Delhi Sultanate fell in love with Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam. The princess is honoured with the chapati offering, a north Indian dish, at lunch time to the temple deity.

Sambara dosai of Azhagar kovil, Madurai

This is the 7th century temple for Vishnu where the main deity is called the “Handsome Lord” or Lord Sundara Rajan. The temple is famous for a variety of sacred offerings but none as unique as the sambara dosai generally known as the Azhagar Kovil dosai. It is a pancake that is savoury and tempered with peppercorns, cumin seeds, ginger powder, curry leaves giving it a heady aroma. The dosai is as big as a mini pizza and is deep fried in ghee and is a popular offering for devotees to partake.

Paal payasam, Sri Krishna Temple, Ambalapuzha

Paal payasam or thick milk pudding is a popular dish across Vishnu and Krishna temples in Kerala to honour the boy god who was a cowherd and loved dairy products. My favourite is the Ambalapuzha temple’s paal payasam that is cooked in a huge uruli, a traditional vessel in Kerala for deep pan cooking. Here milk, rice and sugar are cooked to a mushy pudding consistency and the taste is truly divine.

Puliyogare, Cheluva Narayana Temple, Melkote

Vishnu temples across the south are famous for the Vaishnavite savoury rice dish, puliogare. My favourite is the puliyogare at the Cheluva Narayana temple at Melkote in Karnataka which is a unique version of tamarind rice that is piquant and spicy with a dash of coconut, copra, cinnamon and hint of jaggery.

Ksheerannam, Sri Padmavati Temple at Tiruchanur

The most celebrated temple of Balaji at Tirupati is famed for its ladoo. My special temple cuisine from the Vaishnavite temples in Andhra Pradesh is the ksheerannam offered in many temples in Chittoor district especially the Sri Padmavati Temple. This is again a pudding slow cooked in milk and ghee with rice and sago.

The author can be followed at https://www.instagram.com/therakeshraghunathan/?hl=en

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