I can’t think of more soul-nourishing Indian cuisine than the classic thali meal ━ an interchangeable symbol of Indian food culture. Thali meal, the king of Indian food, is usually served as a wedding feast, during festivals and all sorts of celebrations, such as Onam and Diwali.
A thali meal means a full plate of various Indian dishes served on a plate (thali). What’s interesting about the thali meal is that the words differ in each region of India.
I am obviously biased for being both a South Indian and having only had (a few of) South Indian thalis, but I do think South Indian thali is the best ━ if not for the sole reason that it’s served with rice compared to the roti served by the northern counterparts.
With rice in the centre, a South Indian Thali meal is traditionally served on a round steel plate (usually on weddings and religious functions ━ banana leaves). It’s accompanied by various side dishes containing six different flavours ━ spicy, salty, sour, bitter, astringent and finished off with some sweet.
These side dishes, served in small steel bowls, ranging from vegetables, dal (sambar ━ eaten as a part of the main meal), sourish soup (rasam – drank separately), curd and buttermilk (eaten together with the rice and other dishes – something I haven’t gotten the hang of it yet), pickle, papadam and desserts (payasam and banana). You might have guessed it based on the side dishes that South Indian Thali usually is a vegetarian feast, though I have the non-vegetarian versions in restaurants ━ crab rasam and mutton fry instead of tomato rasam and okra fry.
Now, even though I am an advocate of South Indian thali, I am keen to try other regions of thali. And if you are interested in trying Thali Meal yourself, the best bet would be to go to a vegetarian Indian restaurant, or if you are feeling inspired to cook it yourself, check out Thali by Maunika Gowardhan. This Indian cookbook prompted me to write about this post.
Oh one last thing, you ought to eat thali meals with your hand to fully culturally immerse in the joy of eating Indian Thali feast.
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