The south Indian state of Kerala entices visitors with a bouquet of cuisines, ranging from traditional Hindu food to Malabar Muslim delicacies and the exotic Kerala Syrian Christian cuisine. Each of these distinctive cuisines encompasses an exciting combination of vegetables, meats, and seafood flavored with a variety of spices and characterized by the use of coconut.
Kerala Syrian Christian Cuisine is the name given to the distinctive culinary art of the Syrian Christians, who live in large numbers in districts like Kottayam and Pala in Kerala. A gourmet delight, this cuisine is noted for offering some delectable meat preparations such as lamb stew and “piralen”—stir-fried meat marinated in vinegar and spices.
Famous Syrian Christian Cuisine Kerala
The “stew” is the most favored dish of the Kerala Syrian Christians (or Saint Thomas Christians). It is made by bringing chicken and potatoes to a slow boil in a creamy white sauce seasoned with black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, green chilies, lime juice, shallots, and coconut milk. These delicious stews are generally made with chicken, lamb, or duck.
Some other famous delicacies of Kerala Syrian Christian Cuisine include meat thoran’—dry curry with shredded coconut, “fiery vindaloos,’ sardine and duck curries, and “Meen Molee”—spicy stewed fish. This stew is generally eaten with “appam,” a rice flour pancake with soft, thick white spongy centers and thin, golden, crisp lace-like edges. Other well-known preparations are beef cutlets with “sallas” (a salad made of finely cut onions, green chilies, and vinegar) and “peera pattichathu’ (a dry fish dish of grated coconut).
What is Meen vevichathu?
Don’t miss trying ‘Meen vevichathu’—a famous fish preparation cooked in a fiery red chilly sauce and duck roast while sampling Kerala’s Syrian Christian Cuisine. One of Kerala’s exotic items of Christian cuisine is “erachi orlarthiathu,” or red meat. Beef (or lamb) is boiled with roasted red chilies, cloves, onions, cumin seeds, garlic, ginger, fried coconut chips, and a little vinegar. When the water gets reduced, the meat is almost fried dry in a little oil that has been flavored with sliced shallots and curry leaves.
Wine is an essential part of Kerala’s Syrian Christian cuisine. Another exciting cooking feature is the liberal use of coconut oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves, and coconut milk.
