Wednesday 17 / April / 2024
Kerala beckons the nature lovers with its lush green tranquility, but what some people don’t know is that it is also a foodies’ paradise. Boasting a staggering variety of unique dishes that make use of freshly ground spices, luscious coconut milk, and all manner of seafood that is cooked and served in earthenware, the flavours of this South Indian city are utterly craveable. This weekend you don’t have to travel to experience an authentic taste at the Kerala Food Festival which is being hosted by Passage to India restaurant in Hatat House Compound, Wadi Adai.
The ambience has been rightly set with open air counters that mimic the roadside food stalls of Kerala, complete with pickle and candy jars neatly placed on display. The “stalls” will be serving an ala carte menu for both for lunch and dinner through February 15.
Options are in abundance with specialities like acharyan mutton ularthiyathu; mutton marinated and cooked in spices and roasted in coconut oil, Kumarakom fish curry; a spicy fish curry which is a specialty dish of Kumarakom in Kerala, prawn varattiyathu; prawns marinated in spices and then slightly roasted with onion and curry leaves, Kerala biryani; a one pot chicken and rice dish laden with fragrant spices, and naadan chicken curry, a well flavoured dish with spices and cooked in coconut oil. My favourite was the fish chatti curry, a gourmet’s delight served piping hot in the chatti or an earthen pot, that it was cooked in alongside brown rice, the short grains of which makes it a perfect accompaniment. Fish chatti curry is fish made with garlic paste, onions, and red chillies and seasoned with mustard seeds and curry leaves.
Other specialties include shredded pepper chicken, hamour fillets in hot chilli fry, spicy lamb in hot chilli, and hamour Malabari grill. Sample a few dishes andsnack on freshly made pappadum and pickles along with usual suspects like appam, a pancake made of fermented rice batter and coconut milk; puttu, steam cake made of rice flour and steamed, brown rice; and Malabari parotta, a layered flaky flat bread. But be sure to save room for the desserts like nenthra pazham idichathu, fried mashed banana, with ice cream, or pazham pori, ripe bananas dipped in a flour batter and deep fried to a golden brown colour.
While for some, Keralan cuisine might be a part of every day dining, but for most of us, a visit to this festival is a deliciously novel experience.
