About

Cooking is my passion and my attempt to present authentic South Indian Cuisine to the people who are true coonesuers  of good food. Through this blog I attempt to provide a platform to people to appreciate traditional and authentic south indian dishes. Enjoy Cooking !

Kalyon Subba Rao

South Indian cuisine includes the cuisines found in the four southern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The similarities are the presence of rice as a staple diet, the use of dal (lentils) and spices, the use of channa dal, coriander seeds, dried red chilies and fresh green chilies, coconut and native fruits and vegetables like tamarind, vegetables like dondakaya (tindora), vankaya (egg plant/brinjal),  plantain,  snake gourd, garlic, ginger, etc. Overall all the four state cuisines have lot in common and differ mostly in the spiciness of the food and the way they are cooked.

Andhra food:

The cuisines of Andhra are the spiciest in all of India. Generous use of tamarind and chilli powder make the dishes tangy and hot. The majority of a diverse variety of dishes are vegetable or lentil based.

Andhra Cuisine: This has regional variation like Telengana, Rayalseema, Andhra Costal Region, Hyderabad.

The popular dishes are Pappu (Lentils based curries), Curries (kooralu), Pulusu (Tamarind Based veggie and non veg stews ), Chaaru/Rasam (World Famous Tamarind Based Stew), Pachaddi (is a side dish, it is made of fresh vegetables and dal is served as an accompaniment for rice, idli, dosa, and pesarattu), Chutneys and Pickles (from spicy to sweet and soft to crispy Pickles and dipping often referred as Achar and Chutneys is a spicy preparation and one of the most important accompaniments for the main dish.)

Apart from the above Andhra Cuisine is also know for its non veg preparations in to mention a few for e.g. Kodi iguru (chicken stew), Kodi pulusu (chicken gravy), Chepala pulusu (fish stew) etc., Fish fry, Prawns curry. Hyderabad Chicken Biryani and its various nawabi dishes is part of Andhra Cuisine. The consumption of non veg food is very high in costal and telengana region.  Contrary to the general perception that the country is predominantly vegetarian, with the highest (92.2 per cent) reported in the South.

Karnataka Food:

This cuisine is known to be the mildest out of the four cuisines, as there is generous use of jaggery, plam sugar and less of chilli powder. Karnataka enjoys widespread popularity for vegetarian food.

Karnataka Cuisine: This has regional variation like North Karnataka cuisine, Costal Karnataka cuisine, South Karnataka cuisine, Coorgi cuisine. As many south Indian cuisine yogurt is a typical part of every meal in all the regions of Karnataka and is probably the most popular dairy product. Generally yogurt with rice constitute the final course of a meal.

Kerala food:

As everyone knows Kerala is known as the “Land of Spices”.  Kerala cuisine is famous for its spicy and hot foods. Traditionally, the food is served on a banana leaf. People add coconut to almost every dish they prepare, together they add spices for flavoring the cuisine.  All these give pungency to the dish and it increases with the addition of tamarind. The addition of coconut reduces the tongue-teasing hot flavour. There are also other items such as the crunchy pappadam, banana chips and jackfruit chips.

Kerala cuisine includes both vegetarian and non-vegetarian items. Keralites like vegetables, meats as well as seafood. The people of coastal areas are fond of seafoods. While the people in the plains prefer vegetables and those from the tribal and north Kerala prefer meat.

Tamil Food:

Tamil Nadu is famous for its hospitality and its deep belief that serving food to others is a service to humanity as is common in many regions of India. The region has a rich cuisine involving both the traditional vegetarian, as well as non vegetarian dishes. It is characterized by the use of rice and lentils, its distinct aroma and flavour achieved by the blending of spices including curry leaves, tamarind, coriander, ginger, garlic, chili, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, cumin, coconut.

A typical Tamil meal consists of many spicy and non-spicy dishes. Except Brahmins and a couple of non-Brahmin castes, tamils eat more non-vegetarian food. Many of these dishes are typically mixed and eaten with steamed rice, which is the staple food of the region.