Purattasi month: our vegetarian Chettinad menu
When many families give up meat for the Tamil month of Purattasi, the kitchen changes too. What we cook from September to October.
Where our gingelly oil comes from
A wooden chekku in a village near Pudukkottai, sesame seeds and palm jaggery: the oil behind every dish we cook.
Every dish in our kitchen is cooked in cold-pressed gingelly or groundnut oil, and most of it comes from one small chekku, a wooden oil press, in a village near Pudukkottai. We buy about 120 litres a week, and the oil shapes the taste of our food more than many guests realise.
The chekku is a large wooden mortar with a heavy pestle that turns slowly inside it. Today it is driven by a small motor, but the speed is close to the old bullock-driven presses, about 15 turns a minute. Black and white sesame seeds go in with a little palm jaggery, which helps separate the oil. The pressing takes about two hours for a batch, and the oil stays cool because the press turns so slowly.
The oil is then left in steel drums for a few days so the fine residue settles. What we receive is golden, with a nutty smell and a slightly sweet aftertaste. It has more flavour than refined oil, which is exactly what Chettinad cooking needs; ennai kathirikkai, brinjal cooked slowly in gingelly oil with tamarind, depends on it.
Cold-pressed oil costs us about two and a half times as much as refined oil, and it is one reason our prices are what they are. Groundnut oil from the same chekku goes into frying, because it takes heat better. We tell guests who ask about it where to buy their own; the family that runs the chekku sells by the litre at the Pudukkottai market on Thursdays.
