The millet story
With Arokya Nature Restaurant, Nagajothi Venkatesan hopes to get more people hooked to organic food
Last September, Nagajothi Venkatesan started Arokya Nature Restaurant and the Aaraamthinai organic outlet in Vysial Street—the first millet restaurant and store in Pondicherry. The underlying concept is to do away with ‘white poisons’, or white rice and refined sugar, to be more precise. “We follow what people followed several years ago. I was inspired by the teachings of Ayurvedic Dr Sivaraman to start the store that uses different varieties of millets for all its food items,” says Venkatesan, who has a masters in agriculture.
Look out for their popular dishes like vegetable pulao, adai, panniyarum and dosai (varieties like ragi and kambu). “We have herbal dosais like mudakathan dosai, which is good for joint pain and thuduvelai dosai, which is good for cold. All the food is made from millets like kodo, foxtail and barnyard. We also use red rice and beaten rice flakes,” says Venkatesan. To wash all this down, you can choose from their health drinks like ashwagandha, triphala and vegetable juices like carrot, beetroot and bittergourd. Does this mean ‘no’ to desserts? “We make desserts like adhirasam using palm jaggery, sugarcane jaggery and honey. We even share recipes with those who are interested. Nowadays, people eat noodles and the like, not understand ing how badly it affects their bodies. Even if our ancestors ate just once a day, they ate healthy food,” she says. The store also has five varieties of millets, flour, cereals, flakes, pulses/lentils, and herbal, baby and health care products for sale.
Garden Café is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., from Monday to Saturday. A meal for two costs about Rs. 400.Details:0413 262 2034, 262 3267. The menu is simple offering mainly vegetarian and vegan food made from local, and often also organic, ingredients. The herbs, for instance, come from their garden, while the milk, cheese and eggs come from surrounding Auroville farms. Established as a social enterprise in 1991, the company was founded by Swedish entrepreneur Martina Ljungquist, which could explain its product range: a blend of traditional European recipes with local ingredients. The marmalade alone comes in various versions including kumquat, pineapple-orange and orange-ginger, besides traditional English. No steaks or cosmopolitans: I warn you now. Garden Café’s basic menu will appeal mainly to new age foodies. This is straightforward, wholesome food, more concerned with responsibility than labels. Try local spirulina, mixed vegetable or banana stem juices. Have a cup of strong creamy coffee with soya milk. Spread amla, papaya-ginger or rosella jam on whole wheat bread. Begin with tall glasses of pink hibiscus syrup (also made in-house) topped with cold soda. Although the open Scandinavian sandwiches including one with smoked tofu sound interesting, we finally settle for the classics. Pasta generously tossed with fragrant freshly-made pesto and a loaded plate of toasted pita bread triangles served with a staid salad and a fairly lacklustre hummus. Dessert is ‘Martina’s special cake,’ a square of nut meringue with chocolate truffle that tastes like a grown-up biscuit pudding. If you’re feeling fancy, sample the coconut carrot cake or the lemon parfait marzipan cake. And if lunch puts you in a truly minimalistic mood, follow the example of the kids, who tumble around Garden Café’s play area with oversized teddy bears and ask them to give you a popsicle. Sometimes getting down to basics can be strangely reassuring.
Be warned, the journey is not easy. Knowing from
experience that getting lost in Auroville can be infuriating, thanks to
its mud roads, which seem constantly under the threat of being swallowed
by the jungle, I turn on Google Maps, fervently hoping it doesn’t let
us down. It does. After half an hour of rattling through narrow unmarked
lanes the driver stops, turns around and glares at both me and my
iPhone. “Simply going in circles. Pah,” he snorts. I
gamely attempt to defend technology, tapping the app. No response. We
stare at the phone together. There’s no signal now. He snorts again.
That’s when the Auroville security guards find us and start grilling me
like they’re starring in an episode of
Homeland
. Apparently no one can enter Auroville without an appointment anymore.
And no, “I want jam” doesn’t count as an appointment. I wave my phone
furtively while the security guy glares and wags his finger menacingly.
The minute a signal appears, I Google Naturellement and call the
kitchen. They ask me to hand Mr
Homeland
the phone, and tell him to let us through. Success. Now for that jam. The jungle smells of jam. And not any jam. It’s robust, caramelly and sweetly alluring. We
follow our noses to the kitchen, standing on our toes and peering into a
bright workspace where brisk women in neat aprons chop, squeeze and
stir. Noticing us, the chief cook pops out to say hello with a big
spoon. “You want to try? We’re just making a batch of tamarind jam.”
Like kids in a candy shop we hold out our palms instantly, receiving
dollops of still-warm jam, sweetened with organic sugar and laced with
lemon juice. It’s a heady amalgamation of flavours: tart, sweet and
tang.
The truth is we underestimate Pondicherry. For most
Chennaiites, it’s still that sleepy French neighbouring town, ideal for
lazy weekend getaways, juicy steaks and cheap cocktails. We eat at the
same cafes. Breakfast at Auroville boulangerie, lunch at Satsanga and
dinner at Le Club, with a quick visit to Baker Street for fresh
chocolate croissants: admit it, that’s been your ‘Pondy’ itinerary for
the last five years, right? Not any more. We’re determined to steer you
off the beaten path as we explore Pondicherry and bring you its
highlights every Friday in our new Pondy by Weekend column. To get
started, here are ideas for a gourmet weekend break.
1 Chocolates
Auroville has done it again. Pure Chocolate by Conscious Living is a
truly impressive bar made with whole cacao beans, cacao butter, and
unrefined brown sugar and — as the recipe states — “a pinch of salt.”
The ‘bittersweet dark’ is a vegan, single origin, 75 per cent chocolate
bar with an intense flavour, and alluring aroma. The first organic
home-grown bean-to-bar chocolate in India, the company also makes an
elegant ‘zesty orange’ bar. Like all Auroville companies, this one is
earnest about its product and processes, with a focus on promoting local
organic farmers, healthy food and ‘compassion through vegan choices.’
It’s also fairly pricy, but if you’re a connoisseur you’ll appreciate
the difference.
Available in Auroville at Farm Fresh, in Pondicherry at Promenade hotel and Casablanca.
2 Bread
Here’s the insider scoop — for a really authentic Ashram loaf, go to the
Ashram bakery. Although it is set in a large, cool and surprisingly
edgy building, the Cottage bakery is resolutely old-fashioned. There are
lots of Bengali sweets, ranging from overly sweet sandesh to spongy
rasagollas. But what stands out are the loaves of heavy wheat bread and
large raisin buns. If you’re in the mood for something slightly more
exotic, try the slabs of gently sweetened banana bread. For
something traditionally French, there’s the Auroville bakery, where you
take your shoes off and then stand in line with the Aurovillians to
choose freshly baked croissants, generous slices of orange cake and
vegan cakes. Cottage is on Canal Street, The Boulangerie is at the Auroville Main Road.
3 Pondicherrian Cuisine
Although the locals have always cooked this way, it is only over the
last few years that ‘Tamil-French’ cuisine is being seen as a genre in
its own right. An innovative and practical amalgamation of local dishes
made with a French twist, this is basically Indian food altered for
Parisian palates. The Pondicherry Kitchen by Lourdes Tirouvanziam-Louis
has re-kindled an interest in the food, pointing out how special it is
since it also reflects influences from Mughal, Portuguese and Malaysian
cooking. At Le Dupliex, try red snapper fricassee,
along with fish in a rich coconut gravy and batter fried prawns. For a
restaurant specialising in this fare, head to Neemrana's Hotel de
L'Orient's Carte Blanche restaurant, where you can dig into a cold soup
of almonds followed by fish curry with tamarind, a happy combination of
food cultures.
Carte Blanche is at 17 Rue Romain Rolland. Phone: 91 413 2343067/8,
2346589. Le Dupliex is at 5, Caserne St., Pondicherry. Ph:
+91-413-2226001, 2226002, 2226999
4 Pesto
Pasta, sandwich, crepes… pesto is almost everywhere. Want
to take some home? There’s Auroville’s Buddha Garden that makes pesto
from organic basil and cashew nuts. Buddha Garden is an organic farm
that also allows volunteers to work with them. Their pesto is available
at Farm Fresh where 25-30 bottles are sold every week. While you are at
the store also check out the fresh bakes and pies, spirulina and
kombucha, a fermented drink. Details: 04132622996
5 Cheese
La Ferme Cheese is one of the first cheese brands that started in
Auroville. It's been around since 1988 and was started by C. Arumugam,
Michael Spector and Gevoni. Once you enter the sprawling compound you
can smell cheese all around. They started out making Italian mozzarella
out of buffalo milk. Now the wide variety of cheeses they make includes
feta, ricotta, parmesan, Philadelphia, Swissly, Cheddar, lofabu, goat
cheese and Auroblochon. Then there’s Mango Hill cheese, a company
started three years ago by Oliver and Arnaud Laederich. Arnaud’s sons
Max and Francois too are part of this family business. They make eight
types of cheeses — Borsalino, feta, Gruyere, Cheddar, L’aisoon, Le
Pondicherry with curry leaves and La Buchette. 500 litres of cheese are
made every day. You can sample their cheese platter at their restaurant
before making up your mind about which cheese you want to take home with
you. Our favourite is the creamy Camembert. La Ferme cheese is available at Pour tous Purchasing Service and Farm
Fresh in Auroville and Nilgiri’s and Grinde in Pondicherry.
Details: Old Auroville Road, Bommayapalayam. Tel: 0413 2655491
Serenity Beach Bazaar is a weekend shopping place for gifts and collectibles for you and for your family. There are a lot of artistic garments, accessories and bags that are worth a buy. And since this is a budget place its a must visit for people who love vintage and artistic shopping on a budget. Reasons why you should shop here: " About 2km away from Pondicherry's White Town. An auto ride here shouldn't cost you more than 150 rupees. This isn't your typical bazaar flooded with people bargaining. Came here on a Sunday. The place was almost empty, but there are pretty cool bags, clothes and gifts to buy. After you shop, have a coke at the cafe while listening to live music. Something extremely relaxing about this place. Really lives up to its name." Prices: Budget Location: Serenity Garden, Pondicherry 605104, HANDICRAFT BAZAAR
Serinity Beach Bazaar conducts handicraft display on Saturdays.and Sundays 10am - 5pm
Time: 10 A.M to 5 P.M. Serinity Beach Bazaar, Tandiriyankuppam, Kottakuppam, TN.
P. 2222963, M. 9791944182
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