Why we still grind batter on stone
A wet grinder, eight hours and the reason our dosa tastes the way it does.
How to eat a leaf meal
Which way the leaf faces, what is served first, and how to say you have finished.
A full meal on a banana leaf follows an order that most South Indian families know without thinking about it. For guests, it can feel like a lot happens at once. Here is what to expect when you sit down at our tables, or at a wedding.
The leaf is placed with its narrow end to your left. Wash it with a little water and wipe it with your hand. Servers then come down the row in a set order: salt and pickle on the top left, then the poriyal, kootu and other dry dishes along the top, appalam, and finally rice in the centre with ghee.
The meal goes in courses on the same rice. First paruppu and ghee, then sambar, then kuzhambu or vatha kuzhambu, then rasam. Payasam comes before the curd, and curd rice closes the meal, often with a little pickle. You can say no to any dish by covering your leaf with your hand.
When you have finished, fold the leaf. At a celebration such as a wedding, fold the top half towards you to say the meal was good. At a funeral, it is folded away. In a restaurant, any fold is fine, and nobody will mind if you just leave it.
