Fresh off the stove · Main Course
Kerala home cooking, explained properly
Nadan recipes from a Kerala kitchen, with the why behind every step.
Appam and stew, fish curry, sadhya sides and payasam: tested Kerala recipes written for Malayalis abroad and anyone cooking Kerala food far from Kerala.
32Kerala recipes
8courses on the leaf
Weeklynew dishes
Latest from the kitchen
New Kerala recipes
Vegetarian
Kerala Moru Curry: Spiced Buttermilk Curry for Rice
How to make Kerala moru curry (moru kachiyathu) at home: sour curd whisked smooth, warmed gently with ginger, green chilli and shallots, never boiled, then finished with a coconut-oil tempering, plus fixes for a split or bitter curry.
Main Course
Kerala Fish Molee: Mild Fish Stew in Coconut Milk
How to make Kerala fish molee at home: firm fish lightly fried, simmered in thin coconut milk with onion, ginger, green chilli and pepper, then finished with thick milk and vinegar without boiling, plus fixes for split gravy and broken fish.
Snacks
Achappam Recipe: Crisp Kerala Rose Cookies at Home
How to make crisp, lacy achappam (Kerala rose cookies): a thin rice flour and coconut milk batter, a mould heated in the oil before every dip, the three-quarter dip rule, and fixes for cookies that stick, break or turn soft.
Main Course
Kerala Fish Fry: Meen Varuthathu Masala and Method
How to make Kerala fish fry at home: a thick chilli-pepper paste with rice flour, the right fish (mathi, ayala, neymeen), a 20-minute rest and a slow coconut-oil fry with curry leaves until the masala turns into a crisp red crust.
Main Course
Kerala Chicken Roast: Nadan Pan-Roasted Chicken
How to make a dark, dry Kerala chicken roast on the stove: slow-browned onions and shallots, a fennel-pepper spice mix, and chicken roasted in its masala until it clings. Serve it with appam or parotta.
Main Course
Kerala Beef Curry for Parotta (Nadan Thattukada Style)
How to make the thick, pepper-forward Kerala beef curry served with parotta at thattukadas: roasted meat masala, fried coconut slices, deeply browned shallots and a gravy that clings to torn bread.
How we write a recipe
Cook it once, understand it for good
01
The short answer first
Every recipe opens with what the dish is, how long it takes and what to serve it with, before the story.
02
The why behind each step
Why the onions go dark for a roast, why coconut milk goes in last for a stew: the reasons that make it work in any kitchen.
03
Made for kitchens abroad
Swaps for what is hard to find outside Kerala, plus the plate each dish belongs on, from breakfast to sadhya.
The full leaf
Every recipe, by course
Main Course12
Nadan curries, roasts and fries for rice, appam and parotta
- Kerala Beef Liver Fry (Karal Ularthiyathu): Soft and Peppery
- Kerala Fish Molee: Mild Fish Stew in Coconut Milk
- Kerala Fish Fry: Meen Varuthathu Masala and Method
- Kerala Chicken Roast: Nadan Pan-Roasted Chicken
- Kerala Beef Curry for Parotta (Nadan Thattukada Style)
- Kappa and Meen Curry: Kerala Tapioca with Red Fish Curry
- Egg Roast: Kerala's Spicy Comfort Food
- Chicken Stew: Kerala's Gentle Coconut Curry
- Prawn Masala: Coastal Kerala's Spicy Delight
- Karimeen Pollichathu: Kerala's Pearl Spot Pride
- Beef Ularthiyathu: Kerala's Spicy Beef Fry
- Meen Curry: The Soul of Kerala's Backwaters
Vegetarian7
Sadhya sides: avial, thoran, olan, erissery and parippu
Breakfast4
Appam, puttu, idiyappam and the curries that go with them
Snacks3
Chaya-kada favourites for the four o'clock tea
Dessert3
Payasam and festival sweets
Traditional Recipes1
Feast menus and the way a sadhya is served