Conjured up in the heritage banglas of Chettinad, Devakottai and Karaikudi of south-central Tamil Nadu by the Nattukottai Chettiars, the hallmarks of Chettinad cuisine are spicy meat curries and fries and a strong liking for game. Chettinad cuisine has conquered not just Indian palates but has a global following. A bad side-effect has been that almost anything that's South Indian and non-vegetarian is called Chettinad in South Indian eateries across the globe, even if it's Malabar chicken curry from an entirely different coast.
Start your Chettinad meal with a spicy-sour currivepillai rasam that clears the palate for the flavours to follow. The signature Chettinad pepper chicken and mutton cooked with drumsticks are must-tries, but the seafood dishes are beyond compare. Spicy, yet infused with the flavour of the sea. Try the sora puttu (scrambled shark), nandu (crab) roast and prawn varuval. The soft kal dosais are perfect to soak up fish curry. Rabbit chukka fry is a wonderfully spiced dry fried dish.
Other highlights of the Chettinad table are pepper-fried nandu (crab), messy to eat but delicious, and chicken fry from Devakottai that goes best with delicate idiappams soaked in coconut milk. The best dish, in my opinion, is the mutton varuval, cooked with flecks of coconut meat, mustard and curry leaves. For meat lovers, it's ambrosia.