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Besides the magnificent beaches, wonderful backwaters and swaying coconut trees, Kerala attracts the tourists with its culinary specialties. Kerala's people produce one of the tastiest foods on earth. However, to really appreciate Kerala cuisines, you need to have a taste for chilies. The cuisines of Kerala are very spicy and hot, inviting you to a gastronomic adventure of sorts. The food is usually aromatic, flavoured and fresh. Rice and fish are the most predominant elements in the cuisine of the Kerala people.
Due to abundance of coconut trees, the food is rich with coconut. One can't imagine the Kerala food without mustard seed, asafoetida, chilies, tamarind and curry leaves. A pinchful of tamarind is used as the substitute for tomatoes. Coconut is an integral part of the Kerala cuisine.
Rice, and dried and salted fish are the main course in the Kerala lunch and dinner. Shrimps, crustaceans and prawns are also very popular. The breakfast includes idlis, dosa or appams along with steaming coffee. Appam is a soft pancake prepared from the toddy fermented rice batter. It is soft, spongy in the middle with the crispy edges. It is consumed with the vegetables or mutton or stew, mellowed with thick coconut milk.
The mid-day meals include boiled rice along with moru (curd or buttermilk) or rasam and various vegetables. Thoran is a coconut-based dish of dry fish which can infuse delight into the meals. Puttu is a kind of steam cake prepared from the rice flour. It is steamed in the long hollow bamboo or metal cylinders. It can be taken along with sugar and bananas or with spicy curry made from chickpeas or gram. The hot rasam is served along with the meals. It plays an important role in Kerala cuisines. This tangy item is poured on the steamed rice. It is said that the popular British 'Mulligatawny Soup' has derived its flavour from the rasam. Rasam is the mixture of pepper corn powders and chilly, boiled in the diluted juice of tamarind. Sadya is an extravagant vegetarian feast in Kerala and is enjoyed on the festive occasions and marriages. It comprises of approximately 40 vegetarian items, and is served on the plantain leaf.
Even after all these, a traditional Kerala meal is incomplete without round, crunchy, rice flakes, pickles and chutneys. Kerala is well-known for its traditional home-made snacks such as rice flour cookies and banana chips, which can be served with the evening coffee.
Some of the popular dishes in Kerala are:
Dry fish curry
Meen peera
Masala fried fish
Chili garlic prawns
Mutton coconut fry
Duck mappas
Stuffed chicken 'Kerala style'
Finger prawns
Fish Moilee
Malabar mutton biryani
Tender coconut soufflé
Chiratta puttu and cheru payar
Desserts
The rich deserts constitute integral parts of Kerala cuisines. They are served during the meals. Payasam is a thick, fluid dish made from brown molasses, spice and coconut milk. It is garnished with raisins and cashew nuts. Different types of payasam are Bengal gram payasam, the jackfruit payasam and lentil payasam. A rich payasam with thin rice wafers is an ultimate dish.
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