In India, we ate almost as many Thalis as we did idlis!

Thalis are a lunch that is always served on a metal platter, with several types of sauces, curries, curds, and so on in small metal bowls around the circumference of the platter.  You usually get a piece of pappadum (a crispy chip, similar to a tortilla chip) and a big ‘ol pile of rice in the middle of it all.  We also usually ordered some chappati (flat bread) to go with it.

The contents of these bowls vary both between restaurants and between regions, so there’s never knowing what exactly will be in your thali.  In most of the restaurants we went to, there’s only one option for Thali, which makes ordering easy when the waiter doesn’t speak English (You only need 3 words:  Thali, chappati, mineral water – they all get those ones!).  One place we went had different thalis from different regions (Punjab thali, Rajasthan thali).  We tried to ask what the difference was, but didn’t get an answer, just a confused look like, “Duh, you should know the difference!”  Oh well.   We didn’t find a remarkable difference, so we’ll never know.

So, how do you eat this thing?  Well, the methods vary as much as the ingredients.  Most of the locals would just take a few of the sauces, dump it on the rice, and dig in with their right hand.  Then again, they knew what they were in for.  What the three of us did was that we would normally take a spoonful of rice or pick some rice up with the pappadum or chapatti, and dunk it in one of the containers.  I’m sure this is wrong but we didn’t get kicked out of the country at least, or politely told that we were eating it incorrectly… (In the farmer’s market in Bombay, which I will have to write about, I got reprimanded for drinking water after eating a piece of guava.  It’s believed that this will give you a cold!)

Anyway, if you actually do finish the mountain of rice or one of the containers of goodness, the thali is almost always all you can eat, so if you ask, they will bring you more of whatever you’re missing.  All of this for a fine price between 40-70 rupees ($1-2!).   You can’t even make a lunch for that much here!

This particular thali was at a cute little place outside of the cliffside beach in Varkala.  This was actually a fancier thali because it had the lovely banana leaf presentation on the tray – tres chic!

Posted by Carrie on Thursday, February 7, 2008
Categories: food, india · 3 Comments »