A taste of Kerala
I was in Kerala a few days ago. I know it's called God's own country, but it should be called God's Green Country instead. Kerala is green, very green. There trees everywhere and even on the roads to everywhere there are trees.
Kerala is also humid. (Just to be clear, I was there for a whole two days, maybe 1.75 days.) When I was there it wasn't as bad as Chennai but it was humid enough that you'd notice.
It's against the law to smoke cigarettes in a public place, like on the road. You can apparently get hauled to the police station for this.
I saw one and a half Malayalam movies during the trip and I think I got the story in both of them. Of course, they weren't complex, psychological thrillers, so that helped.
I enjoyed the experience of eating authentic Kerala food. This is what I love about India is that there hasn't been a homogenisation of cuisine, though in the cities it's starting to happen. I had two fabulous lunches, one cooked by my friend's mother, and the other, a lunch at a wedding.
I learned that tapioca is a root that's a little bit like potato in taste but the texture is different. Boiled tapioca and fish curry is an interesting culinary combination, though it wouldn't seem like it would be.
A lot of coconut is used in Kerala cooking. This probably explains the numerous coconut trees, though it's probably the other way around.
Did I mention that Kerala is green?
2 Comments:
Ah, so you had kappa! :) I was initiated into eating kappa (tapioca, if you're wondering) by my husband's family. They eat it many ways, the simplest being just boiled kappa with a "chutney" which is just crushed green chillies and salt in coconut oil. It tastes good!
Did you have the parota and motta curry? Yummy, in most places, in Kerala. And had their red rice? I was so amazed to know that you can eat a whole pile of it and still feel like having some more and that it digests very quickly.
So when did you start smoking?! Or is it that I just never thought that you did? :)
Once again, the languages of India fascinate me. Kappa is frog in Telugu! I didn't have parota and motta curry but I've had it before though. Didn't eat red rice but did eat boiled rice. The first time I tasted boiled rice, a long time back, I never liked it; this time I enjoyed it.
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