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The colourful cuisine in the streets of Kerala
Most people visualise delicious plates of idli, dosa or uttapam when they think of street food in Kerala, but the cuisine in Kerala is much more expansive and delectable. After all, the Land of Spices features an abundance of coconuts, bananas, rice, and jackfruits in its cuisine.
Street food is popular in Kerala, and you will find vendors selling snacks everywhere, whether you are exploring a tourist spot or walking down a street. Most shops, in shopping lanes and popular tourist spots, sell mouthwatering snacks to go with filter coffee.
Along with munching idlis and dosas at the famous Saravana Bhavan, you must relish these street foods in Kerala.
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If you like banana chips, you should try Tapioca chips, a mouthwatering crisp made from cassava root. Most people in India eat cassava in the form of sabudana or Tapioca Pearls. However, in Kerala, local street vendors freshly grate the tapioca root, and deep fry them into crispy wafers, adding a hint of a special masala to make the chips sizzle with flavour.
Whenever I on a road trip around Kerala, I munch on these healthy and nutritious crisps.
When you are in Kerala, the one thing you cannot and should not ignore is bananas. You can also try fritters, instead of banana chips. Banana fritters are a mix of ripe bananas with flour and deep frying the battered bananas in hot oil. This street food is an all-time favourite of the local population, and you will find fritters in food stalls everywhere.
Pick a few fritters up from a streetside stall and let the combination of the hot and crispy dough with the sweet and soft fruit melt in your mouth. I bet you won’t be able to stop yourself after tasting one.
This amazing version of a Lachha Paratha is simply delicious. The layered flatbread is made with all-purpose flour and often stuffed with eggs making them flaky and crispy. The parottas are delicious and often eaten with curries. Malabar Parottas are equally prominent on restaurant menus and in street food stalls.
Street food in India is usually a mix of sweet, tangy and spicy flavours that pleases every palate. Be it Mumbai's Bhel or Kolkata's Jhal Muri, mixtures are popular across India. Filled with legumes and spices, Sundal is a delicious mixture of fried and crispy chickpeas, coated with different spices and sprinkled with grated coconut. Moong beans, corn, and peanuts are also sometimes added.
If that does not make your mouth water, what does? You will often find street vendors offering this mix in a cone made of banana leaf or paper.
If you are craving something sweet and traditional, go for the Kumbilappam. Simply put, Kumbilappam is a steamed cone-shaped jackfruit cake. A common street food in Kerala, Kumbilappam is a mixer of jackfruit bulb jaggery, coconut, and rice flour in delicate wrappings of fresh bay leaves called Edana Ila in Kerala. These leaves smell like cinnamon and release a luscious aroma when mixed with the flavour of jackfruit.
The warm and sweet dumplings taste divine when paired with hot coffee. This snack is quite popular, and the favourite street food of the people of Kerala.
Not your regular dosa, Thattu is a small pancake-sized healthier version of dosa. While the regular dosa is crispy, Thattu Dosa is soft as a feather. Interestingly, the name Thattu Dosa originates in Thattu Kada which means street side stalls in Kerala. Locals sometimes eat this palm-sized dosa with flavourful curries and coconut chutney. Surprisingly, many locals happily pair Thattu Dosas with Omplates, a basic egg omelette.
Most breakfasts in Kerala are incomplete without Puttu, and this humble steam rice roll has evolved into a popular street food sold in stalls across the state. Steamed rice rolls have a sweet filling of coconut at the centre, and are often paired with Kadala curry, made from chickpeas.
Puttu with Kadala curry is a wholesome meal to satisfy your taste buds and stomach.
Kerala and seafood go hand in hand. Fish dominates when it comes to street seafood. A local favourite, crispy fish fingers are flavoured with authentic spices that go amazingly well with the soft mushy fish inside a crispy coating. A plate of fish fingers is a simple yet delightful street food that sizzles inside the mouth. This great appetizer is an all-out winner among locals and tourists.
This refreshing summer cooler is Kerala's favourite roadside drink. Kulukki means shaken, from the way it is made - shaken (not stirred!). Vendors toss the ingredients in a tall glass and shake it vigorously until the sharbath is made.
Kulukki Sharbath is a concoction of lemon juice, ginger, basil seeds, and sugar syrup. Green chillies are also added to the mix for spiciness. Some vendors also make a pineapple-flavoured version of this sharbath.
Another famous street side beverage, Avil Milk, is a cold drink made with mashed bananas, milk and roasted aval (rice flakes). Popular in the Malabar region, it is one of Kerala's cheapest yet wholesome drinks. Peanuts are added to add an extra crunch. Avil Milk is topped with a scoop of ice cream to make it yummier. Also known as Kerala's local milkshake, Avil Milk is nutritious and, you must try it when you visit Kerala.
Kerala is a producer of a variety of crops, fruits, and spices. It is no wonder that the cuisine is an eclectic mix of flavours, textures and aromas armed with authentic cooking techniques. While walking in the streets, I noticed how the locals serve food on steel or brass plates, use manual cooking methods, and try to bring out the flavours of the dishes naturally. These techniques make the meals delicious and finger-licking good.
Whether you are exploring the state on foot or on a budget, street food is a saviour for every kind of traveller in Kerala. These lip-smacking meals prepared fresh in the street stalls are an integral part of Kerala's cuisine and are not to be missed while exploring God's own country.
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