When chef Gokul Kumar Mohit, also known as Goku, travelled to Mandapam about two years ago, he was intrigued by the food culture of the local seaweed farmers in the coastal town in southeast Tamil Nadu. Situated on a narrow strip of land surrounded by the Palk Strait to the north and the Gulf of Mannar, “they incorporated ingredients that are relatively new to their food systems and created their own ways of cooking with them,” he says. A couple of dishes that stayed with him were a seaweed kootu (spinach replaced with seaweed in dals) and ellu podi (sesame dried seaweed gun powder).
Kumar has been studying the culinary culture of the lesser-known communities of Tamil Nadu, including the diaspora since the pandemic. His explorations and field trips have taken him across the state, the latest one being in the homes of people living along the Gulf of Mannar, that stretches between Thoothukudi and Ramanathapuram, and is a UNESCO-recognised biosphere reserve.
“Even with something like Chettinad cuisine, I feel there is often a gap between what is presented in restaurants outside the region, and what you actually encounter in Chettiar homes. A lot of what we know as ‘Chettinad food’ has become a restaurant interpretation rather than a reflection of the cuisine’s full diversity,” says Goku.
Born and raised in Chennai, Goku enrolled in an aeronautical engineering course, only to realise midway that it wasn’t for him. He left the course and moved to the US to study at the Culinary Institute of America in 2018. His early career included stints at Michelin-starred restaurants such as Aureole, The Clocktower, Junoon and Rezdôra, as well as the famed Dominique Ansel Bakery. He had planned to move to Copenhagen to further hone his skills, but covid put those plans on hold.
Goku's food philosophy comes from his mother's and grandmother's cooking. “Her cooking was a beautiful blend of Tamil roots and the influences my grandmother brought back from Singapore, where she grew up. Pandan was sometimes used in curries and rice, while our chutneys had a slight resemblance to Singaporean sambol-style preparations.”
Some of his favourite family dishes that reflect this influence are pudalangai puttu (snake gourd), attikai kootu (wild figs), karuvadu sambol (dried fish chutney), and thengapaal sadam with naatu kozhi kuzhambu (coconut milk rice served with country chicken curry with pandan).
“The Gulf of Mannar tells many stories because the coast has been a crossroads for centuries,” he says. He talks about the food traditions of the coast through the communities that have called it home—from the Maraikayar Muslim traders of Kayalpatnam and the Paravar Catholic fishing communities of the old Pearl Coast (the region from Tuticorin to Cape Comorin along the Coromandel Coast) to the seaweed harvesters of Mandapam and the temple kitchens of Rameshwaram. He also looks at the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who crossed these waters in search of a new home, bringing their food traditions with them. Over time, each community that settled, traded or passed through left its mark on the region’s food.
Goku's endeavour is to bring some of the ingredients into the mainstream dining conversation—kadal naaku or sea urchin roe, thumattikkai or bitter apple that is traditionally used in pickles and folk medicine, edible seaweeds such as Ulva and sea grapes from Mandapam, the unique round Ramanathapuram Mundu chilli, maasi or sun-dried tuna, koondhal or dried octopus or squid, thondan, a local fish, and also palmyra, which is often regarded as a symbol of Tamil identity.
His latest venture is Tamil Quarter, which he co-founded with Nirupama Reddy of Pushpa’s Kitchen, in Chennai. The latter serves food centred around Reddy's mother’s recipes and home-style south Indian cooking.
“Through Tamil Quarter, I want to explore the many Tamil cuisines that exist across regions, communities and the diaspora and show how each one tells a different story.” The idea is to create a changing dining experience where each edition explores a particular region in Tamil Nadu, community or diaspora.
Next weekend, Kumar will be showcasing the culinary culture of the lesser-known communities of Gulf of Mannar, through a 12-course dining experience at MSK (previously Magazine St. Kitchen) in Mumbai. The menu, he says, will feature dishes and ingredients diners normally don't associate with Tamil food. Some of them are Thakkidi (rice coconut dumpling in a marrow curry), Eral Thoppa (minced spiced prawn stuffed squid and grilled over charcoal), Seaweed Kootu, Ahani Biryani (unique style of white biryani made with aromatic small grain rice from Kayalpatnam), Sea Urchin Thovayal (chutney made with sea urchin roe), and an eggplant-based dessert.
Uncharted India: The Gulf of Mannar, a tasting menu by Chef Goku is scheduled on 18 and 19 September at MSK, Mumbai. Tickets on Food Matters.