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An Introduction To Kerala Cuisines And Recipes

Kerala is located between north latitudes 8 degree 18' and 12 degree 48' and east longitudes 74 degree 52' and 72 degree 22', this land of eternal beauty encompasses 1.18 per cent of the India. The land area of kerala is about 38,863 sqkm, with a total population of 31,838,619. It is about 3 per cent of the country's population. The population density of the state is about 655 people per square kilometer, About 16 per cent of the people live in the cities. Most of the others live in large, semi-urban villages.

If there is one place in the riveting diversity of India where there is tangible beauty and a phenomenal thing like total literacy, it is in Kerala. Kerala is full of good things. This small State in the southern tip of the Indian peninsula is an easy winner owning to its great mind-blowing landscape and infinity of intriguing customs, high-intensity cultural life and educated public so often dressed in white. From Kasargode to Thiruvananthapuram Kerala is choc-a-bloc with places that attract tourists and travelers from all over the world.

South India has hot, humid climate and all its states are coastal. Rainfall is abundant and so is the supply of fresh fruit, vegetables and rice. Andhra Pradesh produces fiery Andhra cuisine which is largely vegetarian yet has a huge range of seafood in the its coastal areas. Tamilnadu has Chettinad cuisine, perhaps the most fiery of all Indian food. This style too is largely vegetarian.

From Kerala comes Malabari cooking, with its repertoire of tasty seafood dishes. Hyderabad is home of the Nizams (rulers of Hyderabad) and regal Nizami food rich and flavorful with tastes ranging from spicy to sour to sweet. Hyderabadi food is full of nuts, dried fruits and exotic, expensive spices like Saffron.





Kerala Food:

Food in Kerala (Malayali food please, not Keralan) depends both on area - South versus North Kerala, backwaters versus the hills - and community: Moplah (Muslim), Syriani (Christian) and different Hindu communities.



Many things are common like the use of coconuts, fish and rice, but other things can be quite different - obviously something like beef which is a big feature of Syriani food would not be eaten by Hindus - but I also find less known differences. For example, the Thiyya community from North Kerala , is totally obsessive about shellfish like kalamakai (mussels). No one from South Kerala ever seems to eat them which is perhaps for geographical reasons - rocky coasts versus sandy beaches.



One of the interesting points of difference between communities is their differing use of breads all based generally on rice flour: appams and iddiappams for Syrianis, pathiri for Moplahs, nai-patthal for Thiyyas, appams and puttu for Nairs, dosas and puttu for Namboodiris. These are well worth trying since most of them would be hard to get outside Kerala. Another Kerala staple is tapioca which can be very good cooked there (and only there).



In Cochin and the backwaters the cult fish to try is karimeen or pearl spot, a quite beautiful really estuarine fish. Otherwise you'll get the usual seer, a big meaty fish which tends to dominate fish cooking in South India. Even in Bombay, where pomfret rules, followed by rawas and surmai, you'll get more variety than you get in restaurants in South India. But I mustn't get into a rant on this.



Moplah cooking is among the best in Kerala, and relatively easy to get since many Moplahs have started restaurants. Their biriani is famous, if you like biriani (I don't). They have interesting Arab influenced dishes like harisa, which is their version of the stewed wheat and meat concept that becomes haleem in Hyderabad and khichada in North India. They have lots of lesser known things like mutta-malas, egg yolks cooked in sugar syrup and pulled into strings.



Syriani spiced beef (erachi olathiyathu) is wonderful. The authentic version will be dry fried and spicy, but not explosive and usually cooked with hard chips of coconut. Totally addictive stuff. Meen vevichadu is their fried fish, which varies a lot.

Hindus usually eat fish as well, and its always pretty good, whatever the version. Two vegetarian dishes that I totally gorge on are kalan, made from green bananas cooked with yoghurt and coconut oil and olan, made from pumpkin and beans cooked in coconut oil (if you don't like coconut oil, and some people hate it with a passion, you're going to have a hard time in Kerala).

A Typical Kerala Cuisine is Simple As:



Rice Main Course of Food :

The essential ingredient of the daily diet is rice. Breakfast, lunch or dinner, it is some rice preparation or the other, served along with a variety of fish. Fish is consumed in a variety of ways – it is preserved after being dried and salted or cooked in a delicious coconut gravy. Prawns, shrimps and crustaceans constitute some of the other famous delicacies.





Morning Meals:

After the morning dose of coffee, a typical malayali household serves breakfast that may either consist of soft idlis, prepared out of a paste of fermented rice and black pulses, or dosa, an oval spread of the same ingredients. Well-seasoned appams or periappams, made by mixing this paste with tomatoes, onions and other handy vegetables, are some of the other morning culinary delights.





Midday Meals:

Midday meals consist of boiled rice that may be mixed with moru (curd or bitter milk) or rasam (thin clear pepper water or soup) and a range of vegetables. Pachadi is a delicious dish, cooked out of tiny pieces of mango, mixed with hot spices. Sambar, pulses prepared with vegetables is a standard daily fare. Thoran, a coconut-based dry fish dish that is mixed with minutely chopped vegetables, herbs and curry leaves, and similar to avial, which is cooked in a sauce, is another delectable dish.Pappaddakams, or crunchy round flakes made of rice flour,chutneys (a kind of sauce) and pickles, are scrumptious additions without which a meal is incomplete.



Wheat preparations are more popular in Muslim establishments. Well-prepared spirals called barottas and pathiris are made from refined flour, fried in oil and served with vegetables and curries.Chappathi, poori (a sort of baked or deep fried equivalent of bread)may be cooked optionally.

Diverse Use of Ingredients:

A melange of aromas resulting from the free use of pepper, cardamom, cloves, turmeric, ginger, chillies, and mustard, used in most curries, fill the kitchens of the well-to-do, but generally the poorer folks content themselves with kanji (rice with water) and take fish with tapioca. Most dishes in Kerala are cooked in coconut oil and are incomplete without a mandatory use of coconut in some form or the other.





Kerala Snacks:

Kerala is equally famous for traditionally homemade snacks a variety of banana chips, and rice flour cookies, are served with evening coffee.

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Sundal (Salted Chick Peas With Coconut)

Many South Indians must have heard about this salty evening snack called sundal. This is especially popular in the beaches of TamilNadu and Andhra. Considered a healthy and good evening snack, this is simply easy to prepare. Sundal is also prepared on the special occassion of Navrathri, where it is a ritual in India to offer Naivaidya to the goddess during the 9 days of the festival. This sundal is highly recommended by many tamilians who practice this ritual and also keep the traditon of Gollu at home ( a preparation where idols of gods and goddess is decorated in a staircase like structure and prayed during the navrathri). In southern coastal areas, coconut is basic ingredient in most of the cuisines be it daily food, snacks or breakfast. It is consumed in all ways be it coconut, milk, grated coconut or as paste.

A interesting fact is that coconut is though considered hard to digest by many people, it is highly good for skin and hair. Keralities swear by coconut and its evident of its benefits from their good skin and dark long thick hairs.
Ingredients:
Chick peas - 2 cups
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin seeds (optional) - 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida (hing) - 1 pinch or 1/4 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 10-12 nos
Dry red chillies - 2-3 nos
Grated coconut or dessicated coconut - 1/2 cup
Salt - to taste.


Method:

1. Soak the yellow peas the previous night for about 6-8 hours. If you plan to make it for an evening snack, it is enough if you soak it that morning.
2. Drain all the water and pressure cook with a little salt and just enough water that they just reach the top of the peas.
3. Do not add too much that the peas drown in the water. This will render them mushy.
4. Switch off after 2 whistles and open after pressure is released.
5. In a kadai, add a spoon of coconut oil and when it is hot, add mustard, curry leaves and a dash of hing.
6. Immediately add the cooked yellow peas and a little salt.
7. Garnish with coconut and stir well for a minute.
8. Remove and serve hot as a evening snack or as neivaidyam on festive occassions.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes (excluding soaking time)
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4 persons
Shelflife: 1 day
Serving Suggestions: Serve hot with evening tea or coffee.


Variation:
A small variation can be done in sundal as it can noticed in marina beach where during the mango season, hawkers add finely chopped pieces of raw mango (kachchi ambi/ manga) to this sundal for a tangy taste.



Note:

• Sundal can be prepared with Dark Kabuli channa too.
• Sundal preparation vary from place to place as per taste. Like some people add chopped ginger to this and some avoid coconut since they find it hard to digest. This one is basic sundal prepared the same way by almost many people.

Click here to know all about Tamil Nadu cuisines- Introduction To Tamil Nadu Cuisines And Recipes

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Vegetable Semiya Upma (vermicelli Upma)

Indian vermicelli is delicacy which is quiet tasty and delicious. Vermicelli is widely used in many indian recipes like kheer, pulao and upmas. I had already posted few recipes with vermicelli as its main ingredient.
Many people tend to have a opinion on vermicelli that it might not be intresting stuff to eat especially childrens. Even i was one of them. As a child i always used to find vermicelli also called semiya as a boring food and would run away at the mention of it. I still remember how maa used to run after me asking to atleast taste it and i would give her a good chase making her angry and tired. Now that i am grown up girl who is incharge of kitchen and everyone's health at home, its now that i realise the pain she would to take while cooking in the kitchen. Love you maa.

This food which i used to find damn boring as a kid is one of my favourite as a grown up girl. And now though i am grown up and cook them very well yet when it comes to my favourite food, i ask my maa to cook for me instead , i simply love the cook when she cooks for me. It is rightly said in hindi that "maa ke haath ke khane mein jaadu hota hai", i completely agree with it.

This recipe is a south Indian (Tamil Nadu) recipe and is a healthy breakfast . Adding vegetable adds a good taste to this recipe and makes it look delightful to the eyes of kids who run away from food. As such this recipe doest need any side dish and can be served alone which adds a good factor. It is quiet interesting to cook and more interesting to serve them. Also this can be counted as a good evening snack and also for a good party menu .

The vegetables which can be added to vegetable upma are similar to those of Pulav. And the amount of vegetables can be adjusted as per one's choice and love for veggies. I prefer more veggies since i believe in having more veggies to my diet for a good health and balance. So the vegetables that can be added are carrots, peas, potatoes and cauliflower . Even cashewnuts can be added to make it intresting . Besides that a good thadka gives a excellent taste to vegetable Upma.


Ingredients:
Vermicelli - 1 packet ( available ready made in market)
Oil - 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 1 string or 10-12 leaves
Onion - 1 medium, finely chopped.
Carrots - 2 carrots, cut into thick jullinne or big strips
Peas - 1/2 cup (soaked overnight for atleast 6 hours)
Potatoes - 2 potatoes, cut into thick jullinne or big strips
Cauliflower - 1/2 cup (optional), cut into tiny florets
Grated Coconut - 2 tablespoons.
Vanaspati or desi ghee - 1 tablespoon
Salt - to taste.



Method:

1. Take a kadai and roast the vermicelli till it changes its colour to light pink . Dont allow it to turn brown, just roast it enough that it changes the colour. Roasting makes the vermicelli softer and tastier. These days readymade roasted vermicellis are easily available in market, even those can be used instead of roasting them also it costs just 2 rupees more then the ordinary ones.
2. Remove the roasted Vermicelli is a plate and allow it to cool.
3. Take a deep bottomed kadai and keep it on flame.
4. Add a tablespoon of oil to it . Add the mustard seeds and allow it to crackle.
5. Once the mustard seeds crackle, add the chopped onions and saute them till it turn translucent or pinkish in colour.
6. Now add the curry leaves and saute it for a minute.
7. Once this initial thadka is ready, add 3 cups of water in the kadai and allow it to boil.
8. When it boils, add the chopped vegetables and salt and stir well. Close the kadai with a lid and allow it to cook for sometime till the vegetable become tender soft and gets cooked well.
9. After some 10 minutes, check the vegetables, they must be ready by now.
10. Add vanaspati or ghee and stir once again. Add the vanaspati or ghee at this stage since, it gives a fresh taste and aroma to the upma and thus making it delicious.
11. Now add the roasted vermicelli to the kadai and keep stiring it nicely till the vermicelli gets cooked and turns soft. Also see that the water gets absorbed as the upma gets ready.
12. When the water gets absorbed completely and the vermicelli is soft and cooked, remove it and keep aside.
13. Vegetable Vermicelli Upma is ready to serve.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes.
Cooking Time: 20 minutes.
Serves: 4 persons.
Shelflife: Best fresh.
Serving Suggestion: Serve hot as breakfast or as evening snack.



Note:

• Vegeables can be added as per choice and likings.
• Even cashewnuts can be added in this upma along with the veggies and allow them to get cooked in the water along with it.

Click here to know all about Tamil Nadu cuisines- Introduction To Tamil Nadu Cuisines And Recipes.

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Thengai Podi

I had mentioned and posted the recipe of molagai podi in my previous post. I was just wondering to prepare and think about similar recipes which are not only ready to use but also can be used in long run with a good blend of taste and match to the accompanying dish. It was then that my mom suggested about Thengai Podi. I had tasted and ate thengai podi in the past but never made it personally at home. But I was sure that it would good with south Indian breakfast and pancakes like dosa and idlis, since coconut goes very well with coastal side breakfast and also coconut is a coastal ingredient as too. I decided to prepare it and taste them. It really tastes delicious with dosas and Appams. Also, my family gave a thumps up to this thengai podi.

Though Thengai podi can be stored for that long like its counter part Molagai podi , it can surely add a god taste to the breakfast as a change.

Thengai podi is spicy and little juicy which makes it no less than sukha chutney which are readily available in stores these days. Though it not as long lasting like molagai podi, but it can surely be stored for 3 weeks if kept in air-tight container (keep it in the Refrigerator).




Ingredients:
Grated coconut - 3 small coconuts grated
Red chilli powder - 100 grams
Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoons
Roasted Urad dal powder- 3 tablepsoons (optional)
Salt- as per taste.



Method:

1. Grate 3 small coconuts and keep them aside.
2. Take a heavy bottomed deep pan or kadai and roast the grated coconut in it till it slightly changes its colour. Note that it doesnt turn too brownish. Roast it till, it appears little yellowish brown.
3. Lower the flame and add Asafoetida and red chilli powder to it and stir well so that it gets mixed properly.
4. Add salt as per taste.
5. Roasted urad dal can be added to this thengai podi , it gives a extra taste to the cuisine and goes well too.
6. Once all the ingredients are mixed properly, which takes just 2 minutes, turn off the flame and allow it to cool for sometime.
7. When cooled, store it a air tight container and keep it in the refrigerator. It will last upto 3 weeks if stored properly.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes.
Cooking Time: 10 minutes.
Serves: Goes upto 100 servings.
Shelflife: 3 weeks if stored in Refrigerator.
Serving Suggestions: Take a spoon of thangai podi and serve it along with dosa or appam or even idli.



Note:

• This recipe doesnt need much of the ingredients but one should roast it properly since, roasting makes it last longer.
• Roasted Urad dal can be added while stiring the powder, it gives extra taste to the thangai podi.

Click here to know all about Tamil Nadu cuisines- Introduction To Tamil Nadu Cuisines And Recipes

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Molagai Podi/ Milagai Podi (Gunshoot Powder)

Molagai Podi, is a well known powder from Tamil Nadu. Unlike other powders, its not a masala powder and is served along with idlis and dosas. It is prepared from common kitchen ingredients and lasts for months without adding any kind of preservatives. Whenever you are running out of time for making a side dish like chutney or sambhar for idli or dosa, this always comes as a substitute without much compromises.

Molagai Podi always is a necessary thing in my kitchen since I find it extremely useful when am running out of time and have a sudden unexpected guest at door. These days ready made powders are easily available in the market and also it comes with varieties such as a person might not like it too spicy, so they can opt for a sweeter one where a little amount of jaggery is added while grinding the powder which reduces the spiceness of the molagai podi.

I have seen different forms of podis in the market. Podi means powder, its a tamil word. The podis comes with the name as idli podi, dosai podi etc. But there is nothing to be much confussed about this. The ingredients are almost same but with little variation.

I always make it a point to prepare the molagai podi in a way which would go good with both dosas and idlis of all varieties and also that it is as per taste and needs of everyone. That makes my work easier. I am posting the way i prepare the molagai podi and i have seen that many people too prepare this the same way. So here goes the spicy and tasty molagai podi recipe.



Ingredients:
Dry Red chillies - 100 grams
Urad Dal- 150 grams
Sesame seeds - 50 grams
Asafoetida - 2 pinches
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 1 -2 tsp.



Method:

1. Take a deep heavy bottomed pan and add little oil to it. Keep it on low flame and roast urad dal oil. Roast it till you get a frangrance and the dal turns little rose in colour (dont allow it to turn brown).
2. Remove it a plate and allow it to cool.
3. Now in the same pan , roast the sesame seeds again in low flame till it changes its colour to light rose. Remove it in a plate and allow to cool.
4. Now roast the red chillies in the same pan for few seconds. Dont fry it till it turns brown. Once the wetness of the chillies is gone, remove it in a plate and allow to cool.
5. Once the ingredients are cooled, take them in a big mixer jar. Add salt as per taste and 2 pinches of asafoetida to it and grind it to a fine or coarse powder as per choice.
6. Remove the powder and store it in a air tight container or jar.
7. While serving add some gingelly oil (nallanai) , vegetabe oil or ghee and mix well. Then serve it with dosa or idlis.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Making Time: 20 minutes
Serves: This amounts makes a small jar which goes for around 50-60 times .
Shelflife: 6-8 months and even a year.
Serving Suggestion: While serving. add a spoon of podi in a plate or bowl. Then add some gingelly oil (nallanai), vegetable oil, sunflower oil or ghee . Mix well and serve with dosa or idlis.


Note:

• As a variation, You can add chana dal to this podi. Take about 50 grams of chana dal and roast it with little oil till it turns to light pink. Allow it to cool and grind it along the rest of the ingredients. It is a variation of podi .
• Some curry leaves too can be added to this podi. Just roast them the way red chillies are roasted and grind together with other ingredients. But however, i never include the curry leaves since i dont like the taste the podi gives when curry leaves are added.
• For those who dont want spicy taste, Just add tiny piece of jaggery while grinding the podi. This will give a wet look to the podi and also it mositens up with passing days. So i suggest avoid using jaggery. This podi is not the that spicy and can be easily chewed by anyone.
• You could even dry roast everything but, it will hit your throat really hard since it will get very dry. But note that you dont over roast them.
  
• So of you add some oil, it will become moist and also have that glowing red color.
  

I have already posted some of the recipes in my blog, this podi can be tried with them. Just click on the names for the recipes.
Adai.
Sada dosa.
Set Dosa.
Uttapa.
Idli.

Click here to know all about Tamil Nadu cuisines- Introduction To Tamil Nadu Cuisines And Recipes.

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