Kochai Seval (Rooster) is also known as Kaatu Seval / Sandai Seval and this place specializes in cooking and serving the roosters. The proprietor Karthik who is called as “Kochai Karthik” because of his association with selling, cooking and serving Kochai (Roosters) for a long time now (10+ years according to him). This stretch of Erode (Preundurai) highway is known for Manchatti Samayal (Claypot cooking) restaurants but Kochai Karthi Kadai stands out among others because his USP is roosters and the items he prepares using the meat.
Pre-booking is recommended and that’s exactly what we did. Called a day before and booked a meal for the 4 of us. We were suggested to go for a 3kg rooster meal. If there are any leftovers, those can be packed. There was an option of 3 or 5 style of rooster preparation to choose from.
he 3 style preparation comes with a 3 types of Rooster preparation which consists of Chinthamani prepared using Red Chillies, Manjal Vengayum (Yellow Onion – which is unique to this side of geographical area) and an Elumbu Varuval (Bones) preparation. For a 5 style preparation there’s a Semi-gravy preparation and Kaatu Varuval along with the 3 dishes mentioned earlier. We chose the 3 style preparation meal.
Next, we were given an option to chose our spice levels. One can choose between 6 chilles which is called as Baby Karam. That’s their way of describing the lowest spice level. Next is 9 chillies which is called the ladies kaaram and that was our choice of spice level. The other spice level options are 12 – Sarakku Karam – suggested spice level by the owner to have when one is inebriated. I wonder if one can even taste or remember the taste when one is inebriated. Can’t even imagine how spicy the 24 chillies and 36 chillies preparation will be. I don’t think I’ll survive that.
Our meal started with a tumbler of soup which had the right hint of spice needed to kick start a heavy meal. The Chinthamani seval which has red chillies as it’s main ingredient for spiciness looked alarming with it’s reddish color. It was spicy…. but good spicy. The Manja VengaYUM was Yummm. And, unanimously was voted as the best. Manjal Vengayum Seval preparation had Inji Poondu (Ginger Garlic based) as it’s main ingredient for spiciness. The third dish Elumbu varuval had Kuru mulagu (Pepper) as it’s main ingredient for lending spiciness to the dish. There’s no argument on the fact that anything with Pepper is going to taste extremely good. But, devouring bones is not everyone’s forte, right? It certainly wasn’t mine. I was just licking the masala or mixing it in plain rice and having it. Note to self: The art of eating bones is something that I must master.
Pacha Puli Rasam is a new thing we learnt. It’s a no cooking needed type of Rasam and a little research on it revealed that it’s recommended to have this Rasam after heavy Non-Vegetarian meals (Kari Virundhu types).
Basically, everything was really good and the experience was worth travelling extra.
Cost of 1kg Rooster meal is ₹1500. The meal comes with a Soup, Gravy and 2 types of Rasams. Curd costs extra. We had ordered 3kg and our total bill including bottled water and curd was ₹4660.
Google link:
Kochai Karthi Kadai
Erode, Tamil Nadu 6388120
98426 12721
