Which are the unique Malabari rice dishes from Kerala, India?

Which are the unique Malabari rice dishes from Kerala, India?

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Rice is the main staple of Kerala as like any other Southern states and Malayalees are well known across India for being the largest consumers of rice among Indian states (slightly lower than North East and Eastern states).

There are nearly 58 varieties of Kerala variety of rice, though currently only the 8 to 10 varieties are much popular and widely consumed

The most famous being Palakkadan Matta which is often referred to as Kerala rice across India. Its also called Rose Matta for its distinctive Pinkish appearance. It is also called as Kuthuari and Chemabavu rice and its one of the healthiest variety due to its ability to retain all nutrients (being unpolished rice) and parboiled with the husk.

So as some of the other popular Kerala varieties are Pokkali, saltwater-tolerant organic rice having medicinal properties and special taste; Jeerakasala and Gandhakasala (scented rice varieties, often used for Biriyani making); Black Njavara and Golden Njavara (medicinal rice varieties extensively used in the Ayurveda medicines) and Wayanadan Kayama.

All these effectively make a variety of rice dishes that we take. Some of the popular rice dishes as follows;

Choru- Normal Rice meal

The standard Kerala lunch and dinner are often simply cooked rice which we call Choru. Its the simplest and most basic meal.

Choru is the official staple and taken with a variety of curries. Normally in most cases, it will be Matta rice, but it can be also other rice varieties like Pokkali or similar local varieties. So as similar brown variety rice of Andhra Pradesh like Jaya, Surekha etc have also become a popular substitute due to its lower prices and much similar to Matta.

Typical Kerala Rice meals with fried fish.

Pothichoru- Packed Lunch meal in Banana leaf

Kerala’s version of Tiffin meals. Pothichoru is nothing but packed lunch in banana leaves. It's normal lunch meals which are tightly packed in a banana leaf which has been slightly tossed over the fire. By tossing the banana leaves over the fire, the water content in the leaf will be removed, but the essence of Banana leaf slowly get infused into the packed rice. Normally the rice is packed along with semi-dry curries or stir-fried veggies etc and for non-veg, mostly an omelette along with a fish fry or similar. When all these curries mix together, they infuse a distinctive taste to the whole dish and due to this factor- Pothichoru is one of the most sought-after meals which even includes start-ups just for delivering these food packets to offices and similar places.

Kanji — Congee

Like many other rice staple cultures, Kerala has a strong culture of Congee or Rice Porridges. Kanji was once the most common food for commoners as Choru was meant for rich/upper strata of society untill the 70s. In those eras, Choru was highly ceremonial food, taken during special occasions or festivities etc. However, with the massive change of social-economic lifestyle, Choru soon became the standard staple, making Kanji looks like an inferior meal due to its association as commoner’s frugal meal.

However, Kanji is one of the most nutritious meals as such.

Normal Kanji

The standard Congee meal was Kanji with Cherupayar curry (Green Gram Curry) and Roasted Coconut chutney along with a Pappadam (Pappad/Lentil Crisp). It's best taken from an earthen pot and still associated by many as most cherished food.

Paal Kanji

Another variety of Kanji is called Paal-Kanji, once taken exclusively by Royalty and Upper Castes. Its normal Kanji, but instead of water, it's cooked in Milk. Its also used for Ayurvedic treatments as its regarded as best of Sattiv Food, but in such cases, the rice may be of Njavara instead of usual Matta. Traditionally, this dish was made and given to pregnant ladies from their 7th month onwards.

It was once the official food of Kochi Maharajas who always insisted for smaller, yet richer meals. It's taken normally with Pickle or just plain bananas, if on a more sattvic diet.

Pazham Kanji

Pazhamkanji is actually fermented rice gruel made from leftover rice of previous day and served with mixing all leftover curries of the previous night to create a melange rice soup. Its often called Superfood as its so heavy and due to the fermentation, the nutritious content is very high.

In olden days, peasants and people who are involved in hard-labour used to have this as their breakfast meal which keeps them charged for the entire day. Normally previous day leftover rice will be kept in an earthen pot with rice stock/water, garnished with few crushed shallots and green chillies into it and a bit of curd. This ferments the dish into Pazhamkanji which is served with chillies, coconut chutney and pickle etc.

The dish is still one of the most popular nostalgic dishes and there are speciality restaurants that still serve this one, though the best is always home-made

Karkidaka Kanji- The medical porridge

Its one of the most sacred Kanjis, originally meant strictly for medical reasons, but now became a popular dish, normally served only during Monsoon seasons. It was originally part of the Ayurvedic diet, meant to cleanse the body and detoxify the organs and system. Its normally made on the onset of Karkidaka Month (July-August) when the monsoon will be at its peak and the most ideal time for the body to detoxify itself as per Ayurveda.

It's cooked with certain Ayurvedic medicines, specifically use of the following herbs.

However as it's hard to get all these in a prescribed way and cook in strict Ayurvedic-style, most of the people now buy pre-mixed ready to cook Karkidaka Kanji Kit during the season, which is now available in the market.

Nombu Kanji

This is a classic Iftar fare usually taken by Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.

There are two versions to it. In Malabar side, they prepare something called Jeeraka Kanji (Rice Congee with Cumins) which is taken as a dish to end the fasting. Normally it will be vegetarian, however, the dish has lost its popularity to another Iftar dish called Thari Kanji (which Congee made of Semolina/Rava) which I won’t highlight here as it's not made of rice.

Jeeraka Kanji is primarily Masala flavoured rice gruel with a creamy like consistency made of rice and masalas, primarily CUMIN/JEERA as the main flavouring ingredient. The rice gruel has coconut and onion paste into it, which gives the creamy consistency.

Another popular Nombu Kanji is Chicken Kanji (often called as Nombu Kanji only). This is more popular in South Kerala and Idukki areas as it was introduced by the Tamil Muslim community and became popular among others. As it was introduced by Tamilians, the rice used in this Kanji is normally Ponni/White Rice and now substituted with Basmati rice too.

This is a thick creamy rice dish with boneless chicken blended into the masala gruel.

Both Choru and Kanji are much common across South as well as other parts of India, though the rice variety and cooking styles may differ. I have highlighted only those common in Kerala.

Specialty Rice Dishes

Neychoru- Ghee Rice

When thinking of Kerala’s unique Rice dish, definitely it's Neychoru or Ghee Rice.

Neeychoru is normally cooked with Jeerakashala rice, more specifically the Wayanadan version called Kayama. The short grain has its own unique fragrance which makes this dish special, which cannot be substituted with Basmati Rice.

It's much similar to a typical Pulao in the process, as the rice is cooked and tossed in pure Ghee for the unique taste and heavily garnished with fried onions and dry fruits, particularly cashew nuts. It's not spicy like Biriyani as other masalas are kept to lowest levels.

And generally, Ney-choru is not cooked with any meat, rather a standalone rice dish. Its normally taken with typical Kozhikodan styled Mutton curry or Beef curry. For vegetarians, its best with meaty like vegetables like Mushroom etc.

Erachi Choru- Beef/Mutton Rice

Erachi Choru is Kerala’s version of Mutton/Beef Pulao/Pilaf.

The key difference between Erachi Choru and Biriyani is that, for the former, the rice is cooked with the beef/mutton curry while it's cooked separately for Biriyani. So in Erachi Choru, there is no layering as seen in Biriyani. The rice normally used are Jeerakashala or Gandhakashala rice. The good part is that each grain of rice is infused with the meat’s flavours and essence as it's cooked together.

Its comparatively easy to cook and hence often seen as a regular dish, unlike Biriyani which was originally a ceremonial dish.

Biriyani

For Malayalees, much like the rest of Indians, Biriyani is always the king among rice dishes. Its the most sought after dish for any functions or events.

We have our own versions of Biriyani

Kozhikodan Biriyani

The most famous and celebrated Biriyani of Kerala, its often called Malabar Biriyani outside Kerala. It has emerged as one of the most iconic biriyanis of Kerala. As the name suggests, it originated and still best seen in the city of Kozhikode

Kozhikode Biriyani is heavily spiced with various Kerala’s exotic spices which gives a very distinctive taste. It also uses tomatoes, ginger, onion paste etc to make a very thick masala gravy which gets blended with Chicken preparation, and the rice is layered over the chicken gravy and further topped with ghee, cashews, raisins and fried onions. So when we take the dish out, it looks like a normal rice dish, but the colour of rice changes as one dig down. When mixed together, it forms a hue of colours, some plain white, some yellow, some orange and some into the red, thus making the whole biriyani one of the most colourful. Normally Jeerakashala rice is used for Kozhikodan Biriyanis, but even Basmati rice or Ponni Rice is also used these days, as the much of flavour comes from the gravy beneath, not the rice.

Thalassery Biriyani

The arch-rival of Kozhikodan Biriyani, Thalassery Biriyani is equally one of the most sought after Biriyanis in Kerala, but not that popular outside Kerala. Both are actually Malabar Biriyanis.

The key difference between Thalassery and Kozhikode Biriyanis is that, for the former, they don’t use that level of spiciness as the latter uses. Moreover, the entire fragrance of Thalassery Biriyani comes from the use of Wayanadan Kayama Rice. And the rice itself is slightly fried before layering as Biriyani.

So as unlike Kozhikode Biriyani, here there is a meat layering between the rice as mostly only the gravy part is kept at the bottom while the meat pieces in-between.

Kochi Biriyani (Different names like Pandari/Kutchi etc)

Kochi’s Biriyani culture is mostly influenced from Sindhi/Kutchi Muslims who migrated into the city and brought their cuisine.

So it's not very typical to usual Kerala style, but due to its association for more than 500 years, it has acquired a distinctive Kerala character.

This is more similar to Kerala’s Erachi Choru, though it's not as spicy as the former. The rice and meat are cooked together but uses Basmati rice instead of Kayama rice as for Erachi Choru. In some places, they use coconut milk in the gravy to lighten the flavour and gives a distinctive Kerala taste.

Malappuram Kuzhimanthi

Technically this is NOT a Kerala dish, rather a Yemeni dish called Mandi.

However, in last 20 years, this dish became a rage in Kerala, particularly in Malappuram district, where they Indianized the dish to match to local tastes and preference. So as the new Malayalee name— Kuzhimanthi got stuck with it. Its called so, only because, the rice is cooked underneath the soil, in a specially designed pit-oven while the chicken above the rice in the same oven (Kuzhi means Hole). In the Arabic version, they don’t use any spices to marinate the chicken, whereas, in Kerala, it's spiced lightly. When the dish gets roasted, the fat of the chicken drips down into the rice which is used to cook the rice.

Unlike normal biriyani, in this case, its the rice which is cooked with Masalas, not the chicken. The rice is half boiled with various spices (very lightly) along with lime to get those flavours infused into the rice. The drained rice is roasted in the special oven with the chicken kept separately over it and its fat will help the rice to get its unique flavour.

The Kuzhimanthi tastes different from its Arabic variant- Mandi in many ways, however, it looks quite similar.

Thenga Choru- Coconut Rice

Often called as Poor Man’s Biriyani, its equally a substitute to Neychoru. The cooking style is close similar to Neychoru, but two key differences are the rice and Coconut.

The rice used for this one is normal Matta rice, instead of Jeerakashala rice. The rice is cooked in a thick paste Coconut, Shallots, Fenugreek seeds etc, thus infusing the flavours into the rice. And there is no use of ghee, rather a slight amount of coconut oil is used to give that coconutty flavour.

It's best to be taken with Kerala Beef roast.

Thayir Sadam/Thayir Choru- Curd Rice

Thayir Sadam or Curd Rice is a common Pan-South Indian dish and it's often regarded as one of the best comfort foods across India.

Thayir Sadam has its own Kerala Style primarily modified to suit to Malayalee tastes. Generally its more of semi-dry version along with carrot slices etc apart from the usual ingredients in Kerala and often it's taken as a salad option in many buffets.

Niche variety

Vella Nivedyam/Padachoru- Sticky Brown Rice

This is the divine offerings made to the deities in Kerala temples, hence the term- Nivedyam (Sacred Offering). The primary food offered to all deities in Kerala temples is Matta rice without parboiling it, thus retaining its natural brown rice qualities. The cooking style of this rice is different as the entire water content is completely dried out, making it a kind of sticky rice.

This rice is given to devotees for consumption as prasadam or taken as daily food share by employees of the temple including the priests. Normally Nampoothiris are known for their preference to eat this rice and for any auspicious activity, we usually use this rice cooked in the temple style.

It's the most sattvic food as per Kerala concept and hence normally this is included as part of Ayurvedic treatments.

Sarkara Pongal—Sweet Rice

Though its a typical Tamil dish, this is quite popular in South Kerala, particularly in and around Kollam and Trivandrum districts.

Its typical Pongal dish cooked with Jaggery to make it sweet. Its somewhat similar to Kerala’s Ada Pradhaman (where we use coconut milk too) and Neypayasam (has different rice for that)

In Kerala style Sarkara Pongal, we use Matta rice normally, but cook till the entire water gets dried out to make it bit sticky.

Payasams- Desserts

For most of Kerala’s famous Payasam range (Kheer), we lavishly use rice as the key ingredient. I have written another answer about it, so not repeating the same.

Arun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to What are some popular food items from Kerala?

Andi Unda- Rice Cashew Balls

A popular Malabar evening snacks, its actually a rice-cashew ball. The unique difference between this from other rice-based snacks is that it uses roasted rice grains in the crushed form along with cashew nuts rather than using rice flour.

It's an easy to make snack comprising of roasted matta rice along with cashew nuts (both roasted in ghee) and then crushed into powdered form along with a bit of coconut powder and jaggery and rolled into a ball (much like a Ladoo)

Rice Flour based food

Around 90% of Kerala’s breakfast range and snacks are prepared using Rice flour.