During our 2016 journey through South India, we had the chance to sit and talk with chef Jerry Matthew about what “local food” means in his corner of South India – Periyar in Kerala. Chef Matthew has been with the CGH Earth Experience group of hotels for 20 years now and is the executive chef …
Read more about Chef Jerry Matthew of CGH Spice Village in Thekkady
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.
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 …
Read more about Mariam Venattu’s Keralan Chicken Curry with Cassava
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 …
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 …
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 …
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.
Coated with zippy spices and fried in coconut oil, these are not your everyday fries. A terrific accompaniment to 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 …
Sheril J.S. is 40 years old and one of the most fun cooks I know. He was born in a place simply referred to as “six mile” in the Periyar District of Kerala. He learned to cook from his mother and grandmother and he’s still cooking with his mother at his business, the Thekkady Barbeque …
Read more about Sheril J.S. and the Thekkady Barbeque Cooking School