Kochi & Central Kerala · Western Coastal Strip
Rice, coconut and the sea, with a distinct sub-cuisine for each community — Nasrani (Syrian Christian), Mappila (Malabar Muslim), Nambudiri and Ezhava Hindu, and the toddy-shop (kallu shappu) kitchen that cuts across all of them. Coconut oil, curry leaves, mustard seed and grated coconut are the constant.
Steamed cylinders of coarse rice flour layered with grated coconut, eaten with a dark black-chickpea curry. The default Kerala breakfast, cooked in a bamboo or aluminium puttu kutti.
Where to try: Any small "thattukada" or tea shop before 10 a.m.
A lacy fermented rice-and-coconut pancake, thin and crisp at the rim, spongy at the centre, served with a mild white coconut-milk stew of chicken, mutton or vegetables.
Where to try: Syrian Christian homes in Kottayam and Thrissur; most Kerala restaurants at dinner.
A wholly vegetarian banquet of 24 to 28 preparations served on a banana leaf in a fixed order and a fixed position on the leaf, ending with two or three payasams. The Onam sadya is the year's largest.
Where to try: Onam (Aug–Sep), any temple festival, or a wedding.
Pearl spot fish scored, coated in a chilli-shallot-tamarind masala, wrapped in a banana leaf and pan-roasted until the leaf chars and perfumes the fish.
Where to try: The Alappuzha and Kumarakom backwaters, where the fish comes out of the lagoon.
The Malabar biryani, made with short-grained fragrant kaima/jeerakasala rice rather than basmati, layered with fried onion, cashew and raisin, and sealed for the dum. Sweeter and lighter than its Deccan cousins.
Where to try: Thalassery and Kozhikode.
Boiled, mashed tapioca with a fierce red fish curry cooked in a clay pot with kudampuli (Malabar tamarind). Peasant food that became a state favourite.
Where to try: Toddy shops (kallu shappu) anywhere in central Kerala.
A dozen vegetables cut to matchsticks, simmered until just done, then bound with ground coconut, green chilli, cumin and raw coconut oil, finished with curry leaves. A sadya centrepiece.
Pumpkin and cowpea cooked together with coconut and topped with coconut fried dark brown in ghee — the toasted coconut is the whole point.
Beef slow-cooked with coconut slivers, black pepper and curry leaves until dry and dark, eaten with the flaky layered Malabar parotta. The most ordered plate in Kerala after dark.
Where to try: Roadside kadas across the state, especially in Kottayam and Thrissur.
Rice-flake ada simmered in milk and sugar until it turns pale pink. The final course of a sadya, poured onto the leaf and drunk from it.
Dense, translucent, glossy halwa of wheat or coconut, cut in slabs and stacked in colours along a whole street.
Where to try: Mithai Theruvu (Sweetmeat Street), S.M. Street, Kozhikode.
Fish poached gently in coconut milk with turmeric, green chilli and shallots — no chilli powder. A Portuguese-era dish, the mildest thing in the Kerala repertoire.
Staples
Sweets
Street food
Drinks
The food of Kochi & Central Kerala — signature dishes, staples, sweets, street food and where to eat them. (12)