Thai Pongal feast at Naatiya Restaurant

Thai Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated which is celebrated by Tamils. Unlike other South Indian Hindu festivals, this event is marked by the winter solstice and is traditionally dedicated to the Sun God Surya, which marks the beginning of the northward journey of the Sun from its southernmost-limit, a movement traditionally referred to as uttarayana. Pongal Tamils celebrate by thanking the Sun god for the good harvest and consecrate the first grain to him.They adorn their homes with banana and mango leaves and decorate the floor with colorful patterns drawn using rice flour. The dish that is identified with the event, named Pongal is prepared at outdoors at sunrise. It is a mixture of milk, rice and jaggery (whole cane sugar) that is set to a boil in clay pots. It is later topped with brown sugar, ghee, cashew nuts and raisins. At the moment when the milk boils over and bubbles out of the pot, revelers shout "Pongalo Pongal!", introduce some of the freshly harvested rice and blow a conchshell. Waiting for the milk to spillover represents good luck and prosperity.

Naatiya Restaurant in Bloomfield is offering a special dinner buffet in honor of this festival on January 14th. I have had the pleasure of being introduced to Naatiya by my friend Marc, who is not one to be scared away by spicy foods. The menu is South Indian cuisine and appeals to a large audience including vegetarians, vegans, muslims and jain. The meat and poultry that is served are all halal, which means that they adhere to the strict Muslim restrictions. We ordered a sampling of dishes and enjoyed the flavorfulness of the dishes. One item in particular that won me over was the coconut stuffed paratha. What a wonderful creation! The only slightly odd thing about my dining experience there was the complimentary puffy "chips" that are brought out before the meal. They don't fill you up, nor taste like anything, so it just seems like a waste of time and effort to consume them, other than the reason that they are free!

Bottom line: if you haven't been to Naatiya yet, then a festival sounds like a good reason to explore.

Address: 8 Mountain Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
Ph. 860-726-0126      Website: http://www.naatiyarestaurant.com/