Palakkad Cuisines South India | Palakkad Food Cuisine Kerala

Palakkad

The city serves some of the best recipes of the world. The people of Palakkad are vegetarians but there are some non vegetarians too. Their staple food is rice. Rasam, Sambhar, Morukootan, Pitla, Poricha Kutoo, Vattal Kozhambu are some of the special and favorite combination to have with Rice.

This recipe is served on special occasions too. Some of the most popular vegetarian dishes are Olan, Rasakalan, Kalan, Eriseri, varieties of Prathamans, Pulungari Mulagusiam and Molaguvellam.

These recipes are mainly cooked with coconut oils and coconut pieces. Rice powder is a common agent of thickening the dishes and Tur dal is used normally with all the dishes. Green chilies are commonly used to spice up the recipe.

With a Malayalee caterer who largely delivered Mallu food to all my office buddies who ordered from her, Palakkad friends who

brought traditional lunches to the cafeteria table, and a fiancé whom I visited so often that I fed on Vendekkai Pachadis and Molagootals for a long time, it is hard to not get accustomed to this simple cuisine. Well, I have even begun liking it a lot.

Mum always made delicious curries with the Okra (Vendekkai, Lady Fingers), simple spicy and crisp curries, aloo bhindi (made with potatoes and okra), the traditional and lip-smacking Vendekkai More Kozhambu (Okra cooked in buttermilk and spices), Vendekkai Sambar or Vatha Kozhambu!

She never made the Palakkad style Pachadi, but she recalls her mum dishing it up when she was a kid. Many would assume Vendekkai Pachadi to be fried Okra stirred in yogurt. But this ain’t it! This dish is a traditional Palakkad Iyer version of ‘arusuvai’ and that’s what makes it special. It can be made two ways and I learned both recipes from Mum-in-law, who in turn learned them from her sister-in-law (Athai).

The Okra that we get in the US is nowhere close to our pretty Indian Vendekkai, which when chopped can be used for block-printing! These Okras aren’t even star-shaped.

They’re short, plump, and most of the times rather hard. The frozen Okra is no different. Thus, making a decent Vendekkai More Kozhambu or Curry would be a futile effort, because the former requires some amount of shallow frying or microwaving and the latter requires slender tall and fresh Lady finger.

I once did try out the stuffed Bhindi Masala, it turned out ok. Not as delicious as it would with Indian Lady Fingers.

But this Pachadi turns out good despite the Okra’s physical quality, because it is cooked real well and there is a tangy-spicy gravy to go with.

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