Best Kerala food dishes, best food in Kerala

We have on this page the most popular food dishes of Kerala complete with a picture and a short description. These are some of the best food in Kerala and the most famous traditional dishes of Kerala.

These are the food which is commonly eaten by the people of Kerala. The pictures and descriptions of best food in Kerala on this page will give a good idea of what are the best traditional food they eat in Kerala. All the best food items in Kerala like Appam and Stew, Puttu, Idiyappam, steamed Kerala bananas, etc. are shown below with a picture and a short description.

We have separate pages for the famous and popular fish dishes in Kerala. Then there is full page with all the best fruits in Kerala and how some of these fruits are cooked to give some great dishes. There is also a separate page listing the most popular snacks and short eats of Kerala.

Most popular food in Kerala

Kerala Appam and Stew

appam and stew of kerala
Kerala Appam and Stew

Kerala Appam and Stew: Appam and Stew from Kerala is made with a rice flour batter fermented with Toddy (alcoholic nectar of Coconut trees) or yeast. Appam is like a pancake with a thick center and paper thin lace border. Stew is a gravy made with coconut milk, spices and meat or vegetables. Very tasty.

Kerala Puttu with Kadala Curry

puttu is a favorite kerala breakfast food
Kerala Puttu

Kerala Puttu Kerala Puttu is a favorite breakfast food of Kerala. It is made with rice powder and grated coconut and then steamed inside a special device made from a bamboo tube. Puttu is eaten accompanied with plantains or boiled Kerala bananas or with curries made with lentils or meat. The favourite of the keralites is Puttu with Kadla (Chick pea) curry as shown in the image here.

Kerala Idiyappam

idiappam a favourite breakfast food of kerala
Kerala Idiyappam

Kerala Idiyappam: Kerala Idiyappam is made with rice powder paste wetted with coconut milk and then extruded through a special hand operated extruder. This then is steamed. Idiyappam can be eaten at any time of the day, but is usually a breakfast food and eaten accompanied with a curry. One of the favourite accompanyment with idiyappam is egg curry as shown in the phot here.

Kerala Pathiri

Pathiri is made with rice and soaked in coconut milk
Kerala Pathiri

Kerala Pathiri: Kerala Pathiri is a Kerala Muslim specialty flat bread, but enjoyed by all in Kerala. It is made with rice powder dough rolled flat and then cooked without any oil. Once it is cooked it is immediately soaked in special liquid coconut milk sauce. Tastes great with chicken curries.

Kerala Parotta

parotta is a type of bread made with wheat flour
Kerala Parotta

Kerala Parotta: Kerala Parotta is also a Kerala Muslim specialty food made with wheat flour dough and hand shaped into a curly ball and then flattened with a roller to give a flaky flat unleavened bread which tastes great with all curries.

Kerala Karimeen fish dishes

karimeen is a special and a favourite fish of Kerala
Kerala Karimeen Pollichathu

Kerala Karimeen fish delicacies: Kerala Karimeen is a special species of fish found only in Kerala and is the best fish to eat in Kerala. The english name for Karimeen is Kerala black pearlspot fish. The most popular way of cooking Karimeen is to either deep fry after being marinated with Kerala masala mix or to grill with Kerala spice marinade, herbs, onions, tomatoes, etc. You should not miss tasting the Karimeen fish dishes of Kerala, it is a type of fish not available elsewhere in the world and the way it is cooked is special to Kerala.

Kerala Egg Roast or Kerala Mutta Roast

Kerala Egg Roast or Mutta roast
Kerala Egg or Mutta Roast

Kerala Egg or Mutta Roast: Kerala Egg or Mutta Roast are made with boiled eggs and a fried masala containing onions, tomatoes and spices. Kerala Mutta roast or egg roast are eaten in various combinations like Kerala Puttu with egg roast or Idyappam with egg roast or even Appams with egg roast or mutta roast.

Kerala Sadya

kerala south indian thali
Kerala Sadya

Kerala Sadya: Kerala Sadya is the traditional festival meal served on a washed banana leaf with rice and many vegetable curries like Parippu or Dal with Ghee, Sambar, Rasam, Pulisseri, Yogurt, Kaalan, Thoran, Olan, Pachadi, Avial, Papadum and 2 or 3 varieties of Payasam. Keralites sometimes eat it squatting on the floor. The more the number of curry items, the grander the Sadya is considered.

Kerala Tea

Steaming fresh Kerala tea from a kerala tea shop
Kerala Tea

Kerala Tea: Kerala Tea from a wayside Tea stall. This is a wonderful tea so good, that no five star hotel will be able to match its flavor and aroma. It is tea with milk and sugar and then mixed by pouring from one small vessel into another from a great height as you can see in the picture on the left. This process mixes air into the tea and milk giving tea a flavour you get addicted to, because of the great taste and the way it rejuvenates you. This tea is very popular in Kerala and is the common man's drink. If you get a chance have this Tea then for sure you will try to make a similar tea at home. Hope you can get the same taste!!

Kerala Banana

Bananas and Plantains in a shop in Kerala
Kerala Banana

Bananas of Kerala: Banana and Plantains are known as 'Ethakka' and 'Pazham' in Malayalam, the language of Kerala. You should not miss eating these wonderful fruits when in Kerala. On the left you see a way side shop full of these fruits. When asking for the small plantains make sure you mention that you need the 'Poovan Pazham', the best variety of the small plantain.

Jackfruits in Kerala

Jackfruits in Kerala are huge and tastey
Kerala Jackfruit

Kerala Jackfruit: Kerala Jackfruit are something special and may not be available in any other part of the world. A picture is shown here and you can see how big it is, bigger ones can weigh about a 100 pounds (40Kg). These Jackfruit are difficult to cut open and take out the eatable fruit pods, but they just taste fantastic.

Steamed Kerala Bananas

boiled bananas are a tasy hot snack
Steamed Kerala Bananas

Steamed Kerala Bananas: Steamed Kerala Bananas are shown on the picture on the left. Kerala bananas after they have been steamed and cut in half. It can be eaten just like that or it is a great accompaniment for Puttu and Idiyappam. In the language of Kerala, Malayalam it is called 'Ethakka puzhingiathu'.

Kerala Payasam

payasam the sweet dish of Kerala
Kerala Payasam

Kerala Payasam: Kerala Payasam is a porridge like sweet. There are several varieties. Some are made with Cow’s milk, others with Coconut milk. The sweetening agent can be sugar or Jaggary (sugarcane molasses). The solids can vary from Dal (split peas) to Vermicelli or to ripe bananas and other ingredients.

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