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The cuisine of Kerala is linked in all its richness to the history, geography and culture of the land. Most of the non-vegetarian dishes are spicy.
Kerala is known for its traditional
sadhyas, a vegetarian meal served with boiled rice and a host of side-dishes. The sadhya is complemented by
payasam, a sweet milk dessert native to Kerala. The sadhya is, as per custom, served on a banana leaf. There is a difference in the servings from the sothern part to the northern end. The south Kerala dishes are spiced up with garlic whereas in North Kerala garlic is generrally avoided in all vegetarian dishes. Traditional food items include
sambar,
aviyal,
kaalan,
theeyal,
thoran, injipully, pulisherry, appam , kappa (tapioca),
puttu (steam cake), and puzhukku. Coconut is an essential ingredient in most of the food items and is liberally used.
Pachakam is a Malayalam word that means cooking food or meal.
The culinary skills of the different communities of Kerala make the dishes distinct in taste and in variety. Almost every dish that is prepared in the Kerala style has coconut and spices added to it. The main spices used are cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, green and red peppers, cloves, garlic, cumin seeds, coriander, turmeric, etc. Spices are used in Kerala to tone up the system the way wines aid the digestion of Western cuisine.
The vegetarian food includes
sambar,
rasam,
olan,
kaalan,
pachadi,
kichadi,
aviyal,
thoran, etc.
Biriyani, a Mughal dish, was popularised by the Keyi family in Kerala. Biryani is a dish of rice cooked along with meat, onions, chillies and other spices. Karimeen pollichathu and fish moilee are seafood delicacies.
The main food item is served with rice and at the end of each meal the dessert, payasam, is served. Payasam is prepared from milk, coconut extract, sugar, cashews, dry grapes, etc. Paal payasam is the speciality.
The Kerala paratta is a flatbread with layers that is served with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.
A typical Kerala breakfast may be puttu, which is rice powder and grated coconut steam cooked together, idli and sambar, dosa and chutney, idiyappam (string hoppers - also known as Noolputtu), or vella appam, a kind of pancake made of rice flour fermented with a small amount of toddy (fermented sap of the coconut palm) which is circular in shape, edged with a crisp lacy frill. It is eaten with chicken or vegetable stew.
Kerala cuisine also has a variety of pickles and chutneys, and crunchy pappadums, banana chips, jackfruit chips, kozhalappam, achappam, cheeda, and churuttu.
Kanji (rice congee) and payaru (mung bean), kappa (tapioca) and fish curry are traditional favourites of Keralites.
A remarkable feature of Kerala cuisine is that the use of mutton is almost nil and [goat] meat (chevon) is widespread across communities. However, in local lingua franca mutton invariably means chevon. Sheep are not reared in this part of the world.
A favourite dish of Kerala Syrian Christians (or Saint Thomas Christians ) is stew. Chicken and potatoes are simmered gently in a creamy white sauce flavoured with black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, green chillies, lime juice, shallots and coconut milk. They prepare stews with chicken, lamb, duck. The other dishes are piralen (chicken stir-fries), meat thoran (dry curry with shredded coconut), fiery vindaloos, sardine and duck curries, and meen molee (spicy stewed fish). This is eaten with Appam. Appams, Kallappams or Vellayappams are rice flour pancakes which have soft, thick white spongy centres and thin golden crip lace like edge. Meen vevichathu or fish in fiery red chilly sauce is also another favourite item. Besides the chicken and fish there is also red meat, erachi orlarthiathu. Beef (or lamb) is boiled with roasted cirruabder seeds, red chilles, cloves, onions, cummins garlic, ginger, fried coconut chips and a little vinegar. Then with the water reduced, the, meat is almost fr ied dry in a little oil that has been flavoured with sliced shallots and highly aromatic curry leaves. Wine is an integral part of their cuisine. In fact it is said that marrying into a Syrian Christian home can be the best thing that can happen to a food lover!
Some of the delicacies of the Mappilas of Kerala are influenced by the Arab influence that began in the 7th century.
* Pathiri is a sort of pancake made of rice flour. The word Pathiri has its origin traced to the Arabic word fateerah meaning "pastry".
* Alsa is a Mappila dish derived from Harees, a traditional Arabic dish consisting of wheat, meat (or chicken) and salt. It is prepared by hitting the wheat with a strong equipment that makes it soft and palletable. Alsa and Biryani were popularised in Kerala by the Keyi family of Thalassery.
Sambar consists of a broth made with tamarind (the pulp is soaked in water to extract the flavor and then discarded) and a mixture of ground spices known in Tamil as Sambar Podi (powder) and ground turmeric (botanical name - Curcuma longa). Typical ingredients of this powder includes -- lentils, coriander seeds, dried whole red chili, fenugreek seeds and dried curry leaves ( leaves of the 'curry' plant, botanical name Murraya koenigii). Optional ingredients include mustard seeds, cumin, black pepper. This powder is prepared by roasting a mixture of the spices with a minimum amount of oil to extract the soluble flavors in the spices and then ground to a powder. To this broth cooked lentils are added and heated till the flavors blend. After the dish is removed from the heat, a mixture of freshly roasted mustard seeds, asafetida (milk extracted from the root of the plant Ferula asa-foetida which dries into a resinious gum) is added. Fresh curry leaves or coriander leaves can be added a t the very end for added flavoring. A wide variety of vegetables can be added to sambar for added taste and flavor. Whole or halved shallots are often added and contribute a unique flavor to the sambar.
Rasam is a South Indian soup. It is prepared mainly with the juices of tamarind and tomato with pepper and other spices. Lentils are added frequently and other vegetables optionally. It is eaten mixed with rice, or drunk by itself. In a formal meal, it follows the sambar course and is in turn followed by curd rice. It differs from sambar in that it usually relies on tomatoes for its sourness rather than tamarind, and it is usually much thinner. Rasam contains many spices which are considered beneficial to health.
Olan is a dish that is part of the Kerala cuisine of South India. It is prepared from pumpkin, coconut milk and ginger seasoned with coconut oil. Olan is usually served as part of a Sadhya.
Kaalan is a Keralite dish (south India) made of yogurt, coconut and one vegetable like nendran plantain or a tuber like yam. It is very thick and more sour than Avial.
Kaalan is typically served as part of the Sadhya.
Theeyal( Thial, tial) is a South Indian dish. It is quite similar to sambar , another popular South Indian dish. Theeyal originates from the state of Kerela in south india, a region where coconut is often used in the cuisine. Theeyal is made from a spice mixture consisting of roasted coconut, coriander seeds, dried red chilli and fenugreek. All spices are ground to a paste and cooked in tamarind water with vegetables. When completed it look like a rich medium brown gravy and is normally mixed with rice.
Sadhya means "big feast" in Malayalam, a language spoken in Kerala, India.
A Sadhya is a big feast associated with a special occasion, such as a marriage, birthday, childbirth, or death ceremony. A Sadhya is traditionally a vegetarian meal served on a plantain or banana leaf; people eat sitting cross-legged on the floor.
The dishes are mainly cooked (plain boiled) rice, many curries, papadum, plain yogurt or buttermilk, banana or plantain chips, and two or more sweet dishes. The curries are made of different vegetables and are of different tastes. They can be made of yogurt, bitter gourd, mango, jaggery, etc. The idea of making many dishes in the Sadhya is that there will be at least two or three dishes liked by everybody.
Coconut, being abundant in Kerala, is used in almost all dishes. Coconut milk also finds various uses in cooking. Coconut oil is used for frying.
There is a specific place for each item on the plantain leaf. For example, the pickles are served on the top left corner and banana on the bottom left corner. Thus, the waiters can easily identify the requirement of the diner by just looking at his leaf.
There are variations in the menu according to the place and the religion. Some communities include non-vegetarian dishes in the sadhya. Even though only the traditional and seasonal vegetables were used earlier, nowadays carrots, pineapples, beans, etc. are also used. Onion and garlic are also not used in the traditional sadhya.
The sadhya is usually served as lunch. The preparations start from the previous night, and all the dishes are made ready before ten o' clock in the morning. Nowadays, the sadhya is served on dining tables, as people no longer find it convenient to sit on the floor.
All the dishes are served on the plantain leaf; it requires a special skill to eat the food. The whole palm and fingers of the hand have to be used in the form of a ladle to lift the food from the leaf and eat it without spilling it.
In the olden days, the people in the neighbourhood used to spend the night helping the cooks in works like scraping coconut and cutting vegetables. These people also volunteered to serve the food to the guests. This lent a personal touch to the occasion. But with the change in times, it has become a practice to give contract for the work.
The meal is always followed by vettila murukkan, i.e., chewing of betel leaf with lime and arecanut. This adds to the digestion of the heavy meal and also cleanses the palate.
Pachadi refers to traditional South Indian side-dish. In Kerela and Tamilnadu states Pachadi is typically composed of finely chopped and boiled vegetable added to yogurt with essentially coconut, green or red chillies,ginger, curry leaves and mustard seeds sauted in oil with other specific spices based on the South Indian region. The pachadi can me made of any variety of cucumbers, squash, mango, bitter gourd or pineapple. The dish is commonly eaten with rice and a lentil curry. The definition of the word 'Pachadi' is different among different South Indian cultures.
Kichadi is a Keralite dish (south India) made of curd and cucumber in raw or cooked form. Kichadi is often served as part of the Sadhya.
Aviyal is a dish that has a unique place in a typical Kerala Cuisine. It is a thick mixture of a lot vegetables, curd and coconut. It is seasoned with coconut oil and curry leaves.
Aviyal is considered an essential part of the Sadhya.
Common vegetables that are used to make aviyal are yam, plantain, drumsticks, carrots etc. Some people prefer to substitute curd with raw mango or tamarind pulp. This dish can be made into a gravy and eaten with rice or be made into a semi-solid side dish. The word "aviyal" is also used to denote an assortment or a mixture - this sense being derived from the way the dish is made.
Thoran (pronounced: Tho'-ran]] is a dry Keralite dish (south India), made of vegetables like pea, unripe jackfruit, carrot or cabbage with grated coconut.
It is usually served as part of the Sadhya.
Puttu is a culinary specialty in Kerala. It is a steamed rice cake which is a favourite breakfast of most Malayalees. It is served with either brown chickpeas cooked in a spicy gravy, papadams and boiled small green lentils, or tiny ripe yellow Kerala plantains. In the highlands there is also a variety of puttu served with paani (the boiled-down syrup from sweet palm toddy) and sweet boiled bananas.
payasam is an integral part of traditional South Indian culture. In payasam, coconut milk is routinely used instead of milk.
Payasam is served as an offering to the Gods in Hindu temples during rituals and ceremonies. In the southern Indian state of Kerala, people have a particular affinity towards this dish. The payasams served in the temples of
Guruvayoor and Ambalappuzha are renowned all over the region. The dish is also a must-have in all wedding feasts.