The Kerala Kitchen: Recipes and Recollections From the Syrian Christians of South India

Here you will find clear recipes for the best of Kerala s fine foods, written with great love by someone who has been a part of that culinary tradition since birth. --Madhur Jaffrey

A delightful, evocative, sumptuous menu, redolent of fresh green paddy fields, coconut palms swaying in the breeze, and the pungent spices of the Malabar coast ¦mouth-watering and heart-warming! --Shashi Tharoor

I have never read a cookbook from cover to cover in one sitting, but then The Kerala Kitchen is so much more than a cookbook: It is a travelogue, memoir, and food diary. What better way to understand the community of Syrian Christians of Kerala my community than through our appetites. THE KERALA KITCHEN is a must...the easy and elegantly described recipes, the primer on spices and their uses, make these dishes accessible to all. Enjoy! --Abraham Verghese

A delightful, evocative, sumptuous menu, redolent of fresh green paddy fields, coconut palms swaying in the breeze, and the pungent spices of the Malabar coast…mouth-watering and heart-warming! --Shashi Tharoor

I have never read a cookbook from cover to cover in one sitting, but then The Kerala Kitchen is so much more than a cookbook: It is a travelogue, memoir, and food diary. What better way to understand the community of Syrian Christians of Kerala my community than through our appetites. THE KERALA KITCHEN is a must...the easy and elegantly described recipes, the primer on spices and their uses, make these dishes accessible to all. Enjoy! --Abraham Verghese

A delightful, evocative, sumptuous menu, redolent of fresh green paddy fields, coconut palms swaying in the breeze, and the pungent spices of the Malabar coast…mouth-watering and heart-warming! --Shashi Tharoor

I have never read a cookbook from cover to cover in one sitting, but then The Kerala Kitchen is so much more than a cookbook: It is a travelogue, memoir, and food diary. What better way to understand the community of Syrian Christians of Kerala my community than through our appetites. THE KERALA KITCHEN is a must...the easy and elegantly described recipes, the primer on spices and their uses, make these dishes accessible to all. Enjoy! --Abraham Verghese

This book evokes the beauty of a bygone era and the vibrant texture of community life through a hundred recipes, engaging recollections, and beautiful photographs. Long before the time of Christ, the lure of spices took traders and seafarers to Kerala, a prosperous and highly literate state on the tropical Malabar Coast of south-western India. Saint Thomas the Apostle also travelled this spice route, preaching to and converting several Brahmin families who later intermarried with the Syrians who settled in Kerala; the Syrian Christians or Nazaranis of Kerala were born of this confluence.Centuries later, ayurvedic massage resorts and scenic backwaters make this lush land a top tourist destination, and spices still draw both traveller and gourmand to the rich, abundant culinary tradition of this people. Meen Vevichathu (Fish Curry cooked in a clay pot), Erachi Olathiathu (Fried Meat), and Njandu Karri (Crab Curry) are among the book's savoury delights, along with varied rice preparations such as Puttu (Steamed Rice Cake), Paalappam (Lace-Rimmed Pancakes), and tropical desserts such as Karikku Pudding (Tender Coconut Pudding) and Thenga Paalum Nendrikkai (Baked Plantain with Coconut Cream). Interwoven between these recipes, in the best tradition of the cookbook memoir, are tales from the past and present, of talking doves, toddy shops, travelling chefs and killer coconuts.