Kerala cuisine facts for kids

Kerala cuisine is a special way of cooking that comes from Kerala, a state in southwestern India. This cuisine has many delicious dishes, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. People in Kerala often use fish, chicken, and meat in their cooking, and rice is usually served with every meal.

To make their food tasty, cooks in Kerala use lots of spices! Some common ones are chillies, curry leaves, coconut, mustard seeds, turmeric, tamarind, and asafoetida. Kerala is even called the "Land of Spices" because it has traded spices with countries like Europe for thousands of years, even as far back as 3000 BCE!

Parotta in Malappuram

How History and Culture Shaped Kerala Food

Kerala's food has been shaped by its long history and different cultures. When many Muslims and Christians came to Kerala, they brought their own unique dishes and cooking styles, especially for non-vegetarian food.

Most people in Kerala today don't have strict rules about what they can eat based on their religion. However, some Hindu groups might not eat beef or pork. Most Muslims do not eat pork or other foods that are forbidden by their religious laws.

What's on the Menu in Kerala?

A restaurant menu in Kerala

One very famous traditional vegetarian meal in Kerala is called the Kerala sadya. Imagine a huge feast! A full sadya has rice and about 20 different side dishes and desserts. It's a special meal served during celebrations like weddings, Onam, and Vishu. All this delicious food is served on a plantain leaf instead of a plate!

Traditional Kerala sadhya

Because Kerala has traded with many different places for a long time, some local dishes have mixed with foreign ones. This has created new and exciting flavors! Since coconuts grow everywhere in Kerala, grated coconut and coconut milk are often used to make dishes thick and flavorful.

Kerala has a long coastline and many rivers, so there's a lot of seafood available. Fish and other seafood are a big part of meals here. Rice and tapioca are also grown a lot, and they are the main starchy foods in Kerala.

For thousands of years, Kerala has been a major producer of spices. So, it's no surprise that cooks often use black pepper, cardamom, clove, ginger, and cinnamon. Kerala also has many different breakfast dishes like idli, dosa, appam, idiyappam, puttu, and pathiri.

Idiyappam served with egg

Hindu Dishes

A typical sadhya, where banana leaves are used as plates

Sadhya items ready to be served. Clockwise from top: paayasam or pradhaman, bitter gourd thoran, aviyal, kaalan, lime pickle, sambar, and buttermilk with boiled rice in center

Most Hindus in Kerala enjoy eating fish, red meat (like beef and pork), and chicken. However, some specific communities are vegetarian and do not eat meat or eggs. There are many vegetarians throughout Kerala and India.

Mappila Dishes

Pathiri, a pancake made of rice flour, is one of the common breakfast dishes among Mappilas

Kallummakkaya nirachathu or arikkadukka (mussels stuffed with rice)

Thalassery biryani with raita

Halwas are popular everywhere in kerala

Muslim cuisine, also known as Mappila cuisine, is a mix of traditional Kerala food with influences from Persian, Yemenese, and Arab cooking. You can see this blend in many dishes. Some special items include Kallummakkaya (mussels) curry, irachi puttu (which means meat puttu), Pathiri (a type of rice pancake), and ghee rice. Mappila cuisine is known for its generous use of spices like black pepper, cardamom, and clove.

Kuzhi Mandi (Mandi (food)), a popular dish, also shows influence from Yemen. Malabar biriyani, known as Thalassery biriyani, is made with a special rice called kaima and cooked in a "dum" style, where it's sealed to cook slowly. This biriyani started in Thalassery and became popular in other places.

Some tasty snacks include unnakkaya (deep-fried ripe banana paste filled with cashews, raisins, and sugar), pazham nirachathu (ripe banana filled with coconut and molasses or sugar), muttamala made from eggs, chatti pathiri (a layered dessert like a baked chapati with a rich filling), and arikkadukka.

Nasrani Dishes

Kozhukkatta is prepared by Saint Thomas Christians on the Saturday prior to Palm Sunday and the day is hence called Kozhukatta Saturday.

Pidiyum Kozhiyum

Meen molee

Beef ularthiathu

Christians in Kerala, especially the Mar Thoma Nasranis (Saint Thomas Christians), have their own unique cuisine. It's a mix of Indian, Middle Eastern, Syrian, Jewish, and Western cooking styles and flavors.

A favorite dish among Kerala Christians is mappas, or ishtu. For this, chicken or beef, potatoes, carrots, green peas, and onions are gently cooked in coconut milk. It's flavored with black pepper, cinnamon, coriander, mint, cloves, green chillies, lime juice, and shallots. In Central Kerala, this stew is usually made with beef or lamb, and sometimes duck.

Pidi is another dish mainly made by Syrian Christians from Central Kerala (around Ernakulam and Thrissur). It's made of dumplings from rice flour, boiled in a mix of coconut milk, cumin seeds, and garlic.

Other popular dishes include piralen (chicken stir-fried), meat thoran/ roast/ullathiyathu (a dry curry with shredded coconut), seafood and duck roast, and meen molee (spicy stewed fish). These are often eaten with appam. Pork vindaloo and Meen mulakittathu or meen vatichathu (fish in a fiery red chilli sauce) are also very popular.

Irachi ularthiathu, also known as Kerala beef fry, is a beef dish cooked with many spices.