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Sumitra Senapaty

Kerala's kitchen culture is woven around the coconut palm, seafood, spices and a generous use of small, hot chillies. The food at Rice Boat, Taj Malabar, Kochi, gives you an all-encompassing experience.

The further south you go the brighter the colours, the broader the smiles and the more vibrant the flavours. This is nowhere more true than in Kerala. Tolerance is big, no doubt due to centuries of contact with foreign spice dealers. Here Hindus, Christians and Muslims live side-by-side and rarely has affected one so deeply.

As you might expect from a land that is like a paradise with flashes of Marxism, the kitchen culture is built around the fruit of the coconut palm, seafood and spices and the generous use of small, eye-watering hot chillies.

Kerala's cooking is fragrant with the flesh and juice of the coconuts that line the State's highways, side roads and beaches. Each time your car is stopped at traffic lights, expect young boys to run alongside it, offering tender coconut water.

Chef Laiju, from Pala near Kottayam, introduced the intricacies of warm Kerala rice, fish curry, tapioca chips and hot chutneys at Rice Boat, Taj Malabar's exclusive seafood restaurant. The restaurant, as the name suggests, is an original boat located on the edge of the hotel right over the harbour.

The hotel is located on Kochi's Willingdon Island, named after Lord Willingdon, the British Viceroy of India. It is a man made island created from the material dredged while deepening the Kochi Port. Situated between Ernakulum and Mattancherry, Willingdon Island is an important part of Kochi.

At Rice Boat, the chef sometimes tones down the spiciness of the food for western guests, but often enough they want the Kerala spices full on.

The cuisine of Kerala, like the State itself, reflects a meeting of cultures: Hindus have a largely vegetarian diet and make copious use of the coconuts that grow along the coast; the Christians of central Kerala eat a lot of seafood and meat; the Muslims produce great biryanis and very exclusive breads.

Kerala boasts of the best peppercorns in the world, all the spices you could possibly want and great seafood, all freshly caught by the small boats that dot the sea and inland waterways.

The food here is indeed very different from that of Northern India: much lighter, very low in fat and dominated by fish and other seafood and vegetables. A traditional family feast typically consists of 12-16 dishes, chosen to combine colours as well as tastes, and served on banana leaves that impart a wonderful flavour to the rice. There is Avial, diced vegetables in coconut, mustard seed and chilly gravy, a dry green bean and carrot preparation called Thoren, a dab of hot pickle and a small pool of shallots in toddy vinegar.

Those who love seafood should try Karimeen Pollichatu, fish roasted in banana leaf with spices and button onions or Meen Vevichathu. Apart from the popular appams, you can enjoy this fiery fish curry with Idiappam or string hoppers or with puttu — rice flour and grated coconut steamed together — or a long standing Kerala favourite, Basmati rice with hot ghee, curry leaves, coriander, coconut, and lemon.

A Kerala fish stew may be scented with them all, including the Black Tamarind, a tangy herb that is a must for fish preparations.

Cardamom spices everything from curries to ice cream in Kerala and the going rate is between Rs 600 and 800 per kg. Rice Boat does not have it on the menu card, but do remember to specially ask for Chef Laiju's Spice ice cream.

There is a choice between nutmeg, cardamom and green pepper, the pepper ice cream being the most revelatory. Another must try is the Cardamom Soufflé.

Down by the sea, past the fishing boats at Fort Cochin, you can choose what you want to eat from the `You buy, I cook' stalls. If you land up at the appropriate time, you can witness the local fishermen organising a fish auction. There are a couple of majestic crayfish almost as long as one's forearm and, of course, the ubiquitous pomfret.

There are crabs too, spiky and long. We settled on a chilly-hot fish soup and a plate of grilled prawns with chilly and lime, and watched the Coast Guard, dredgers and dolphins go by.

Picture by K.K. Mustafah

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