Everything Tangy And Spicy

At the food festival in the Forte Kochi hotel, foreign and Indian patrons get a taste of the traditional cuisine which is served in the toddy shops of Kerala

By Shevlin Sebastian

Photos: Executive Sous Chef Gejo Joseph; a jackfruit dish. Pics by Albin Mathew 

When the waiter brought the fried pearl spot in front of the fifty-year-old Lisa Raymond, during the Kallu Shap (Toddy Shop) Festival at the Forte Kochi hotel, held recently she licked her lips in anticipation. With a fork and knife, she began eating it, and a look of bliss spread across her face.

After a while, she told Harikrishnan Kaniyarakkal, F&B Manager, “Very tasty. But there is nothing I can do about this.” And she pointed at her teary eyes and red nose with a big smile.

Harikrishnan says, “Madam, we have put the minimum amount of spices.”

Lisa nodded and says, “We Americans have so little spices in our food, but I love this.”

Because the restaurant gets a wide variety of clientele – Europeans, Americans, Asians and North Indians – they decided to reduce the spices to suit everybody's palate.

Nevertheless, the uniqueness of the food is undeniable. It is mostly served in the toddy shops of Southern Kerala, especially in the areas around Kuttanad and Kottayam.

Interestingly, it was only around 2010 that the food began to get more attention, rather than the toddy, thanks to uploads on social media and articles in the mainstream media. Now, many families drop in to these shops to have a taste of the cuisine.

This consists of Pothu Curry (Beef Curry), Chemmeen Vattichathu (Dried Shrimp), Pork Varattiyathu (Pork Roast), Natholi Meen Peera (small fish fry), fried squid, beef fry, grilled seer fish, prawn roast, fried pork, scampi and crabs.

“These dishes are usually paired with Kerala-style parathas, boiled tapioca, rice and kallappan (hoppers),” says Gejo Joseph, Executive Sous Chef.

Undoubtedly, the tastiest items are the ones which are cooked inside a banana leaf pouch. “We put the prawn, beef or pork inside the banana leaf, then close it at both ends, and have it cooked,” says Gejo. “The flavour of the leaf, as well as the spices mix with each other and a unique taste is formed.”

Agrees visitor Charishma T: “The Chemmeen Vazhayila Pidi Kizhi [Prawn in banana leaf pouch] was an absolute favourite, coming delicately wrapped in banana leaves. It was semi-dry, nice and spicy, with the prawns cooked well. The spicy flavours provided an immense pleasure to the taste buds. As for the Meen Manga Curry [Fish and Mango Curry], it came in a traditional earthen pot. Then there was the Tender Seer Fish, which was dunked in a thick gravy of coconut and raw mango pieces. It was amazing.'

Adds another patron Elina Elsa M: “My favourite was the pork dish. It had the right balance of pork, coconut nut slivers and shallots in an amazing masala. The beef vazhayila kizhi is a signature dish and once you try it, you realise why. The moment you take off that tie on the banana leaf the aroma spreads in the air which results in instant drooling.”

As for the spices, which are added, these include the Kashmiri chilly, tamarind, ginger, garlic, cinnamon and cardamon.

One reason for the heightened spices in the traditional cuisine is because people consume the food after having a lot of toddy. “So, if they have to enjoy the food, while high, it needs a lot of spices,” says Gejo.

Asked how they got the idea to do this festival, hotel manager Sajeesh Nadakhakath says the restaurant used to get a lot of requests for local food. “So we decided to go for the most basic,” he says. 

But before that, they did a lot of research. They went to Kuttanad and sampled dishes made by several chefs. Then two of them were short-listed, and they came to the Forte Kochi kitchen and made the dishes.