When Christopher Columbus set out 500 years ago, his goal was to reach India’s fabled Malabar Coast, which today part of the state of Kerala, on the southwest corner of the subcontinent.
This legendary region long had been the destination of merchants from Egypt, Greece, Rome, Arabia, Israel (King Solomon first sent traders here about 1000 B.C.) and China. Like Columbus intended to do, they came to buy black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, ivory and textiles. Today Kerala remains one of the world’s leading exporters of spices and cashews, as well as shrimp and other seafood.
Malayalis (as people from Kerala are called) are proud of their distinctive cuisine, which reflects their cultural and religious diversity and the bounty of their state. Though small in area-less than one-third the size of Illinois with a population of 25 million-Kerala is a state of astonishing beauty and considerable natural diversity. Its landscape is covered with coconut groves, banana trees, rice paddies, coffee and spice plantations as well as kitchen vegetable gardens. The state has hundreds of miles of coastline along with freshwater and saltwater lagoons teeming with fish and seafood.
With its mainstays of fish, vegetables and rice, Malayali cuisine has many features that appeal to contemporary healthful eating. (There are about 20,000 Malayalis in the Chicago area, according to an estimate from Ken Pillay, president of Chicago’s Indo- American Center and former president of the Malayali Association of Chicago.)
“Meat is eaten in very small quantities,” says Lakshmi Menon, a Winnetka resident. In contrast to the food in other parts of India, oil is used sparingly.
“We use oil mainly as a garnish and we often boil our fish instead of frying it,” says Joy Joseph, manager of the Coconut Grove restaurant in New Delhi, one of the first outside Kerala to specialize in the cuisine. “This may be a reason Malayalis aren’t as heavy as people in other parts of India and why our cuisine has become so popular among non-Malayalis.”
The most commonly used spices in the cuisine of Kerala are black pepper, ginger, mustard seed, fenugreek, coriander and curry leaves. Plantains (green bananas) are a favorite for curries or stewed in buttermilk. The traditional cooking medium in Kerala traditionally was coconut oil, which is extremely high in saturated fats. However, today health-conscious Malayalis substitute peanut or vegetable oil.
“No one uses coconut oil any more,” says Rukmini Naidu, an Evanston physiotherapist. “My friends just add a little coconut to vegetable dishes for flavor or use other ingredients like onions to thicken gravies.”
A typical meal in the vegetarian Naidu household starts with rice served with plain yogurt or with pullicherry, a mixture of yogurt and fruits or cucumber flavored with mustard seed, cumin seeds, chilies and curry leaves. This is followed by a thin lentil stew called sambar and a vegetable dish, such as thoren (lightly spiced cabbage or beans stir-fried in a little oil) or kappa (sliced yuca in an onion-based gravy).
Another Kerala favorite is avial, a thick stew of diced mixed vegetables gently cooked in a coconut gravy. A meal traditionally ends with yogurt- believed to aid digestion-and may include a dessert, such as fruit or the celebrated ada paratham, a delicately flavored pudding made from rice, brown sugar, raisins and cashews cooked over low heat. Typical side dishes include pappadums (crispy lentil wafers) and pickles.
Non-vegetarian Malayalis may add a fish dish, such as meen moli (fish or shrimp that is lightly fried and then served in a coconut gravy). Meen moli usually is served with rice (Malayalis prefer parboiled rice to the North Indian varieties, such as basmati) or with the most famous Kerala dish, wellayappam, or appam for short. Made from a dough of fermented rice flour and water, this disc-shaped pancake is fried in a little oil in a woklike pot so that it is hard on the outside and soft on the inside. Malayalis may eat appams at all meals, including breakfast, but Chicago-areal Malayalis generally reserve them for special events, such as religious festivals.
Another distinctive Malayali bread is poottu, a dough of ground rice and coconut steamed in a bamboo tube and eaten for breakfast with mashed bananas.
Exotic as the Malayali cuisine sounds, its ingredients are available in Chicago supermarkets. For authentic touches such as curry leaf, visit Indian supermarkets on Devon Avenue or in Chicago’s suburbs such as Naperville, Downer’s Grove and Westmont. One Chicago grocery store is devoted to Malayali products: Kerala Foods, 3730 W. Montrose Ave.
LAKSHMI MENON’S VEGETABLE THOREN
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 to 15 minutes
Yield: 2 to 3 servings
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspooon black mustard seeds or cumin seeds
1 teaspoon urad dal (black gram lentils), if available
1-2 dried red chilies to taste, crumbled into small pieces
4 cups finely chopped cabbage, green beans or carrots
1 pinch turmeric
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons shredded, unsweetened coconut, optional
1. Heat oil in large skillet until hot; add mustard seeds; fry, stirring constantly, until they pop, about 30 seconds. Add black gram lentils and crumbled chilies; fry until lentils turn brown.
2. Add chopped vegetables, turmeric and salt. Mix well until vegetables are coated with oil. Cook over low heat, stirring often, until vegetables are cooked but firm. (Cook cabbage uncovered, about 5 minutes. Cook beans and carrots covered, about 10 minutes). Sprinkle with coconut.
KERALA-STYLE SHRIMP
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 small onions, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons each: minced garlic, grated ginger, ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon each: cayenne pepper, turmeric
1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes, about half the juice drained
1 can (14 ounces) unsweetened coconut milk
12 curry leaves, available in Asian markets
2 pounds large shrimp, peeled, deveined
Salt to taste
Garnish:
Handful cilantro leaves, stems removed, chopped coarsely
3 green chilies, sliced lengthwise
1. Heat oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat; add onions; cook and stir until transparent, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and ginger; cook and stir 1 minute. Stir in ground coriander, cayenne and turmeric.
2. Stir in tomatoes and cook for several minutes while stirring. Reduce heat to low; add coconut milk and curry leaves. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add shrimp; heat to a boil, reduce heat to low. Simmer until shrimp are cooked, about 3 minutes. Add salt to taste.
3. Serve garnished with chopped cilantro and sliced green chilies. Serve with plain boiled rice.
GAYLORD RESTAURANT’S AVIAL
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
This famous Kerala dish can be made with any vegetable, including yellow squash and multicolored peppers-the more colorful the better. The recipe was supplied by Gaylord India Restaurant, Chicago.
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 medium carrots, cut into 1 1/2- by 1/4-inch sticks
1 cucumber, seeded, cut into 1 1/2- by 1/4-inch sticks
1/2 pound green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 green, red, and/or yellow bell peppers, cubed or 1 medium zucchini, sliced
3 ounces dried unsweetened shredded coconut, about 1 cup
1 small onion, cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Salt, freshly ground black pepper to taste
Chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 green chili pepper, seeded, cut into slivers
1. Put water, salt and turmeric in bottom of a steamer. Heat to a boil; add steamer basket and put carrots, cucumber, green beans and bell peppers in steamer. Steam, covered, until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 5 to 10 minutes. Let the vegetables cool slightly and mix them with their cooking water.
2. Process the coconut, onion and garlic in a blender or food processor to make a coarse paste, adding 1/4 to 1/2 cup water as needed. Heat the oil in a large skillet; add the coconut paste. Fry, stirring constantly, for 1 1/2 minutes.
3. Add steamed vegetables and their cooking water. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat until liquid is reduced to a medium-thick consistency. Adjust salt and add pepper to taste. Transfer to a dish.
4. Sprinkle with the cilantro and slivers of green chili and serve with boiled rice or pilaf.
