Regional Indian: Keralan Cuisine

August 2005

Regional Indian: Keralan Cuisine

By Susheela RaghavanContributing Editor

Located on India's southwest coast, along the Arabian Sea, the Malabar Coast of Kerala has been the center of the world spice trade, beginning with the Phoenicians and Arabs, followed by Jews, Egyptians, Romans and Greeks and eventually Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and British traders. Kerala's cuisine reflects this diversity -- Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Jews.

"Kerala" means the "land of the kera" or coconut. Foods cooked in coconut oil and coconut milk or meat, are integral to this state's cuisine. Juice of young coconuts serves as a refreshing drink, or it is fermented into kallu (toddy) or arrack.

Kerala's vast coastline provides an abundance of seafood, and its lowlands and forests offer a cornucopia of fruits, bananas, rice, tea, coffee and, above all, spices. Its essential spices include black pepper, green chiles, ginger, turmeric, mustard seeds, coconut, tamarind, cardamom and kari leaves. Rice, a staple, is eaten almost at every meal and made into many breakfast items -- puttu (with grated coconut, steamed in bamboo), idlis (steamed dumplings), dosas (crepes) and uppma (stir-fries with chiles and various spices).

Hindus constitute majority of Kerala's population, and so vegetarian cooking abounds. A typical feast, called sadya, is served on a banana leaf with rice in center, surrounded by 14 different vegetables and accompanied with sambar (lentil-vegetable stew), pachadi (seasoned yogurt based salads) and pickles. The meal ends with payasam, a pudding with a thin consistency, made with lentils, coconut milk, cashews and spices. Crunchy pappadams (lentil wafers), or plantain, jackfruit or tapioca chips add a textural effect.

Many dry and wet -- based on preparations -- vegetarian curries are popular. They include kadala (chickpea-onion) curry, kootu (vegetables, lentils) curry, avial (mixed vegetables with grated coconut and tamarind), thoran (spinach, cabbage or banana bud stir-fried with grated coconut and spices), and olan (gourd or pumpkin in seasoned coconut milk). Idi-appam (rice vermicelli) sometimes accompanies entrées. Hindus also enjoy a variety of seafood -- fried fish, prawn thoran, meen vevichathu (fish with chili paste, spices), meen pollichathu (spicy, baked fish wrapped in banana leaf), and meen pada (fish pickled in vinegar, tamarind, ginger).

Kerala Muslims or Mapillas, are Arab settlers who married Hindu women. Their favorites include samosas, meat biryanis and variety of flatbreads, including paratha, bathura, pathiri, kameer, poori and naan accompanying fragrant egg and meat curries, kurmas, and kachumbar (yogurt-based salads). Chutneys and pickles are prepared with freshly grated coconut, carrot, lime, gooseberries and unripe mango with chiles and spices.

Kerala's Syrian Christians prepare delicious stews with chicken or lamb, potatoes or vegetables with coconut milk and kodampuli (sour dried fruit), spiked with chiles and spices. They also like piralen (chicken stir-fries), meat thoran (dry curry with shredded coconut), fiery vindaloos, sardine and duck curries, and meen molee (spicy stewed fish). These dishes are frequently   eaten with appams, rice based pancakes with soft, thick, spongy centers and thin, crispy, lacy edges.    

Susheela Raghavan is president of Horizons Consulting Inc., a New Rochelle, NY-based food-consulting firm, which develops ethnic and "new" American products for the U.S and global markets. Raghavan can be reached via e-mail at [email protected], or by visiting www.SusheelaConsulting.com.

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