Coconut & More Coconut

Coconut & More Coconut

The Kerala table is eclectic, savory, and adventuresome. Rice is the staple, coconut milk and coconut oil are the two most important ingredients, and seafood is the star. In Fort Cochin, within the city of Kochi, you can buy a fish—just caught in one of the Chinese-style nets used in the region—have it fried at a nearby stall, and enjoy it alfresco. Karimeen, or pearl spot (a bony but tasty and tender white fish), is the favorite fish of central Kerala, found only in the backwaters.

Kerala's Christians are famous for their beef dishes, while the moppillah (Muslim cuisine of north Kerala) features a variety of breads, such as thin rice-flour parathas a local deep-fried eyelash bread.

Also expect distinctive meat and fish dishes—rich beef or mutton stewed in coconut milk, bread stuffed with fried mussels, and savory biriyanis (rice dishes) with meat or fish. Vegetable dishes are plentiful—gourds, yam, mango, and bananas may be cooked or raw, in entrées and desserts. Grated coconut and jaggery—semi-refined palm sugar—are commonly used in sweets.

Kerala is known for iddi appa, or "string hoppers"—thin strands of dough formed into little nests that are steamed and served with coconut milk and sugar for breakfast or as an accompaniment to soups, stews, or curries. Appam, a slight variation on the theme, is a rice-flour pancake, thin and crispy on the edges with a spongy, raised center. Another specialty is puttu, a puddinglike dish made from fresh-grated coconut and rice flour, molded into a cylindrical shape and then steamed.