Onam Avial
Avial is a vegetable stew with many variations. This one is full of local pumpkins, yams, and beans available during Onam, Kerala’s harvest festival.
Mariam Venattu’s Keralan Chicken Curry with Cassava
This chicken curry is Kerala’s version of comfort food. With a rich gravy, it was served to us with chunks of boiled cassava. We soon learned that mashing the cassava into the tantalizing sauce helped capture all the flavours created from the meat being slowly simmered in the spices. This is the kind of local …
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Mariam Venattu’s Fish Curry with Kokum
Sometimes when Pauli-Ann and I travel in India we get a serious case of cooking utensil envy. The clay vessel Mariam cooked this fish curry in is a prime example of a utensil that’s hard to duplicate in North America. We think a heavy Dutch Oven will be the best option for most of us …
Our Top 5 Things To Do in the Idukki District of Kerala
In the heart of the Idukki District of Kerala lies Periyar National Park. It attracts many travellers each year and between the beauty of the park and the area’s spice trade, there are a number of fun things to do in the region’s small towns of Kumily, Thekkady and Periyar. Here are our Top 5 …
Read more about Our Top 5 Things To Do in the Idukki District of Kerala
Cooking at Home on Onam with Mariam Venattu
We spent a completely delightful afternoon cooking with Mariam Venattu and her sister Kunjumol (Anna) and their families. It was the first day of Onam in 2016. Onam is South India’s annual 10-day harvest festival. Mariam’s sons Jinu (23), Tijin (22) and Nithin (18) and Anna’s daughter Sajin (17) joined us. Her husband Thamban Varkey …
Sheril’s Pineapple Curry
We love this pineapple curry with a big plate of Sheril’s Barbeque Chicken and some fluffly white rice. A version of this recipe has even made it to the New York Times. Sheril often riffs on the ingredients and after visiting him on several occasions, we are sharing our favourite version. It has a green …
Sheril’s Flaky Parathas
Ordinarily, we give you measurements for our recipes in teaspoons, tablespoons and cups but with baking and bread making it is important to be precise. Here we urge you to use the exact ratio and measurements in metric that Sheril uses for success. We really want you to be able to create these lacy flaky …
Green Beans Thoran
Chopping, chopping, chopping! We can still hear the joyful cackle that follows this refrain as we’ve stood with Sheril at the Thekkady Barbeque Cooking School preparing this dish. The finished taste is all the incentive you need to do the slicing and dicing for this recipe. This puts green beans on a coconut-y pedestal.
Masala Aloo – Spicy French Fries
Coated with zippy spices and fried in coconut oil, these are not your everyday fries. A terrific accompaniment to Sheril’s Barbeque Chicken Masala.
Sheril’s Barbeque Chicken Masala
We feel very fortunate to be able to share another South Indian chef’s signature recipe with you. Others might claim it, but this recipe for Sheril’s Barbeque Chicken is truly finger-licking good. AND, this recipe includes the secret spices (like when we shared Anna Zacharria’s for her Duck Curry). Frankly though, I’m still not sure …