Christmas Recipes From the South

Appam and Ishtew

For most Malayalis, a Christmas breakfast without appam and ishtew is unimaginable. The main component of the ishtew, or stew, can vary from mutton and chicken to seasonal vegetables. However, the base remains the same: a thick, creamy concoction of coconut milk and warm spices such as pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves, along with ginger, garlic and chillies to cut the sweetness of the coconut milk. The result is a luscious curry that’s sweet but with underlying notes of freshly-ground spices. The ishtew is usually mopped up with appams.

There are variations of appams like palappam and kallappam. These soft-as-pillows pancakes are made from overnight-soaked rice and coconut, ground together and left to ferment for eight hours. You might think a 16-hour process is too much for a side dish, but when you tear off a piece of this spongy pancake and dunk it into the creamy ishtew, you realise you’re in food heaven.

Kuttanadan Duck Roas

Another quintessential Christmas dish is the Kuttanadan Duck Roast, often served with appams. Named after the region in Kerala that boasts the best duck, this dish becomes an essential in every Keralite home come December. For a dish that’s reserved for special occasions, it’s relatively easy to make. The duck is marinated in turmeric and salt, and the pearl onions and vinegar give it the signature sweet-and-sour taste that will linger in your mouth long after you've licked the plate clean!

Pidi Kozhi

Unlike most Kerala dishes, where the appam is merely a side dish, Pidi Kozhi curry is a dish where the accompaniment takes centre stage. Pidi is rice balls dressed with coconut milk and tempered with curry leaves, mustard seeds and pearl onions. Traditionally, pidi is made from raw rice soaked overnight and ground the next day with coconut, cumin seeds, shallots and garlic. It’s packed with so much flavour, you could eat it just as is. When paired with kozhi curry or chicken curry, it elevates the dish to another level. Unlike most Keralan curries, this one uses tomatoes and a fair bit of red chillies, instead of pepper or coconut, as a perfect partner for pidi.

Beef Cutlets with Challas

An appetiser that stands out on a Christmas table groaning with food is the beef cutlet. A recipe whipped out by mothers and grannies on all special occasions, the Kerala beef cutlet is a flavour bomb. Chunks of juicy beef are cooked with spices, ginger and curry leaves and minced to incorporate a tonne of flavour. The minced meat is then sauteed with more ginger, green chillies, onions and garam masala to add more punch. Finally, this mix forms croquettes, dipped in egg whites and rolled through breadcrumbs before deep frying until perfectly crisp and golden.

A simple but delicious salad called challas makes for an excellent accompaniment to these cutlets. Challas is fairly easy to put together. All you have to do is soak thin slices of onions in salt and toss them with vinegar and green chillies.

Kuzhalappams

The festive season is also a time to prepare a host of snacks for most Kerala Christians. Though often served with tea, you’ll find children and adults munching on these throughout the day. One such snack is kuzhalappam, which is a savoury rice flour roll. In Kerala cuisine, rice and coconut go hand-in-hand in a majority of recipes, and this is again true for kuzhalappams. Freshly-grated coconut, shallots, garlic and cumin seeds are ground together to form a paste, which is added to boiling water. Next, rice flour is added gradually to form a dough. Black sesame seeds are added. Once the dough is ready, it is flattened and shaped into bite-sized rolls which are fried until golde

Achappams

Festive treats are incomplete without some sweet goodies. Enter, achappams. Also known as rose cookies, this snack is not only delicious but beautiful to look at, thanks to its delicate flower shape. A thick batter is made using the two hero ingredients, rice and coconut, and sugar, eggs and sesame seeds. A long steel rod attached to a floral-shaped mould is dipped into hot oil and then into the batter. The mould is then dipped into the oil to release the achappams. It’s a process that requires some skill and practice but, eventually, becomes a seamless activity.

Diamond Cuts

If achappams sound too daunting, you could try the simpler but equally tasty variant, Diamond Cuts. A simple dough is created using all-purpose flour, sugar, egg (optional), cardamom, vanilla essence, and salt. The dough is then rolled out thin and cut into diamond shapes, deep-fried and dropped into a sugar syrup.

Panchasara Varatti

Another easy snack is panchasara varatti, which are thick, sugared banana chips. Slices of banana chips are prepped for frying by tossing them with salt and turmeric. Once fried, they’re dunked into a sugar syrup. These can be stored in an air-tight container to last several days.

Plum Cake

The sweet saga doesn’t stop here. The Kerala plum cake is the pride of every Christmas dinner. This is a household name in most Indian homes today, thanks to its rich ingredients, which make this a perfect Christmas staple. The making of a plum cake is a lesson in patience. Dried fruits like sultanas, apricots, dates, figs, currants, cranberries, cashews, almonds, walnuts and pistachios are soaked in rum for at least a month to let the fruits soften and absorb all the liquid. Once the fruits are ready, they are drained and folded into a batter made from all-purpose flour, eggs, orange zest and vanilla essence and some soaking liquid.

Apart from the fruits, what gives this cake an indulgent taste is the mix of aromatic spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and dry ginger. Another ingredient that adds a different dimension to the flavour profile is caramel syrup, which is also stirred into the batter. Once the cake is baked and cooled, it is time to slice it and relish a piece, or three!

Munthiri Wine

A great way to enjoy this cake is with a glass of munthiri wine. Like the plum cake, the wine, too, requires patience, and a lot of it! Black grapes are crushed by hand to release the juices. Next, a large glass container is sterilised. Traditionally, wine was made in bharanis, or clay jars, but nowadays, glass or porcelain jars are more commonly used. Crushed grapes, wheat kernels, whole spices like cinnamon and cloves, yeast and sugar are added to this container. After thoroughly mixing these, boiled water is poured on top and the jar is closed tightly.

This precious concoction is stored in a dark corner of the kitchen to ferment and develop flavour. A week later, the jar is opened to stir the mixture. This is to be done daily for about 21 days after which the wine is sieved and poured back into a jar. You still have to wait a couple more days for the sediments to settle before you can sit back and savour a glass.

Christmas is a time for feasting and, like all festivals, it is a community affair. So, if some of these recipes seem tedious, don't worry. Gather up your loved ones and get ready to make some delicious treats along with some lifelong memories. After all, that's what the spirit of Christmas is all about.