The Coconut Magic

The magic of this ingredient can be best seen in God’s own country, Kerala.

The consumption and use of coconut are done on a daily basis in Kerala, in fact, the name Kerala means “Kera” meaning coconut tree and “Alam” meaning land so, “Land of coconut trees”.

Imagine starting your day with a plate of steaming hot puttu and a spicy Kadala curry on the side with some papadam fried in fresh coconut oil. Sweet puttus are also prepared by stuffing the puttu with bananas or a roasted coconut with jaggery and some spices. One can even prepare a Jackfruit coconut milk curry which again goes well with puttu. Now, this is only one way of making puttu, but there are several ideas to make a delicious puttu, which can be seen in various households in Kerala across Telicherry, Palakkad, Kottayam, Thrissur Trivandrum etc. Oh, and don’t forget about the Appam and Ishtew, Iddi appam(steamed strings of rice flour dough topped with coconut), all the varieties of coconut chutneys.

Moving on to the Telicherry part of Kerala, a number of spicy seafood curries like prawn curry, crab curry and of course chicken is been prepared in coconut milk along with curry leaves. Many households even prepare spice-infused coconut oil.

The majority of the vegetable preparations in Kerala are made with flavoured shredded coconut, for instance, the beautiful beans Thoran or koothe curry made with shredded coconut and some spices and a roasted coconut paste respectively. In the Kannur District of Kerala, many stalls prepare a beautiful coconut drink, which is nothing but sweet coconut milk with some bananas, peanuts and flattened rice.

In Trivandrum, there are famous Mutton curries prepared in coconut milk and garnished with fried or roasted coconut.

There are even payasams made of coconut milk and jaggery, called the Arisi Thengai payasam. Not to forget the Kobbari.

Various snacks are also prepared like Ari unda(rice and coconut pieces with some jeera) served with a raw onion and tomato chutney, idiyappam(coconut and jaggery filling stuffed in rice dough, wrapped in a banana leaf and then steamed).

These are just some of the many delicious Kerala dishes prepared with coconut, but these are best made with fresh coconut which is easily available in Kerala. It would a great experience to travel the whole stretch of Kerala in order to explore the amazing coconut

oriented local food especially at the Backwaters in Trivandrum.

BY

ANUSHKA VENUGOPAL