JW Marriott food festival: Spicing it with Black Pepper

Angaya Podi 

Ingredients used include pipli and aswagandha

Once upon a time in southern India, black pepper was the only spice used in cooking. “That was between 300 BC and 300 AD, a period when cuisine of the Deccan was in its purest form, without any foreign influence,” says food historian and chef Shri Bala who has passionately researched the era’s Sangam Literature, a valued document of ancient Tamil history, and culled all it has to say on cuisine of those times. “The literature, which uniquely is a set of poems, speaks about the Tamizhagam region which includes areas of all present-day southern states. As far as food is concerned Sangam does not talk about recipes, rather it tells us about ingredients used in cooking. It intrigued me and I set about creating dishes using the mentioned items,” she says. It’s some of these preparations that she is laying out for the 10-day Black Pepper Festival at JW Marriott, Chandigarh. 

Chef Shri Bala with Exec Chef JW Marriott, Chandigarh,
 Naveen Handa at the opening of the Black Pepper Food Festival

Sangam literature divides Tamizhagam into five geographical landscapes—coastal, forest, mountains, cropland and dry wasteland—and describes how these influenced food habits. There is something to savour from every region at the festival which presents an epicurean feast of ancient, medieval and contemporary dishes that go far beyond the ubiquitous Deccan fare. 

The culinary expedition begins on a sweet note with the Madurai butter bun, a modern-day street food, which is a soft bun layered with butter and jaggery that gets tantalizingly caramelised on heating. “In our system of eating we always start with something sweet, as it increases hunger pangs and also aids in digestion,” says Shri Bala.  Moving on, the ancient section tempts equally with meen varuval, fish subtly flavoured with curry leaves and black pepper, as it does with the protein-packed thavalai vada made with four lentils and rice. There’s also the delicate Kovil dosa, which is fit to be served to the gods as it’s an unfermented black urad lentil preparation. The dessert section has the excellent khus khus payasam paired with adhirasam or small, thick crepes of rice flour and palm jaggery.  

The Medieval spread stands out for its vegetable dishes such as ash gourd pal kuttu and urundai kuzhumbu or lentil dumplings in gravy. From all three eras, there’s a selection of mutton (Dindigul biryani), lamb (Ambur biryani), fish (meen gassi) and chicken (Guntur chilly chicken). 

Kovil dosa 

Ambur Biryani 

Across the menu, though black pepper is the dominant spice the preparations are extremely flavoursome owing to the use of miscellaneous ancient ingredients and cooking methods. “As a case in point, we are serving Druva Grass Smoked Mutton wherein druva grass is used to smoke and cook the mutton. While the dish is spiced solely with black pepper, the smoke of the druva grass lends the mutton a distinctive spicy flavour, comparable to today’s garam masala,” explains Chef Naveen Handa, Executive Chef, JW Marriott. Chandigarh, who along with his team has worked in tandem with Shri Bala to put up this culinary time travel. 

The Rasam counter offers quite a mélange that should not be missed by those with a discerning palate. A must-try here is prawn coconut soup as well as steamed millet with angaya podi, a roasted-spice powder which has ingredients like pipli, neem flower, pea berry, night shade and of course pepper. In the accompaniments,  Inji puli pickle is a delicious mix of textures. 

At the Black Pepper Festival what shines through is the subtlety of flavours, combinations of ingredients, diverse cooking techniques and above all Shri Bala’s passion for research, hunger to excel and share her knowledge. 

The festival is on till February 24.