Kerala cuisine – Delight for all

Food for the Keralites is not just an essential activity; nor is cooking just an art; it is a way of life and religion for them. It offers delight to the vegetarians and the non-vegetarians. Not surprisingly, it is rich in the meen delights as well as the delight of the gods, payasam.

The best thing about Kerala cuisine is that, its delicacies, in general, revolve around discoveries, aromas and colours. Malayali food has indeed attracted a great deal of attention of the world because of its culinary specialty to carefully blend different spices and yield the subtle variation in the flavours. For centuries, travelers from all over the world arrived to the coast of Kerala - the Greeks, the Arabs, the Romans, the Jews and later Vasco da Gama, the Europeans... Given the various foreign influences, it is not incredible to think that the Malayali cuisine is a culinary crossbreed, an impeccable fusion of many cultures and palates.

Spice Up Your Life

There is no doubt that Kerala has several culinary traditions, both region and religion specific, but there are two things that gives Kerala cuisine an edge over others; its repertoire and undoubtedly coconut. A great emphasis is laid on the ingredients used, the vessels it is cooked in and bizarrely, the nature of fire used. The beauty of the Malayali food is that, it offers a true taste of nature, a perfect amalgamation of the real with the imagined. And so, it is about rice, flavoured by the soil it has grown in, seasonal vegetables carrying morning dew on their skin, fresh from the garden, fish straight from the backwaters, spice that bears within, the fiery heat of the sun... It is about countless flavours - coconut oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves, tamarind paste, asafoetida and chillies - each one of which rejoice a special place in the Malayali's palate. One will be surprised to know in how many forms a Malayali consumes coconut - as a thickener, as a paste to add flavour, as a garnish in curries and soups and finally as an oil to be partaken.

Puttu

A typical Malayali breakfast may include cylindrical 'puttu' (steamed rice with coconut), 'iddli' (steamed cake of rice and black gram), and sambar (vegetable curry) accompanied by puffy Kerala rice eaten with one's fingers. One can also enjoy "Vallepam", a frilly, lacy-edged pancake made from fermented rice paste, cooked in a curved pan and served with stew or coconut milk. Also called hoppers, 'Vallepam' is also made with egg and meat curry, and provides a completely different experience for your buds. You can also go for crepe-like South-Indian noodles, 'idiappam' or the cake-like, round spongy 'vattayappam' - all of them cooked with easily digestible, crushed rice grains, a perfect break from your overnight fast.

Addicted To 'Meen'

Kerala is also known as the fish-addicted state. Even though the same ingredients are added, each colony within Kerala has its own unique way of garnering them to cook dishes that are strikingly different from one another. Taste a few of those dried, but delicious preparations of sole, shark, crab, oyster and eel. Don't forget to ask for the most prized fish preparation, "Fish Moilee" (fish curry) of the celebrated 'karimeen' or the brackish fresh water fish, sold at every waterfront location. If you have traveller's luck, you can even get the opportunity to taste the Moplah biryani, actually worthy of a praise. Don't get overwhelmed to see the plump grains of rice lie supine and separate with the content of having had their fill with spices and meat juices, topped with brown swirls of fried onion and raisins and chaperoned with a date chutney, a raita and puffed golden papadums. Unfortunately, the taste can't be expressed in words.

Payasam

There are several varieties of 'payasams'. One is in which rice, wheat or vermicelli is boiled with milk and sweetened with sugar. It goes by the name of 'pal payasam'. Another, is made of boiled rice or dal or wheat, to which is added jaggery and coconut milk. Both are flavoured with spices.

Pal Payasam Ingredients:
Milk 3ltrs
Dried red rice 180gm
Sugar 700gm

Method:
1. Boil the milk. Add sugar and mix well. When it boils again, add the washed rice in it. Simmer in medium flame. Cook till the rice is done. Serve hot.