Normally, I would have apologised for the delay in this week's blog post, but this one took me a while to write. Actually it took me a while to think about what to write about this place!?! Or how? So this is the best I could come up with!

When I started the blog way back in 2007, my aim was explore and write about wonderful food and to show that good food and good health are not mutually exclusive. The journey has not been easy. At times, I wonder why Indian food is perceived to be unhealthy, while the reality is very different. Fancy village cuisines and 'brought-back-from-grandmom's-recipe' based restaurant came and went! It would suffice to say that I am still in the search of that ONE GEM of a restaurant in Chennai that can showcase South Indian food in a super healthy avatar! Ironically for me, it was only a week back that Barrack Obama and Anthony Bourdain's $6 soup went viral.

One man and his family has been doing this for a while now! And he puts my knowledge to shame.

Prem's Grama Bhojanam is everything you need to know about making super yummy South Indian dishes made with the healthiest of ingredients! Of course, in the most rustic of ambiances!

Dishes you know of. Dosa, Masala Dosa, Idly, Paniyarams! Made with ingredients you may have never heard of! Varieties of millets. Black Rice. Have you heard of black rice? Sambar sadam made without the sadam? Curd rice, without the rice?

And when you make regular stuff out of not-so-regular ingredients, it may not be so tasty, right? Wrong! If you didn't know what it was made of, you may not even guess!

And such things obviously have to be pricy. After all it is healthy, right? Wrong again. Rs. 394 for 3 people with our stomachs, brains and hearts full!!!

Right from the herbed water, to the black rice dessert, I have no right to review this place! Nothing that I can write, can describe this non-A/C restaurant tucked away near the Adyar flyover. No service charge, no knowledge charge for the time this man spends with you. Honest business driven with passion and contentment!

The owner, Mr. Krishnamoorthy should teach South India to cook! Period!

Change is constant. But somethings are nice when they don't change. While variety is the spice of life, predicability is not very bad. You know what to expect. You know how much to expect. And you get what you expect. Its like the home food. It's that time of the year again. The time to feast. 'Eat and drink until the thin line of dawn in visible from the darkness of night', says the Quran. A day's fast is broken and the festivities begin. They begin everyday. The time to take a step back and reflect. This doesn't change every year.

And for me, I would like to start the Ramzan Iftar journey with something that is constant. Predictable. Reflects tradition and not some 'young kid on the block' import. Yes, home food. I'll put up a recipe some other time, but the next best thing? Iftar in Blue Diamond.

Let's face it, Haleem is not a hallmark of Ramzan in Chennai or the rest of TN. Its an import. Nothing wrong with imports. But for me to relive memories, I want that predictability. So the first eat out is always at Blue Diamond, where Haleem has not replaced the humble 'Nombu Kanji.' This Nombu Kanji is just as nutritious, just as tasty (if made right) and light on the stomach which is recovering from 14 hours of fasting. For me, thats the best way to break fast! The one at Blue Diamond is the same old recipe being followed from the time I remember! That's a long long time!

The Iftar here has the cutlets, found today only at this place. The biriyani made of idiyappam (string hoppers)! Wow. Not wow biriyani, but wow, its the same thing! Familiarity is the wow here. The combo also has a couple of dates, some cut fruits and a drink. I am glad Blue Diamond has not (or at least not yet) fallen to the Haleem trap. Possibly the only restaurant in the city which still serves the humble 'kanji'.

Is the best part about the combo, the familiarity? Nope, its the Rs.99 price tag for a portion of 'Idiyappam biriyani', two pieces of cutlets, a bowl of 'kanji', and the fruits, dates and drink.

Brace yourself for the rest of month which will take you through the various Iftar options!