FOOD -- 9:

HOME-STYLE BADAGA COOKING, A FAVOURITE WITH TOURISTS

BY P S SUNDAR

We had highlighted the prominence of home-style cooking in Taj group of hotels in different posts in this Blog. 

Here is a treatise on the latest happening as seen on this New Year Day -- January 1, 2017:: 

On New Year day, tourists from different parts of the country and some foreigners were seen crowding R Jayalakshmi at Taj Savoy Hotel, Ooty, watching her prepare Aappam with sweetened coconut milk and engaging in conversation with her on this delicacy.

Jayalakshmi is not like other permanent cooks of Taj but is engaged daily for her home-style cooking.

“She is a housewife belonging to Badaga, the predominant community of Nilgiris, and we are committed, as part of our corporate social reasonability, to support Badaga women with opportunity to popularise their traditional cuisine”, Taj Savoy General Manager P Vibhakar told Express.

Passionate about her assignment, Jayalakshmi travels by two buses daily to reach the hotel from her village Bickole, a small hamlet 20 kilometres away from Ooty.

“Visitors enjoy seeing me cook on stove live in the restaurant, they take photos and collect from me recipes”, a beaming Jayalakshmi said.

“I cook different items daily like kara paniyaram, thithippu paniyaram, Ubbittu, Dhotti, thuppathittu, aappam, rava laddu, Kothumai dosai and thithippu puff.   I cook in the same way it is done in our Badaga community homes”, she said.

“Our Avara Othukka and Badaga Thali cooked homes-style are a favourite even with foreigners”, Executive Chef Nisi Kant Panigrahi added.

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