Kerala Food is characterized by the use of ingredients extensively grown on its fertile lands along the coconut-fringed beaches, around the backwaters and on the slopes of the Western Ghats.
The backwaters and the rivers feed the fertile lands where rice is grown in abundance. Parboiled rice is the staple food of the Malayalees. Being a rice-growing region, keralites are known to prepare varieties with rice flour and beaten rice. Tapioca a rood rich in carbohydrate is another specialty of Kerala.
The coast and backwaters also around with the swaying coconut trees, some that droop low over the waters or those that grow high into the monsoon clouds. The coconut is a common denominator in most Kerala dishes and the kernel gets into the food in many forms, be it grated or as coconut milk. The unique flavour that emanates from the spread on the plantain leaf is that of the cooking medium. It is the coconut oil. Every Kerala kitchen worth its salt uses coconut oil in its delicacies.
Another plant extensively grown and whose almost every part goes into a kerala meal is the banana. The leaf that you eat from bears the raw plantain curry or the ripe cooked fruit that is had with ‘puttu’, or the raw slices that go into the avail. Its flowers and the fibrous stem make up delicious curries. The Nendrapazham (banana variety) is unique to the region where from raw banana to the ripe, scores of dishes are made beginning fom ‘pacha kai kootu’ (raw banana preparation) to ‘pazham porichedu’ which is ripe banana mixed in gram flour or white flour and deep fried. The banana chips are a brand of the state.
Kerala cuisine: Feasting on God’s bounty -
December 19th, 2007
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