Food & Wine USA - (07)July 2020

JULY 2020 63

“March 15 was our last day of business

when the mandate came in that we had

to shut down. We don’t have the option

of doing delivery or takeout because

we are located in a food hall and work

out of a shared kitchen space. We had

built momentum, and we went from

an extreme high to an extreme low; it

was a giant mental shift. For two weeks

after we closed, I was a blob and basi-

cally just slept. But then I started doing a

lot of yoga, a lot of meditation, and a lot

of cooking as self-care. I started to post

recipes on our Instagram and website

(thattuchicago.com/blog). This way I can

share with our customers what I am up

to plus show people what they can do

at home. I’ve been playing around with

more vegetarian options because I have

been trying to use up produce boxes

from our distributors. Most recently

I shared a recipe for carrot thoran, a

stir-fried carrot dish. I received lots of

requests for our egg curry recipe, so I put

that on the site, too. I miss working with

my team, but people sharing photos of

them making the egg curry has made

me so happy.” —MARGARET PAK

their pivot

clockwise from top left:

Kadala (black chickpea cur-

ry) with upma, a savory

roasted semolina porridge;

Kerala fried chicken;

Malabar ginger cooler; as-

sorted spices; masala bis-

cuits; appam; and egg curry

(center) at Thattu in Chicago

thattu

chicago

SOUL-WARMING DISHES

FROM THE INDIAN COASTAL

S TAT E O F K E R A L A

why we love them

There are very few places that special-

ize in Keralan cooking, and Thattu,

inside the Politan Row food hall, is one

of the best. Chef and co-owner

Margaret Pak serves up regional favor-

ites like curry leaf–scented Kerala fried

chicken; beef curry enriched with a

spicy roasted-coconut sauce; and

pillowy appam, soft crêpes made of

PHO fermented rice flour and coconut milk.

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