South Indian Recipes

Rice is the staple food for the people of South India. Consumption of wheat is less compared to North India. Most of the vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes of this region have a generous use of coconuts, pepper, mustard seed and other spices. Generally South Indian dishes are spicy. It has brilliant blend of flavors, bright colors, smell, and taste. So, south Indian foods are generally tasty, spicy and colorful. Moreover south Indian food is known for its medicinal value.

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Predesh and Kerala are the four states that constitute South India. South India is hot and humid. South Indians are generally vegetarian. Andhra cuisine from Andhra Predesh is too spicy. They use more chilli and pepper. Chettinad cuisine from Tamil Nadu is rich and flavorful taste. Coconut, banana are main ingredients of Kerala food.

South Indian food is served in banana leaf. It’s considered that banana leaf contains medicinal values and eating on it improves the health. With the rice centered and the other dishes adorned the banana leaf. After finishing lunch or breakfast, folding the banana leaf towards the front is considered as good habit.

South Indian foods contain Curry leaves, mustard, Asafetida, pepper and peppercorns, tamarind, chillies and fenugreek seeds are the main ingredients and these contain medicinal values.

Tamil Nadu is one of the important states of South India. Apart from its rich cultural past it reminds us that unique taste of yummy cuisines such as Idlis, Uttappam, Dosas, Rassam, Sambhar which are so popular here and also throughout the world.

Kerala is another significant state of South India. The basic food of Keralites is fish combined with steamed rice of usually large size grains.

Andhra Pradesh is famous for its hot and spicy cuisine. We can see the Mughal’s impact in the Andhra deishes. Generally it is too hot and spicy.

Karnataka food has mysore, dharwad, mangalore shimoga, coorg, and konkani styles of cooking and each of this has its distinct character and taste Its in not too spicy. More sugar and Jaggery will be added to Karnataka cuisine.

South Indian Recipes are great in taste and good to health and accepted world wide as medicinal foods.

South Indian food, particularly Tamil Nadu, brings to mind idlis,dosas, sambhar and vada. Beside these immensely popular classics, there are more tasty fares. In south India there are hugfe numbers of vegetarian dishes. The food in this region use generous amount of spices and coconuts.The final tempering with oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves, dried red chilies and urad dal is similar for most of the dishes. The Malabar Coast in the South India is famous for its spices of pungent aromas that lured many foreign invaders like the Dutch, the French and the English. Cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon,cloves and nutmeg are some of the notable spices, which are found in abundance in the South. The availability of coconut, fish and root tubers have influenced the culinary creations of the South. Rice is the staple food for the people of South India instead of wheat, which is more popular in northern states. In Kerala, the staple food of the people is fish accompanied with steaming rice of big size

In Kerala, the staple food of the people is fish accompanied with steaming rice of big size. Banana chips and jackfruit chips are the specialty snacks of this state and most of the visitors make sure they have at least a few bags of these items in their carry home luggage! The Andhra cuisine has a great Mughal impact. Their food is known for its spiciness and hotness. The kebabs and the Briyanis are not to be missed. Home made pickles, papads and dry chutney powders to be used with dosa or idli or rice are the famous culinary traditions of this region. Indian Food and Ingredients Indian Herbs and Spices Ajowan (Lovage) Amchur or Amchoor Anardana (Pomegranate Seed) Asafetida (Hing) Bay Leaf (Tej Patta) Cardamom (Elaichi) Celery Seed (Radhuni) Chat Masala Coriander (Dhania) Cinnamon (Dalchini) Cloves (Laung) Cumin (Jeera or Jira) Curry Leaves Fenugreek (Methi) Garam Masala Kali Mirch (Black Pepper) Kalijiri Seeds Mustard Seed (Rai and Sarson) Nigella seed (Kalo Jira) Panch Phoron Paprika Dried Red Chili (Lal Mirch) Saffron (Kesar) Sambhar Masala Saunf (Fennel Seed) Tamarind (Imli) Turmeric (Haldi) Fat & Oils Ghee (Indian Clarified Butter) Mustard Oil (Sarson Ka Tel) Poppadoms or papad (Thin Indian Crispy Wafer) General Indian Food Ingredients Atta (whole wheat flour) Besan (Gram Flour) Indian Drinks Indian Breads Basmati Rice Indian Spice Indian Desserts (Sweets) Achar or Chutney (Indian pickles or Indian condiments) Maida (all-purpose flour) Rice Flour (Chawal Ka Atta) Saag Sooji (Semolina) Paan (Betel Leaf Chew) Urad Flour Indian Fruits and Vegetables Aloo (Potato) Chana Dal Coconut (Narial) Masoor Dal Mung Dal Parwal (Pointed gourd) Toor Dal Urad Dal  Sambar Recipe [Tamilnadu] Ingredients Tamarind-1/2 lime sized ball Toor Dal -1 cup Turmeric Powder-1/2 tsp Small dry red chilies - 5 Small onions- 5 Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp Asafoetida -1/4 tsp Tomato- 1 Big 1 cup of a vegetable of your choice like green beans, chopped carrot Curry Leaves Oil-2 tsp Salt to taste To be ground Bangalgram Dal – 2tbs Coriander seed– 2tbs Urd Dal– 2tbs Dry Red chilli– 2tbs Cocoanut piece-1 Roast and grind into course. Keep it aside. Preparation Choose a heavy cooking pot. Wash and clean the Dal. Boil 2 cups of water and add the Dal, turmeric powder and 1 teaspoon of oil. As the Dal boils, skim off the foam and discard. Boil until the Dal is soft and then mash it coarsely. If needed, add more water as it is boiling but do not let it get too watery. If you use a pressure cooker it will take about 5 minutes. In a pan heat the oil and pop mustard. Add the chopped onions and fry till it turns golden brown. Add green Chillis and fry for one minute. Then add chopped tomatoes, vegetables. Now add turmeric powder, Asafoetida, curry leave, salt and ground mixture Boil until raw smell goes off. Put some coriander leaves once it is cooked. It adds extra taste and smell. Serve with rice Note Sambar can be prepared without vegetables. Tip appadam is the best side dish. Goungra Recipe [Andhra] Ingredients Gongura leaves - 1 Bunch Sambar Onion (Small) - 10 nos Bengal gram - 1 tsp Urad Dall - 1 tsp Dry Red Chilies - 6 Fenugreek - 2 tbs Gingelly Oil - 25 ml Salt to taste Thalippu Vadagam (Optional) Preparation Peel off small onion. (Don’t cut into pieces, keep it whole) Cut and clean Gongura leaves. Boil with Sambar Onion for 4 minutes. Smash and keep it aside. Dry roast fenugreek and grind to powder. In a heavy pan pour Gingelly oil and put mustard seed, Urad Dall, Bengal gram and allow it for spluttering. Put Red chilies and Thalippu Vadagam and fry for 1 minute. Sprinkle half of fenugreek powder then add boiled Gongura. Mix well and add the remaining fenugreek powder (This way we retain the flavor of fenugreek). Remove from flame and smash altogether. Pour some more Gingelly oil. Serve with steamed rice or chapatti. Note You can keep this Goungra Chutney up to 24 hours without refrigeration. Tip You can do it without boiling the Goungra. Putu [kerala] Ingredients Rosematta rice / Raw Rice (Pacharisi) - 1/4 kg Ghee - 1 tbs Grated coconut - 1/4 of one Water - to sprinkle Salt - a pinch Preparation Soak rice 2 hours. Drain the water. Dry the wet rice in a cool place (Don’t expose in a direct sunlight) then grind it to coarse powder. In a pan heat the rice powder for 3 minutes (Do not roast). Keep the powder aside to cool. Sprinkle water (Be careful in mixing water. The perfect combination of water and rice powder gives the good result). Add salt to taste. In a Puttu Kutti (Puttu making vessel easily available in the market) loosely fill rice and coconut as layers. Boil it for 10 minutes. Mix ghee (Optional). Serve hot with Kadala Kari or Mutta Curry Note Mixing of Jaggery and Cardamom (Elachi) gives you sweet Puttu (Should not mix salt). No side dish required. Tip Rosematta rice (Tamilnadu traditional rice available in all departmental store) can be used for healthy breakfast. Ragi Mudde Recipe[karnataka] Ingredients Ragi Powder(English:Finger millet, Tamil: Kezhvaragu) -2 cups Steamed rice-1/4 cup (for texture) Water-4 cups Salt as needed. Preparation Bring the water to boil and add salt. Pour Ragi powder into boiling water. Stir well using wooden spedula (stir as fast as you can). Remove from flame when your dough becomes thick. Sprinkle steamed rice and mix well. Let it cool for some time. Make balls(Mudde) using your wet hand. Note You can avoid mixing of steamed rice. Tip You can mix ragi powder with one cup of cold water then pour this mixture in to hot boiling water to make this process some what easy. Dissolve mudde in butter milk, you will get Kezhvaragu Khoozh (Ragi pie)