The Nostalgic Food From Kerala

Taste buds can remind you a lot about the places you’ve been to, the longer you spent time there the stronger the flavors grow on you.

Kerala, being my hometown and with its unique cuisine always makes me nostalgic and especially when it rains. Here are a few rare ones I only have enjoyed back home and hold dear to heart.

Vatteppam

You might have heard of different “appam”s in the breakfast menu. Vatteppam is the fluffier sweet version of those made with fermented rice flour. These are not everyday snacks either. Vatteppam is prepared, generally in Christain families, during festive times. I don’t know if they are available in the restaurants, but they sure do come in packages these days.

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The funny story is, we kids used to go to the toddy shop with a bottle to buy toddy, used for fermenting the flour. Toddy and other alcoholic drinks were(are) a strict no-no back home. The best part is this snack is thus completely vegan and soft. The awesome combination of a slice of vatteppam and beef curry is my favorite to break the lent for both Christmas and Easter.

Jack fruit

Jackfruit is designated as the official fruit of Kerala and we mean it. We love Jackfruit in all forms, well except the sticky part of it, our cows love that. Jackfruit is consumed, raw, deep fried chips, as side dishes for meals but there is this delicious concentrate made out of ripe jackfruit. And that’s the best.

Chakka varattay as we call it is made by concentrating the pulp of the jackfruit and mixed with jaggery, cardamom, and other spices to add the flavor. It is ideal to store for a longer period. Which totally make sense since a large part of the jackfruit are wasted every year in Kerala. Nowadays most of them are getting exported but Chakkavaratty is something you should try. I promise you can’t eat more than a few bars of it at a time, and you shouldn’t, for the sake of aftermath issues.

Another little special one from jackfruit is the “Chakka ada”. Ada is normally made with rice flour and when it comes to chakka ada, jackfruit pulp is the main ingredient.

Mixed with other secret ingredients, it tastes amazing and something that I miss being away from home every jackfruit season.

Plantain leaf and Sadhya

We love a good meal served in a plantain leaf. It tastes great and feels great. And we use it to make different evening snacks too, it’s a great eco-friendly wrapper. The best meal served in the plantain leaf is “sadhya” or the Kerala thali.

The leaf is not limited for sandhya

Be it onam, vishu or marriage, we celebrate the day with this authentic thali. The food is served with rice in the middle and all the vegetable side dishes around it, and sambhar on top of the rice. The secret is to take a pinch of all the side dishes and have it with the rice. Save the bubbly Pappadam for the end to have it mixed with the sweet Payasam.

“The” Banana And Banana Chips

Banana chips is one of the most demanded item by all my friends when I come back from Kerala. But the real winner is this banana, which i have never seen grow in any other places other than Kerala.

Love this one boiled, in snacks and jagger-ied version of it. Once you have tasted it, you would know the difference. There are many other varieties which are unique to Kerala, all of them yum!

Banana chips also come in two major varieties,one made with raw banana and one made out of ripe bananas. Try them both, you’ll love them both.

Ainas and Laddo

Prenounced i-ye-naas, this sugar coated yellow crisp is one of the major nostalgic item for me. Ainas has been in the cartons that came with festival gift exchanges, or any other traditional functions where there is an exchange of sweets.

It is known in different names across different regions in Kerala. But when you are in Thrissur, you can simply ask for ainas and they’ll know it.

Laddus in Kerala are yellow coloured and made out of a little more big balls of th dough. The orange one, motichoor laddu, taste good no doubt. But these yellow laddus with an eye with a raisin is “vere level bro”! And it brings back a lot of memories of home.

Fish

Fish is one of the favorites in Kerala cuisine. Be it the gravy fish curry or the deep fried pomfret, they all make your meal rich in taste.

The highlight of the fish curry or “Meen Curry” is the clay pot that is prepared in. It adds to the flavor of the coconut milk and spice mixed gravy.

Champaka, Loopika and Ari-nellikka

These are the small berry fruits that I miss the most. Chambaka, the red and pink-ish coloured bunch of heaven!

Describing the taste of Chambakka is rather difficult. It is a fleshy, plain tasted fruit with typically three small seed in the center. I always wished they came without those seeds and the black thread like flowers on the top.

Loopika, the red small plum, a seasonal fruit in the summers was another addition to the fun filled school holidays. It is a little sour and fleshy and the ripen ones can burst out easily. It tastes its best salted or as a pickle.

Ari-nellikka is the smaller version of gooseberries. They, like loopika, make a great combination with salt and chilli powder. These small treats are also available in small sachets for sale with two or three salted berries.

Loopika and ari-nellikka along with mango, pineapple and other fruits and veggies can be spotted on the roadsides these days. Bottled in salted water, they can stimulate your taste buds on a long trip across the state.

And that's is my short list of nostalgic food from Kerala. I hope you too get to taste them when you visit Kerala.

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