13 Things You Must Eat in Kerala

Kerala is indeed rich with its authentic dishes when it comes to food. This is because people mainly use coconut oil, coconut milk and grated coconut while making their dishes making it delicious. This addition of coconut products along with the special spices make the Kerala food stand out enhancing the taste and aroma.

Let’s take a small trip through the main cuisines of Kerala.

Puttu and Kadala

Puttu along with Kadala is a treasured breakfast dish in Kerala. This is a really filling breakfast served with a whole lot of curries. Kadala Curry is the most apt combination. Mutta curry and fish curry also goes well with puttu.  We can also have puttu with banana and milk.

Puttu is made with ground rice steamed with coconut filling in between.

Ela Ada

Ada or ela ada is a traditional kerala dish  steamed in banana leaf having a wonderful flavour. This is made with rice dough or ragi dough using banana leaves usually had as breakfast or as an evening snack.The wrapping adds to the aroma and taste.

Kerala Jackfruit Halwa

Jackfruit is a popular fruit in the hilly terrains of Kerala.The super tasty jackfruit halwa is made with ripe jackfruits, ghee and jaggery.

This jackfruit halwa is made during jackfruit season . This can also be stored for future use.

Chakka Varuthathu / Jackfruit Chips

Chakka Varuthathu is a deep fried jackfruit chip which is a very popular Kerala snack. This is prepared by deep frying the edible yellow part of jackfruit. This snack is very popular in kerala because the jackfruit trees are available in the yards of almost all Kerala homes. You can also store this chips in containers for long time use.

Kappa

Kappa is the local name for tapioca is one of the main dishes of Malayalees. A lot of foreign tourists prefer to have Kappa especially during their houseboat trips. This is both tasty as well as healthy.

There are various preparations available for Kappa. Mashed kappa is the most enjoyable one among them. You must try this mashed along with Kerala fish curry which is a mouthwatering dish. This dish is easy to cook and can be consumed as a starter, breakfast, side dish for your lunch, or as an anytime snack. This can also be eaten with various variety of chutneys and curries.

Kerala Fish Curry

The Kerala fish curry is red in colour mixed with Kudampuli or fish tamarind. This is one of the compulsory dish for almost all Malayalies. Fish tamarind adds the taste of the fish curry.Green Chilly, red chilly powder, fenugreek, tumeric, and curry leaves are the other taste makers.

This is an apt food for the Kerala climate and is a very healthy dish. This can be stored for many days , just that the proportion of the ingredients should be correct. Fish curry is normally prepared in clay pots in a traditional style to make it more delicious and durable.

Pazham Pori

Pazham pori is an exclusive Kerala snack, hardly seen in other parts of the country. This is a snack with a crispy outer cover with a  soft inner portion and is a sweet snack.

The preparation of this tasty snack is made with ripe banana and wheat flour.This crispy yellow pazham pori with a cup of hot tea is really yummy.

Unniyappam

Unniyappam is an exclusive traditional snack of Kerala brown in colour, crispy,spongy sweet dish made of rice flour banana and Jaggery. You can see this snack for all festivals and functions.

There is actually no substitute dish for unniyappam in Kerala.While preparing the crispy roasted coconut pieces and smell makes all Keralites nostalgic.

Kerala Chicken Curry

You will love this brown colored thick gravy if you are a non vegetarian. This chicken curry is also prepared in clay pots like Kerala fish curry.

Roasted coconut, coconut milk and spices are the essential ingredients of this curry. The curry is garnished with curry leaves and the smell is also very attractive while preparing.

Sadya

The sadya will suits your appetite if you are searching for a heavy lunch. This dish consist of rice and a lot of curries accompanied by sweet payasam. A normal sadhya consist of 5 to 7 curries but you will be served much more in larger functions.

The sadya is a complete vegetarian dish usually served during special functions and festivals. This is served on a banana leaf in a traditional style. The folding of banana leaf after lunch is also significant.

Palada Paysam

Palada payasam or palada is a dish which is sweet commonly served after lunch especially after sadya. To cook this payasam rice ada, milk and sugar are used in particular proportion. Raisins and cashew nuts are also added as a garnish to enhance the taste.

Kerala Biriyani

An all time favorite food in India is biriyani. The biryani preparation differs from place to place, and the name also changes according to place and the ingredients used in it. Biriyani is usually a mixture of  spices, rice, meat or vegetables.

The proportion of ingredients and the selection of rice are both very much important in the preparation of biryani. Aroma coming from biriyani is the most attractive quality of a biriyani.

Malabar biriyani is the tastiest among the variety of Kerala biriyani, and this is quite unique because of the choice of khaima rice. Biriyani is one of the common food in Kerala, served specially for functions and special days.

Kallummakaya

Kallummakaya is delicious non vegetarian food of the Malabar regions of kerala. We cannot find this mussels or kallumakkaya in other parts of kerala but all malayalees have enjoyed this auspicious dish.

Kallumakkaya is used to make tasty dishes like kallumakkaya fry, kallumakkaya curry and kallumakkaya biriyani. Roasted kallumakkaya with rice filling is the tastiest of them all. This is a traditional Thalassery dish, which is so hard to avoid at parties and special functions.