How lunch changes with Chennai’s seasons

Chennai has two seasons that really matter in a kitchen: the long hot months from March to June, and the north-east monsoon from October to December. Our four-week menu changes with both.

In summer, the heat decides most things. We cook lighter kuzhambus, with more mor kuzhambu and less of the heavy vathal kuzhambu, and add buttermilk with ginger and curry leaves twice a week. Curd rice moves from Saturday only to three days a week. We pack curd in a separate insulated tumbler from April, because a carrier on an office reception desk at 1 pm in May gets warm. Vegetables like ash gourd, snake gourd and cucumber kootu appear more often.

The monsoon brings rain, traffic and cooler afternoons. Rasam becomes a bigger part of the meal, with pepper and garlic rasam on Mondays and Thursdays. We add more dals and kootus, and fewer leafy greens, since spinach and amaranth in the market are often muddy and spoil fast in wet weather. Deliveries during heavy rain may run until 1.30 pm, and we message every subscriber when a route is slow.

The Margazhi month, from mid-December to mid-January, has its own touches. Pongal comes on Fridays, and Saturdays have a sweet like sakkarai pongal or kesari. During the Pongal festival itself we close for two days, and the days carry over automatically. Each Sunday’s menu message says what changed, so nothing on your plate comes as a surprise.