Kerala food/ south Indian/ kerala’s underrated snacks/ less known snacks
What are the foods that come to your mind when you hear ‘Food of Kerala’ ? Idli, Puttu, dosa sambar, porotta , Sadhya? And what about snacks from Kerala? Pazham pori, Murukku and Banana chips? If you’re someone who lives outside Kerala, You may know these names and if you have visited Kerala you may know a few more. These are the most famous and Most ‘loved by Malayalis’ (Keralites) foods of Kerala.
But that’s only a tiny portion of Kerala food. Let me introduce you to some of the most comforting foods we have here in Kerala. Some of these may not be available in restaurants. They are so underrated that they are only found in ‘thattu kadas’ (small tea shops) and houses in rural areas. They are so healthy and are getting lost in the noise of fast foods and packaged snacks.
These are some of my favourites and I’m pretty sure most malayalis are taken back to their childhood on each bite.
Elanji or Love letter
Credits: Slurp.com
Yes, you read the name right. Love Letter or elanji is a snack which consists of a rolled crepe made of maida and eggs salt and water, filled with Coconut shreddings, sugar, cardamom and cashews toasted in ghee.
This is a snack from the Malabar. This is a very simple and light snack that gives you butterflies in your tummy on every bite like what a real love letter does.
Kalputtu
Kalputtu is a comfort food that brings back the memory of my late Grandmother. She was from Palakkad and so is this recipe . It is made of a few ingredients which are Rice flour, jaggery, cardamom powder, grated coconut and salt.
Moisten the rice powder well with some salt. Add jaggery and some cardamom powder to grated coconut and combine it well. Put a layer of moist rice flour on a plate and a layer of coconut and jaggery on top and add another layer of rice flour then a layer of Coconut and again put rice powder in a thin layer. wet a cotton cloth on top, squeeze it and cover up
Steam this pot in a steamer for 20 minutes And there you have it. This could be a quick breakfast your kids would love.
Boli
Credit:https://elephantsandthecoconuttrees.com/
Boli is a traditional sweet lentil stuffed flatbread made with chana dal and sugar. It is not as underrated as the rest of the snacks but is definitely a good quick snack. It’s pretty much available in bakeries. Boli is sometimes served along with Payasams, especially pal payasam (a south Indian dessert ) with Sadhya. It is a similar snack to ‘Pooran poli’ from Maharashtra. There are many versions of this snack in different places in India.
Kozhukkatta
credit:https://mariasmenu.com/
Kozhukkatta is a south Indian snack that is similar to Modak. Almost every Malayali has a great bond with this snack. It is usually made out of rice flour, water, grated coconut and salt combined and made into balls and steamed. It can be paired with many things and is eaten in different ways in different places. If you ask me how I eat it, I eat it with sugar and ghee. If you ask my friend, she eats it with jaggery and coconut filling. If you ask my mom, she eats it by making small balls immersed in gravy which can be called chattil kozhukkatta — translates to kozhukkatta in gravy. You can even pair it with chutney and non veg curries.
Therali appam
credits:https://thetastesofindia.com/
Therali appam or Kumbilil appam is a food that is interesting to make and eat. You will need bay leaves for this recipe. This snack is made by combining roasted rice flour, grated jaggery mashed bananas, grated coconut, cardamom powder and a little bit of water. Then this thick dough is filled into each clean bay leaf and folded and is steamed to get the perfect delicious evening snack to go with your tea.
Summary
Next time you visit Kerala, make sure to try out some of these comfort foods from small tea shops or make friends with grandmas. They will just feed you everything if they think you’re lovely. You’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. I’ll be adding more of these. Hope you’ll enjoy it.