Page 560 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

558  SOUTH INDIA

The Flavours of South India

Rice preparations dominate South Indian cuisine, of which
the best known are dosai (rice pancakes served with spiced
potatoes), idli (steamed rice dumplings), vada (deep-fried lentil
doughnuts) and uttapam (a spicy pancake). All are eaten with
sambhar (lentil broth) and chutneys made with coconut, garlic
and chillies. These are “tiffin” or breakfast foods, and specialist
restaurants can be found all over India and abroad. Despite the
commonalities, each state’s cuisine has its own flavour, dictated
by regional tastes and locally grown ingredients, as is evident
in Hyderabad’s sophisticated Muslim cuisine. Sprig of curry leaves

The different communities have middle-class meal comprises
distinctive cuisines. The Hindu boiled rice accompanied by
Brahmins specialize in vege tarian pulses, a vegetable curry, a dry
food, while the Muslims and vegetable, pickles, pop padams,
Christians excel in mutton and and a meat or fish dish for non-
poultry dishes. Foreign influences vegetarians. The sadya, a festive
are apparent, and the classic meal eaten at Onam, is always
moilee, a term used for fish or served on a banana leaf.
vegetable curries, is a corruption
of the Portuguese molho, or sauce. Tamil Nadu
The staple food is rice and the
best-known dish is the appam, a Six tastes – sweet, sour, salty, bitter,
steamed rice pancake. A typical peppery and astringent – define
Fresh green coconuts, providing a Spiced
refreshing drink on a hot day Rava
potatoes Coconut Uttapam Sambhar
Kerala Chilli Vada chutney dosa Plain dosa
Kerala, the land of spices, chutney Idli
particularly pepper, inspired
the European race for an empire
in the East. An abundance of
spices, such as cloves, mace,
cardamom and cinnamon,
has infused the cuisine with
a range of exotic aromas. Added
to this are coconuts, used in the
pre paration of almost all dishes. Selection of South Indian rice preparations and other accompaniments

Local Dishes and Specialities
The common culinary heritage leans heavily on rice, lentils,
coconut and spices. Vegetable preparations are diverse and
range from the steamed or stir-fried poriyal, which is
tempered with spices and curry leaves, to avial
(mixed vegetables in thick coconut sauce)
and mirchi ka salan (a curry with whole
green chillies). Interestingly, the
word curry is a derivative of kari, a
spicy dish from Kerala and Tamil
Nadu, while rasam, integral to
a meal as an appetizer and
digestive, was the base of the
Anglo-Indian mulligatawny soup.
Fresh coconuts Chicken, lamb and fish also feature Appams and stew, a popular
on the menu, particularly the dish, consists of fermented
seafood curries from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and the rice pancakes served with a
delicious biryanis and wide range of kebabs from Hyderabad. vegetable or chicken stew.

558-559_EW_India.indd 558 26/04/17 11:48 am
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Date 7th January 2013
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