I felt that for this month’s food buzz 24X24 it would be
nice to introduce the cuisine from Kerala, my birth place. Unlike other Indian cooking it is not
popularized in Indian restaurant abroad. Kerala has its own language, Malayalam,
and a cuisine influenced by locally available ingredients such as rice, coconut,
plantains, tapioca, jackfruit, mango, Gambooge /
kodampuli etc.
Kerala is also known
as “Gods own country” for its beautiful beaches, backwaters, beautiful Asian elephants
and luscious coconut trees. It is considered to be one of the best tourist
locations in India. Even National Geographic named that 50 greatest destination
of world. Life fast and moving at the
speed of light anywhere else in world, where in Kerala it is slow, moving
leisurely.
It is also the land of spices. Kerala has a long history of trade in the
spices, with the Dutch, Portuguese and British coming to India attracted by
spices from Kerala, especially black pepper. It is also one of rare state in India
where all the 3 major religions (Hinduism, Christianity and Islam) being
practiced by approx 30%. It is also the state where St. Thomas the Apostle, one
of the twelve disciples of Jesus, landed in 52 A.D. He preached the Gospel,
organized Christian communities in several places and established seven
churches in Kerala and then at last got martyrdom in Mylapore, Chennai, in 72
A.D. It also where Ayurvedic medicine
originated and practiced till date.
Even though Kerala cuisine doesn’t have a starter, or a
salad, it has complete meal with equal amount of nutritional components like
carbohydrates and proteins. It is also
gluten free. Vegetarian dishes are mildly spiced compared to non-vegetarians
counter parts. Just like Thai cuisine, it heavily uses entire coconut, coconut milk and uses coconut
oil like Philippines. Other part of India people likes to eat white
rice or basmati along with wheat where as in Kerala people like to use
parboiled
red rice called rose matta. It tastes really nutty and chewy compared to
Basmati. Raw red rice is used to make desserts and famous breakfast dish like
puttu
(Steamed rice cake/ muffins),
Appam (pancake), Dosa (Rice and lentil Crepe) etc. Most famous breakfast is
puttu-
Kadala (steamed rice cake, chana dal curry),
Appam – Mutta curry (Egg curry),
Idiyappam-vegetable ishtu( vegetable-stew) and
Pathiri
( flat bread made with rice) –mutton curry. Breakfast dishes uses less oil,
however it contains coconut or coconut milk.
Some time breakfast will be simple as rice porridge (kanji) and
moong beans cooked with coconut and spices ( payrau).
Although rice is major carbohydrate sources, we also like to
use Tapioca (cassava) as the second important starch. It usually consumed with
spicy relish made with small onion and red chili if you are vegetarian,
non-veggies consume with fish curry.
Lunch and dinners are usually elaborate with parboiled rice
as main dishes with two- three sides. Side dishes will be of two kinds; one
will
ozhichu
kootan /curry (meaning liquid /wet curry) which is mixed with rice and also
act as a binder. Then other one will be dry curries such as thoran /Upperi and
Mezhukupruatti.
Thoran (stir fry) always contains seasoning like, urad dal, mustard seeds,
curry leaves and coconut with touch of cumin where as Mezhukupuratti contains
only seasoning and curry leaves no coconut but coconut oil is used. Curry
leaves are another essential part of Kerala cooking including all southern and
western Indian cooking. They are usually toasted along with seasoning and curry
leaves tend to realize volatile oils and give a nice flavor. Even though
Gourmetsleuth.com
says it can substitute with kaffir lime leaves or basil leaves I can’t agree
with it. Curry leaves have distinct flavor and aroma also supposed to be help
in digestion.
Wet curries are usually made with vegetables coconut gravy
either spiced with green chili or red chili. Some time ginger and garlic is
used. However, its non-vegetarian counterpart contains coriander, garm masala,
ginger, garlic and red chili powder. Souring agents like tamarind, Gambooge / kodampuli etc. is used to make sea food curries.
Where as in chicken and other meat no souring agent is used, exception is there
when they use vinegar and lemon juice. Some time they are made with simple
ingredients like onion, shallots, ginger, garlic, green chili, red chili
powder, and coriander and garm masala with or without coconut milk.
Among the sea food, fish and prawns are used as curries
compared to mussels and oysters. Fish fried and curry with red hot chili powder
is most common in local booze shops: Toddy
(Toddy made from coconut sap) also Arrack. If you want a really spicy fish
curry, duck roast, pork roast with boiled or mashed tapioca then you need to
visit these shops. Nowadays not only guys who buys booze goes to these shop,
even there is a separate section of families who come to taste these delicacies.
Kerala cuisine also has myriad of vegetarian dishes, such as
aviyal,
thoran, mezhukupuratti,
pachadi,
kichadi,
theeyal,
sambhar,
rasam
Moru
curry ( yogurt curry) ,
pulissery
etc. Our grand feast
Sadhya always has sweet, sour, bitter, acidic, spicy and
salty tasting curries.
Our pickles are spicy and rich in sesame oil and salt so
that it can remain at room temperature without any preservative. Pickles are
made with
raw
mango,
lemon/lime
and
goose
berries. Non-vegetarian versions
include fish and meat pickle.
There are no cold desserts; but we have warm desserts called
payasam or pradhaman. There are lots of varieties such as one with
rice and milk(Pal Payasam), rice flakes
(Palada pradhaman), channa dal, jaggery (unrefined
sugar similar to Mexican Panela) and coconut milk (
kadala parippu Pradhaman) my
hubby’s favorite. We also make Payasam or pradhaman with
jackfruit, mango,
pineapple etc.
Drinks commonly
found in Kerala are buttermilk drink (Sambaram)
spiced with green chili, ginger and curry leaves, lemon juice and also boiled water with herbs called
Karingali
vellam/ Chukku Vellam/ Dahashamani. It is only Indian state where people
drink boiled water.
5-10 varieties of banana and plantains are found in Kerala. The major banana types being Dwarf Cavendish, Apple banana, burro bananas,
plantains etc. other fruits includes,
Two types of Jackfruit, Koozha chakka, the fruits of which have
small, fibrous, soft, mushy, but very sweet carpel where as other one will be
more important commercially, with crisp carpers of high quality known as Varika.
There are also 4-6 varieties of mango and the other custard apple, guava,
papaya, cashew fruit.
Vanilla bean, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper,
nutmeg, star anise, bay leaf , Cloves, Thyme, Basil, Mint, Sage, Rosemary and
Oregano etc
whatever spice you name it you can find there except all spice. In addition
spices there are coffee and tea plantation in Kerala.
So in order to give an overall outlook of what I explained
here I selected the following menu.
Main
Choru (cooked Red parboiled rice)
Sides
Moru
curry (Spicy yogurt curry cooked with coconut and spices)
Aviyal
(Mixed vegetables cooked with coconut, cumin and green chili)
Non vegetarian
Fish fry ( Pomfert cooked
with homemade spices) Recipe follows
Chicken curry (Chicken cooked with coconut and spices)
Recipe follows
Pappadam (Indian Wafers) & Poovan pazham (Apple banana)
Dessert
Ariyum parippum pradhaman (Rice and moong beans cooked with
jaggery and coconut milk)
Drinks
Along with this I am giving the recipe of dessert which I
prepared Ariyum Parippum Pradhaman/ Rice and moong beans cooked with Jaggery
and coconut milk. This combo can be made as thick pudding when there is no
coconut milk is added. I like liquid puddings which amma used make. For this you need first fry the moong dal/
spilt moong beans until it release aroma two or 3 minutes. Then cook with fried
moong beans along with raw red rice. Once the rice is cooked then add jaggery
/unrefined sugar and cook for few minutes and then add coconut milk in 3
additions, third milk will be more diluted with water, then second one less
compared to third and first will be thick milk you extract directly from the coconut
without any addition of water. Then spiced with green cardamom, ground ginger,
finally garnished with roasted coconut pieces and cashew nuts in Ghee/clarified
butter.
Everybody loved the desserts along with other dishes. Here goes the recipe for Payasam.
What you need
Payasam Rice/Raw Red Rice: ¾ cup
Cheruparippu/Split mung beans: ¼ + 1/8 cup
Jaggery: 1 ½ cup
Coconut milk: 1 tin
Water: 5 cups
Cardamom: 3nos
Ground ginger: ¼ teaspoon
Ghee/ Clarified butter: 1 tablespoon
Cashew nut: 1/4 cup
Coconut pieces: 2 tablespoon
How I made
First dry roast the split mung beans for 3-4 minutes or
until they become golden brown color and release a nice aroma. Set aside.
In a medium bowl add both rice and roasted moong beans and
wash 2-3 times and set aside.
In the mean time in another pan heat jaggery with ¼ cup
water and bring it to boil so that jaggery get melted completely. Strain and
remove the impurities and set aside Jaggery water.
In a thick bottom pan add both rice and moong beans and add
4 cups of water and cook for about 25 minutes and then add jaggery water to it.
Cook the rice mixture with jaggery water for another 3 minutes.
To rice- jaggery- mixture add ¼ cup coconut milk with 3/4 cup
of water and cook for another 3 minutes. Then add 1/2cup coconut milk + ¼ cup
water and cook for another 3 minutes. Then add crushed cardamom and ground
ginger and rest of coconut milk. Once you add thick coconut milk switch off the
flame.
In a small skillet add Ghee and fry coconut pieces and
cashew nuts until both turn golden brown and switch off the flame. Add this
fried coconut pieces and cashew nuts to Payasam mixture along with ghee.
Enjoy as much as you wish.
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Yield: 10 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Food was served in Banana leaves. Our Friend and my hubby’s co-worker Emanuel
as well as neighbor and friend Yolanda and her daughter Makayala joined the
party along with my family.
The party began at 7.45 PM and we were having fun till 10.30 PM.
Thanks to Food buzz for giving this wonderful opportunity to feature
Kerala cuisine in May edition of 24X24.
