12 Iconic Kerala Food Combos You Must Try

South Indian Food: Curious to discover Keralite delicacies? This South Indian state is a treasure trove of various flavours and nourishing components. These are celebrated via elaborate meals just like the Sadhya and easy day by day meals eaten at dwelling. We have compiled an inventory of among the most iconic pairings of Keralite dishes. This listing has a twin operate. Firstly, if you wish to strive making Kerala meals at dwelling, this listing will enable you to get began with a couple of conventional recipes and perceive the important thing variations between them. Secondly, in the event you plan to go to Kerala and luxuriate in native meals, this listing will assist acquaint you with among the common delicacies you might discover on restaurant menus. Therefore, you’ll be capable to make knowledgeable selections about what to order. Are you able to delve into Kerala’s mouth-watering culinary scene? Continue studying under:

Here Are 12 Traditional Food Combinations From Kerala You Must Taste:

1. Appam with Stew

_{Kerala Food: Appam and stew is a beloved pairing. Photo Credit: iStock}

In Kerala, stew or ishtu typically refers to a gentle, flavourful curry with a coconut milk base. It is usually whitish in color (or gentle yellowish because of the addition of turmeric). There are a number of variations of stew, typically categorised primarily based on the primary ingredient: vegetable, rooster, mutton, and so forth. Whole spices lend the stew a refined but scrumptious aroma, whereas two extracts of coconut milk give it a creamy consistency. Click right here for the entire recipe
A preferred pairing with stew is appam. This refers to a mushy, fluffy pancake-like delicacy made utilizing a fermented rice batter. Coconut can be added to it in some kind. The batter is unfold on an appachatty – a particular non-stick pan that offers appam its distinctive rounded form (paying homage to a shallow bowl). Read the complete recipe right here.

2. Puttu with Kadala Curry

Kadala curry options black chickpeas (channa) cooked with coconut and Kerala garam masala – a spice combine sometimes made with fennel, mace, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and so forth. Other easy components like curry leaves, garlic, chillies, and so forth. are used to reinforce the general flavour of this curry. Its spiciness might be customised to your liking. Here’s the step-by-step recipe.
A basic combo in Kerala is puttu and kadala curry. Puttu is a steamed savoury cake-like deal with made with rice flour and coconut. It has a barely coarse and chewy texture, which enhances curries nicely. It is commonly steamed in a cylindrical mould. Want to strive making it at dwelling? Here’s a recipe.

Also Read: 15 Easy South Indian Recipes You Will Love

3. Idiyappam with Egg Curry

There are a number of variations of Kerala-style egg curries. Some recipes embody coconut milk whereas others do not. The actual souring agent used may additionally differ. But all of them are filled with the goodness of many spices that this state is famend for. Read one recipe for a Kerala egg curry right here.
If you wish to respect the layers of yumminess of this egg curry, go for a layered accompaniment: idiyappam (string hoppers). It consists of bundles of steamed noodle-like strands fabricated from rice flour. A particular idiyappam mould/presser is used. This stringy delicacy could also be served as a ball or as a barely flattened pancake. Either approach, make sure you prime it with a lot of spicy curry and dig in earlier than it turns too soggy! Here’s how one can make idiyappam at dwelling.

4. Parotta with Kurma

Another curry-like preparation you have to strive is Kerala-style kurma. While this dish has many variations throughout the nation, this explicit one derives its distinctive flavour from native staples like coconut and particular spices. Like stew, kurma might be made with greens in addition to with rooster/meat.
Malabar parotta, one of the vital well-known flatbreads of Kerala, is a good way to scoop up kurma. While it has a couple of similarities with what is taken into account “paratha” in different elements of the nation, it isn’t the identical delicacy. It has a mushy but flaky texture with layers that aren’t at all times straightforward to grasp. Read the recipe right here to be taught extra.

5. Parotta with Kerala Roast/Fry Dishes

Parotta is simply too iconic a dish for us to listing just one combo with it. If you do not wish to eat it with curry, take pleasure in it with semi-dry preparations brimming with flavours. For occasion, you’ll be able to scoop up fried fish preparations, rooster/mutton pepper roast, chemmeen (prawns) roast, rooster/mutton/pork fry, and so forth. with flaky parottas. Here’s a recipe for Kerala Chicken roast. If you are searching for a mutton recipe, strive this one.

6. Appam with Nadan Kozhi Curry or Parippu Curry

Just like parotta, do not restrict your self to 1 or two pairings with appam. It might be paired with so many lip-smacking dishes! If you wish to discover one thing apart from stew, go for a delicacy like Nadan Kozhi curry. This conventional Kerala-style rooster curry might be simply made at dwelling. Here’s a step-by-step recipe. If you desire a vegetarian various, why not go for lentils? Parippu curry is a gentle Keralite preparation of yellow moong dal and really tastes nice with appam. We have tried it and located ourselves craving it many times! Click right here for a recipe.

7. Pathiri with Chicken/Mutton/Fish Curry

Kerala meals: Photo Credit: iStock

Pathiri is a standard flatbread that’s believed to have originated from the Malabar area of Northern Kerala. While it is probably not as common exterior the state as Malabar parotta, it’s a delight you have to not ignore. Pathiri is made utilizing solely 3-4 primary components, together with rice flour, salt and water (full recipe right here). Its mushy and delicate texture is just like that of chapatis/rotis somewhat than different rice flour-based Keralite meals. Its exterior look could remind you of a really flat dosa, however it’s not the identical factor. Within the general class of Keralite delicacies, pathiri is claimed to be part of the Malabari Muslim delicacies. Pathiri might be mixed with all kinds of dry preparations in addition to curries. It is commonly served with richly spiced rooster, mutton or fish curries. Here’s a Kerala-style prawn curry recipe you’ll be able to pair with.

8. Ghee Rice with Meen Moilee

Rice is a necessary a part of Keralite delicacies because it’s essentially the most generally consumed grain within the state. It’s used to make an innumerable quantity of delicacies, starting from snacks to desserts. Multiple rice varieties are present in Kerala, together with Matta rice (Palakkad Matta rice/Kerala crimson rice), Jeerakasala Rice (Wayanadan Kaima rice), Gandhakasala Rice, Navara Rice, and extra. You can take pleasure in plain boiled rice or ghee rice with many varieties of dishes. A consolation meals combo is steamed Kerala rice with Meen Moilee. The latter is a fish curry with a coconut milk base. It has a fragile and barely candy style in contrast to lots of the different fish curries which have stronger tastes marked by tartness or spiciness. Here’s how one can make Meen Moilee at dwelling.
Ghee rice can be a staple meals in Kerala. This aromatic dish is made by cooking rice with ghee, primary spices, onions, roasted cashews, raisins, and so forth. Click right here for a recipe.

9. Kerala Rice with Sambar and Vegetable Preparations

_{Kerala Food: Sambar and rice are sometimes eaten with vegetable sides. Photo Credit: iStock}

If you are searching for a vegetarian pairing with Kerala rice, the choices are countless! If you need one thing gentle and satisfying, select sambar. This curry-like preparation differs barely from area to area in South India. Thus, the sambar you get in Tamil Nadu is not going to style precisely the identical because the one you get in Kerala. Relishing it with plain rice may help you respect these intricacies.
Many varieties of vegetable preparations are sometimes eaten together with sambar rice. They add additional fibre and nutritional vitamins to the meal, aside from bringing pleasant textures and aromas. Choose common dishes like avial, thoran, erissery, pachadi, and so forth. If you wish to take pleasure in solely the vegetable delicacies with no curry, skip the sambar and select ghee rice as an alternative of plain rice.

Also Read: How to Cook Thoran? Kerala’s Best Loved Stir-Fry Preparation

10. Kappa and Meen Curry

Kappa refers to tapioca or cassava. In Kerala, it’s typically boiled, mashed and combined with coconut, inexperienced chillies, garlic and spices to make a healthful dish (Full recipe right here). A fiery crimson fish curry referred to as meen curry is commonly eaten with kappa. It is historically cooked in a clay pot referred to as manchatti. It has a particular tanginess derived from using tamarind or kudampuli (Malabar tamarind). The easy starchiness of the tapioca enhances the spicy richness of the curry fairly nicely. Click right here for a simple recipe for meen curry.

11. Thattu Dosa with Chutneys

You can discover quite a few forms of dosas in Kerala and one of many distinctive sorts you have to strive is thattu dosa. Its title is claimed to have been derived from the common-or-garden roadside consuming joints referred to as “thattukadas” in Kerala. Thattu dosa is usually smaller and thicker than the common dosa. It is mushy and spongy on the within, with a barely crisp exterior (Complete recipe right here). Thattu dosa might be served with chutneys, sambar, curries, and so forth. For a basic pairing, go for coconut chutney (Click right here for a recipe.) You may also discover regional variations of ginger chutney, tomato chutney, curry leaves chutney, and so forth.

12. Pazham Pori and Tea

_{Kerala Food: Pazham Pori is a fried delight common throughout tea time. Photo Credit: iStock}

For the ultimate entry on our listing, we’re transferring past savouries to deliver you an iconic tea-time combo in Kerala: Pazham Pori (banana fritters) and Chai (Tea). Ripe Nendran bananas (Nenthra Pazham) are sometimes used for making these scrumptious filters. The fruits are sliced/chopped and coated in a flippantly sweetened flour batter earlier than being fried to golden perfection. Read the entire recipe (*12*)right here. While pazham pori might be relished as they’re, having them together with tea enhances total satisfaction. In most elements of Kerala, tea is extra generally consumed than espresso and you’ll simply discover varied choices for a similar in most consuming joints.

Also Read: 10 Delicious South Indian Mutton Dishes You Must Try

This compilation is on no account an exhaustive listing. There are a number of different iconic delicacies, drinks and meal combos you have to style in Kerala. So, when are you planning to go to and uncover them authentically?