A Gastronomical Voyage to the land of coconuts and God’s own country – Kerala

Vactions to me are all about good food and lazing around. I travel to eat and explore the culture through the cuisine. Kerala has been spectacular in terms of diversification of flavours. I had long car journeys so it was quite obvious that I’d try food from the local eateries on the way. The only way to understand the food culture of a place is to try out local eateries and that’s exactly what I did. Most of these local eateries dont have a proper name but the food served is top notch and too cheap to be true. So this blog post will be all about what I tried and the price range but alas! mentioning the area will be a task.

●POROTTA.

First and foremost comes the Kerala Porotta! Nothing beats this flaky masterpiece. You need to have this porotta to believe that the packaged porottas are nothing but a facade. 😖😞 I wish I could take back like dozens of these porottas! The layers are prominent but with minimal oil. At any average eatery a piece of porotta will roughly cost you Rs.10-Rs.15.

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●VEGETABLE QURMA

Pair these porottas with vegetable qurma for a brilliant breakfast! Qurma is nothing but vegetables simmered in a thick coconut gravy flavoured with south indian spices and star anise – Very subtle and mild in terms of flavour.😊 I am definitely a fan of this combination. A plate of qurma is available from Rs.35.00 onwards.

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●SADHYA

How can you visit Kerala and not have the Sadhya? Sadhya is a variety of vegetarian dishes traditionally served on a banana leaf. There can be as much as 26 dishes in a typical sadhya but these many dishes are usually served during a malayali wedding. Pictured below is a sadhya served at an average eatery on the highway. All this for Rs.220.00 only with unlimited servings of the side dishes. This makes up for a delectable hearty meal.

Components :

•Rice.

•Roti.

•Pachadi : A side dish curry similar to the North Indian raita, and is made with yoghurt, coconut, ginger and curry leaves and seasoned with mustard.

•Moru : Kerala style Butter Milk Curry with coconut.

•Thoran : Kerala style coconut based vegetable stir fry – This one had Plantain.

•Aviyal : A thick mixture of curried vegetables and coconut, seasoned with coconut oil and curry leaves.

•Kadala curry : Black chickpea stew.

•Koottukari or Koottu curry is a yellow curry featuring one or two vegetables such as banana and coconut, and has a hot and sweet taste.

•Pulisseri is a simple curd based Kerala side dish. It is usually prepared with ash gourd or pappaya or cucumber.

•Sambar : A lentil based dish of South India.

•Mango Uruga : Pickle.

•Kalaan : It is made of yogurt, coconut and one vegetable like plantain or yam.

•Rasam : A soup prepared with tamarind pulp. Not pictured are the four kinds of Payasam without which a sadhya is incomplete. The payasams are excellent! Thick and sweet! Just amazing.❤

■Palada payasam or Rice ada payasam.

■Pazham payasam or Ripe banana payasam.

■Gothambu payasam or Broken wheat payasam.

■Parippu payasam or Moong daal payasam.

Vermicelli payasam

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Palada payasam or rice ada payasam

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Gothambu payasam or Broken wheat payasam.

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Extended version of sadhya in form of a thali. .

●DOSA.

More than idlis, people in Kerala seem to be fond of Dosas. The sambar is a bit different than what I have had in other states – Different as in, the sambar here is more flavourful with a punch of sour tinge. I love the tomato red chutney and green chutney! And the coconut chutney is pretty darn awesome too with a danedar texture. It’s lovely!

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●IDIYAPPAM AND KERALA VEGETABLE STEW

Idiyappam/String hoppers are thin steamed rice noodles which are usually dunked into kerala style vegetable stew and then straight into the mouth! This vegetable stew is generally made with a combination of vegetables cooked in a thick coconut gravy with a mild flavour of star anise and a few other spices. The stew is light yet lipsmackingly delicious! Pocket pinch : Idiyappam for 20 bucks and vegetable stew for 100 bucks.

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●BIRYANI

How can biryani not make it to this list? Biryani is literally available throughout kerala – From every kiosk to every high end eatery. People here are extremely fond of beef but if you are a non-beef eater like me, you can definitely opt for their chicken biryani.

Unlike other south Indian states, the chicken biryani made in kerala has no overpowering taste of curry patta/curry leaves (Murraya koenigii) rather, there’s just a slight hint of that flavour.

Different from normal biryani, kerala biryani is made of short grained rice and it almost resembles the texture of chicken curry-rice combo but it’s just so good! Brilliant, i’d say. Also, the quantity is huge! And the chicken pieces are equivalent to the size of John Cena’s biceps. Dear lord! A plate of biryani usually comes with 2 pieces large pieces of chicken. Kerala biryani is definitely my favourite most biryani after the Kolkata one!

A plate of chicken biryani will cost you Rs.130-Rs.180! And a plate of fish biryani is about Rs.180.00 – Rs.200 [A detailed review about the fish biryani will be up on my next post]. However, I’d ask you to stay away from vegetable biryani (Rs.90-150) because my experience with this one wasn’t quite right.

Chicken Biryani with Murgh tikka kasuri methi

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Fish biryani

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Vegetable biryani

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● GOBHI MANCHURIAN/CAULIFLOWER MANCHURIAN

I was surprised as much as you are right now to see gobhi manchurian making to this table. You can find gobhi manchurian/chilli gobhi everywhere! It’s all over the place and they are pros at making it. Such brilliant utilisation of the very humble cauliflower. They batter fry cauli florets and then toss them in a amalgamation of indianised chinese sauces. OH DEAR GOD! It’s fantabulous! I would advice you to go for the dry version of manchurian or chilli gobhi to ejoy the crispness of the batterfried beauty! Pocket pinch varies from Rs.70 – Rs.100!

Gobhi Munchuria (gravy) – I would recommend you to try the dry version though

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●CHILLI CHICKEN

Another dish that the malayalis have mastered in! They actually make some intense spicy chilli chicken. The chillies used are different from the regular green chillies. They are huge but aren’t as spicy but the chillies deliver a really nice aroma. Caution: This can be very very very oily! But then again, you cannot be really worried about your calories when you have such a beauty infront of you. Pair this up with some porotta and your tummy will thank you!😬 A plate of chilli chicken will dig a hole of about 110 bucks, in your pocket. Legit enough!

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●FRIED RICE When it comes to chindian (chinese + indian) staples, people here fall a step back because most of the time they dont get the seasoning right. Otherwise, it’s actually quite lipsmacking! Too oily again but totally fine! Pocket pinch: Rs.120 – Rs.150.

Seafood friedrice

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Chicken friedrice

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Vegetable friedrice

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● ONION VADAI Priced at only Rs.8.00, you can find vadais at every nook and corner, in Kerala. They are crisp on the outside and doughy inside – almost like a doughnut. The onion vadais are plain and subtle in terms of flavour with just hints of fried onions here and there. Not bad, I’d say.

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● FRIED FISH (MEEN VARUTHATHU)/TANDOORED FISH /GRILLED FISH/ FISH CURRY As expected Kerala being close to the coast, you’re ought to get fresh seafood. Every other eating house (the non vegetarian ones, of course!) serve fried fishes. Some eateries have huge varieties and some are restricted to only one or two kinds. They usually fry the fish after applying a marinade of ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, turmeric powder, lime juice and salt. The common fishes are King fish (or, Ayakoora), White tuna (or, Choora), Pomfret (or, Avoli), Red Snapper (or, Pahari/Chemballi) and Jumbo Prawns (or, Konju).

For fish curries, they are more inclined towards using white tuna, the texture of which may not be liked by many (like my parents). Also, the fish curries are heavily flavoured with curry leaves, star anise, coconut milk and cooked in coconut oil. The overall punch of flavours can be very, very strong for someone not used to it.

Seafood can be as cheap as Rs. 80/piece to as expensive as 1000/Whole Fish (depending upon the size of the fish).

Fried Pomfret

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Tandoori Red Snapper @Rs.700.00

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Grilled Jumbo Prawns

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Grilled Kingfish

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Tuna fish curry with anar pulao.

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●FRIED CHICKEN

Keralites have a thing for fried chicken and they take it very seriously. The marinade is similar to that of the fried fish but with an addition of curry leaves! The pinch in your pocket isn’t very heavy to be honest. It will dig a hole of Rs.150.00 to Rs.190.00 for a plate full of these fried goodies.

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●FALOODA.

Falooda or should I call it the desi version of Tutti Fruiti? Falooda can be found in nearly every nook and corner of Kerala. This one had a scoop of vanilla icecream on top and various thick creamy fluids in mango, pistachio, strawberry flavours and then topped with Pomegranate seeds, ground nuts, cashews and pieces of jelly. Too heavy and sweet for one but totally worth all the calories! A portion of falooda will cost you close to Rs.150.00.

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●IMARTI

Imarti is basically deep fried lentil batter in a flower shape which is dipped into a sugar syrup flavoured with rose water and cardamom, after deep frying. In Kerala, the imarti isn’t as crisp as the ones we get in Bengal. It is also not very sweet so people with a serious sweet tooth might not be a fan!

Price range : Rs. 8.00 – Rs.12.00/ piece.

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●UNCLE JOHN’S MEGA BAR

The icecreams under the brandname of Uncle John are surprisingly so delicious and yet super cheap! I became a fan of this Mega Bar icecream after having it for the first time from a local shop in Kochi. I tried a couple more icecreams but Mega Bar priced at Rs.35.00 only, has got be a clear winner. It’s quite chocolaty and smooth inside with a hard outer coat of chocolate. Totally amazing!

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●MILKSHAKES

Did I tell you that you can get some really amazing milkshakes too? Filled with nuts, butter scotch crisps and flavoured syrups, these iceream based milkshakes can definitely satisfy your major sweet cravings within 150 bucks!

Butterscotch milkshake

Chocolate Milkshake

And that brings me to the end of this blog post!

I know I have definitely missed more than a few dishes so, I apologise in advance.

Hope you had a good time going through the pictures and the write up!

Also, I will be soon reviewing one of my favourite restaurants in Kochi. So stay tuned!😁

Have a good day.😀

Kovalam.❤ [One of my favourite places on Earth.]