What do people in Tamil Nadu have for breakfast on Deepavali?

Experience traditional Tamil Nadu Deepavali breakfasts with lamb trotters, idli, mutton curry, and vellai paniyaram in various regions.

Every Deepavali, chef K Damodaran woke up to the sweet smell of paaya simmering on the clay stove. “It was the first thing that would hit my senses in the morning in my younger years,” he recalls, talking about his Saidapet home in which he lived as part of a large family in the 70s. “My mother-in-law T Deva Latha would cook the paaya that we would have with kal dosai for breakfast,” he says.

Made with lamb trotters, the dish would be left to slow-cook with the masala from 8pm onwards the previous night. “She would use around 20 lamb trotters, making up to 70 dosais for 15 members,” he remembers. The star on Deepavali is the festive lunch, with biryani leading the way. But in many Tamil households, breakfast is as important, with each district celebrating with a different set of dishes.

In Western Tamil Nadu comprising the Kongu region with Coimbatore, Erode, and Salem districts among others, idli with tomato curry is a popular combination. “Thakkali kozhambu is a must in most households in the region,” says celebrity chef Madhampatty Rangaraj adding that his mother would roast over oil whole tomatoes till they turned mushy, with plenty of shallots, coriander seeds, red chillies, and cumin seeds, and grind them in the stone grinder.

“The kozhambu will be runny, and an important ingredient is the water that is used to rinse the leftover masala from the grinder,” he explains. For the non-vegetarians, breakfast comprises a watery mutton thanni kozhambu served with idlis and kal dosais. “While every family follows their own set of rituals on the festive day, certain practices never change,” he notes. In the Kongu region, Rangaraj says that the festive breakfast is incomplete without the kachayam, a sweet made with ground whole wheat that is soaked overnight. “To this, we add jaggery and elakkai, and the batter is dropped as balls into oil or ghee till it turns crispy on the outside.”

Chef Deena Dhayalan, who grew up in Tiruvannamalai, remembers the runny mutton curry made at his household in the Chetpet town panchayat. He says: “The kozhambu, apart from mutton, would have potatoes, avarakkai, and drumsticks as well.” Deepavali day began with several hot idlis doused in this curry. “The vegetables were perhaps incorporated for economical reasons, since mutton is expensive and ours was a large family,” says Deena. “But they sure did add flavour.”

If the festival fell on a no moon day (amavasai), mutton curry would be replaced with a kurma made with potatoes and peas, explains Deena. “Peerkangai sambar is served as well,” he says. Vadai is an important component of the meal, with variations made with split gram and urad dal. “In Karaikudi, while mutton preparations are served, the vellai paniyaram is a must for breakfast,” he points out. During his travels to Tirunelveli, Deena says that he documented the sodhi, a version of vegetable stew, being served for breakfast on any festive occasion, let alone Deepavali.

While anyone from South Tamil Nadu, especially Madurai, would vouch for a meat-heavy breakfast, at his hometown of Virudhunagar, 67 kilometres away, C Alagar recalls simple, vegetarian meals. The 60-year-old has been a wedding caterer for 35 years, and also cooks at temple festivals in the region. “My favourite dish for Deepavali is dosai with coconut chutney,” he says. “My mother would make this at the crack of dawn, and we would wait every year to eat this.”