Chef Shri Bala’s Chennai special makes a case for soulful vegetarian food

Let’s be honest. Most ardent meat lovers dread Purattasi. A whole month of vegetarian meals, enforced by pious families, can feel like culinary exile. But Chef Shri Bala might just change your mind. With finesse and a touch of nostalgia, she makes a case for why it’s time to give vegetarian food a real chance. Her latest work in Chennai, a Purattasi special menu at Visesham, may have ended, but it lingers in memory as a reminder that vegetarian food, when done right, can be both soulful and satisfying.

A soulful Chennai feast from Chef Shri Bala that redefines vegetarian dining

Visesham’s Purattasi special, curated by Chef Shri Bala, is an all-vegetarian meal that feels more like an afternoon spent in someone’s grandmother’s kitchen than a restaurant experience.

We begin with the pachamooligai rasam, a weekend staple at the chef’s home. The first whiff is pure comfort. It’s made with pepper, coriander stems, dry ginger, and garlic still in their skins, all pounded together and finally strained. The flavour builds quietly. Each consecutive sip intensifies the heat, though never enough to overwhelm.

The starters, as Chef Shri Bala tells us, are all recipes from her grandmother’s repertoire. The Maddur vada feels like something halfway between a vada and a dal dumpling, familiar yet new in form. Then comes the medhu pakoda, that peculiar Iyer wedding staple, flat, uneven, rava-based, crumbly through and through, with delicate notes of ginger, onion, chilli, and cashew. It takes two hours to make, knead, rest, and fry with patience, resulting in a texture that crackles lightly between the teeth.

The puli pongal is a square of pressed tamarind rice of sorts, fragrant with sesame oil and loaded with peanuts. It uses noi arisi (broken rice) fried before steaming, giving it a subtle nutty aroma and bounce. The Kerala mor kali looks disarmingly plain, almost too white to promise any spice, but the heat arrives stealthily from the mor milagai (sun-dried chillies marinated in buttermilk and salt) tucked within the silky rice base.

The curries are where the meal begins to unfold into a conversation between regions. The Chettinad saiva meen kuzhambu, Tirunelveli sodhi kuzhambu, Kerala mor curry, and Chamaggada pulusu offer a good variety to choose from for every palate. Alongside come soft appams, idiyappams, and a bowl of plain steamed rice — humble companions that tie the whole meal together.

For mains, there’s palakai (raw jackfruit) biriyani served with pachadi and vegetable salna, a small portion that leaves you longing for more, a lot more.

Dessert arrives in two forms. The Visesham’s Purattasi special, curated by Chef Shri Bala, toasted rather than fried, carries a nutty depth rare in most versions of the dish; it’s all warmth and comfort. The gasagasa payasam, made with poppy seeds, is lighter, almost virtuous, one of the chef’s favourites, and it’s easy to see why.

Email: shivani@newindianexpress.com
X: @ShivaniIllakiya

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