Exploring Madurai and Eating South Indian Thali. 🇮🇳
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I left my luxury hotel to go explore the old streets of Madurai. My goal was to sample some authentic local Tamil food.
I cooked my Ola rickshaw to take me to Meenakshi Amman Temple, the huge historic Hindu temple that Madurai is famous for. I wasn't really that interested in visiting the temple but used it as a place to start off exploring the streets of Madurai. Anywhere there's a big temple or mosque in India thre will be many dozens of restaurants nearby to cater to the worshipers. You're going to be spoiled for choice for authentic local food and the high turnover of customers means you're always going to served freshly cooked food.
A large part of the city was pedestrianised. Not by design but because of some roadworks. I really appreciated it though and think they should really consider making it a permanent feature.
I looked for a restaurant that was recommended to me called A2B, also known as Adyar Ananda Bhavan that serves South Indian vegetarian food. I got fed up of eating veg when I was in Jaipur and actually would have preferred to eat some meat but when a restaurant is recommended to you, it's best to go with that. Thankfully I wasn't disappointed. I was a bit confused with their system of how to get a table, how to order and what the food actually was but luckily some friendly locals helped me out.
After the meal, back out on the streets exploring, I came across a little hole in the wall shop selling Jigarthanda, some kind of local faluda-type of drink. I'd seen Jigarthanda promoted in my hotel's room service menu as some kind of local specialty and had planned to try it but since I had the opportunity to get one from a local place at a fraction of the price I didn't pass it up. It was a strange taste but not in a bad way.
With a full belly I headed back to Heritage Madurai hotel to relax, eat and relax some more. This is the life.
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Don’t waste food. Everyone is working for that. This called a life style.
Michael Jazan cut him some slack man
A Tamil lunch is what we call an ‘Arusuvai Unavu’ meaning ‘A meal comprising the six tastes’ – Sweet, Tangy, Bitter, Sour, Spicy and Salty.This balance of taste acts as a sumptuos yet a complete, healthy meal.Food is both philosophic and medicinal in nature in Tamil culture.And this is the order in which u have the lunch meal in Tamilnadu. It’s called ‘Meals’ here which the north indians called ‘Thali’. Rice mixed with..
1)Paruppu with ghee
2)Sambar(Toor dhal based)
3)Kara kulambu/Puli kulambu(Tamarind based)
4)Rasam
5)Thayir/Curd
Payasam is the dessert.The vegetables comes in three types
Poriyal, Kootu and varuval.The vegetables are accompaniments or side dish u have with a main dish. You mix the various curries in the above order one after another with rice, have a mouthful along with small quantity of the veggie or Appalam.
Combinations:
Sambar+stir fry/deep fry
Puli/Kara kulambu +Kootu
Rasam+Kootu/deep fry
Curd+deep fry
Appalam/Pappadam goes with all of it.
Definitions:
Poriyal – Stir fry
Kootu – Veg cooked with gram dal
Varuval – Crisp fry/Deep fry
Kulambu – Gravy usually tamarind based.
Rasam – A soup with tamarind base
Sambar – Toor dhal cooked with vegetables
Payasam – Sweet
Curd – Yogurt
Ghee – Clarified butter
All the dishes above are vegetarian dishes.I can’t even begin to explain about the vast array of meat/sea food based non-vegetarian Tamil food.That’s for another day.
All culture copied from our Aryan culture.
Well explained… thanks
@ashok leburu it is either VATHTHA KUZHAMBU, a concentrate of tamarind and spices or KAARA KUZHAMBU another varient
VERY GOOD EXPLAINING
Yoo hotel la kuda epde la erukadhu ya Nala explain panna pa
I am so proud of you bro. traveling alone. this is a true traveler.
@Muhammad Rizwan just look mark weinz,food ranger they r not traveling alone
Who r traveling with group all travelers mostly go alone lol
@Aparna Thakur ‘in’
Travelling alone this most hated thing on my life
Rian Dnovri , girl? Insta – bloody_impact_xt
Came into hotel as a beginner and got out as a pro, explaining to other foreigners…!!! 😍😍🎉🎊
It was restaurant, not a hotel 😅
See the way and the tendency my fellow countrymen help him to eat!!
Tamils all over the world posses this quality
I’m a Proud “Tamil” as always!!
தமிழ் வாழ்க !! Long live classic divine Tamil!!!
I respect Tamilians, the wat my south brothers preserve culture language and what not. I am a Telugu guy. Your Dravidian brother. Live long Tamil❤
native tamil say to me this is 100% India or original india, i know only tamil nadu and say they 100% or more heartfull nice cute interesting for 100 years lifetime or more want spend there.
Madurai is OLDEST city in world has urbanised even before 600BC ~2600years
Pandiyan empire and many tamil kings had madurai as their capital ..
@Ganesan A vandakan kadarls
@arju rajkhowa the oldest civilized city….still standing
@arju rajkhowa cool it brought just cool it
@Narayanan Moorthy well the most of the articles online says keeladi civilization is 2600 years old i.e around 600 b.c which is not that old compared to most of the oldest civilization. Sumerian civilization is officially more than 5000 years old, around 3500 b.c. But we are here discussing the oldest inhabited city not oldest civilization. How old is madurai give me some proper historical period. Do not just bluff.
@Mahesh M why do you think like that….because the so called “aryans” are the majority or something else. If we see facts then eveything is contradicted. The origins of the both aryans and dravidians are not confirmed…are they. The terms aryan and dravidian itself are confusing. Who were the confirmed citizens of Indus Valley then? How can you say middle eastern cities are not older than tamil ones.
He got SERVED like a KINDERGARDEN SCHOOL KID for FIRST TIME.
me same first time in tamil nadu as a german
Dude I wish I had 10% social skills that you have
Just go out and meet people you don’t know and interact with them. That’s the key 😁✌️
Dale explaining everything to that couple which everyone had to explain him before 5 minutes😂😂😂
so cute how they are taking care of him like a child.
Thali in Tamil meaning is wedding chain. Which every married women wear.
Don’t ever say South Indian thali🤓 it literally got no meaning.
Say it as Meals.
Rahul gm I agree to the point your making… 👍
Have a nice day nanba! 👍
@Madhukar Subbarayan nanba, we don’t ask the butter like that, it’s very common we say meals. I know it’s nothing to deal with Tamil, at least it’s not offensive a s thali.
Bro… Meals is also not a tamil word like thali… Maybe “Matiya uṇavu” for lunch is more appropriate tamil word.
A2B Is Just A Brand bro. IF U r interested to try Some Best food, local food Madurai suits you and nonveg is best …
@John Hudson Local stree food gives real sense of the place and the people, because the food is marred l made for what it is. The A2B is good but gives a prebuilt image created for
appeasement.
nirmal What do you mean by just a brand. It is high quality Veg food.
when you recruited half the restaurant to help you eat your lunch lolol. Dale you just might be the next Anthony Bourdain!
Rofl he is getting benefits atithi devo bhava principle
That final lady is real thug😂😂😂🔥 owsari mavanae
Thevdiya va. 🤣notice that
Madurakaranga kusumbu kaaranunga
I understand that the temple authorities don’t let the camera’s in. But you should have visited the temple and seen the beauty of the place
in temple they say no use camera, go with tamil people, they filming, all is well
also i have eyes, is save in my brain all time
You can not so much filming, what your eyes can see
You did not visit inside the temple ☹️. So next time you visit inside the temple. It will give you a better experience 😊😀.
The people were so friendly that they helped you and served you like a family member and even introduced you the dishes and explained you how to eat those in right way.✌️
I love my Incredible India. 🇮🇳🇮🇳
23:03 tamilan only know the emotions 🤣🤣🤫
😌
Hi ,
Jigarthanda has almond milk, home made ice cream, basundi ( a cream based dessert), almond extract, basil seed . I am glad that you found madurai’s famous drink.
@Adam LB loosu punda.
Basil seed?? I heard somewhere, does it make your stomach cool in summer season?
Loving your India videos especially the ones in Tamil Nadu. My husband is from Kanyakumari Tamil Nadu and I am loving seeing some areas I have visited, hearing sounds I am love and seeing the wonderful Tamil culture. Looking forward to your Munnar video as I think we have an Uncle living there
Thank you so much 🙂