Abida Rasheed isn’t just passionate about what she cooks, but interested in satiating her own taste buds. Moreover she’s particular about how the food is served. She says it also matters how food is mixed and combined on the plate. Abida is in town to anchor the Moplah food fest at The Park.
The Kerala thali as part of the fest contains Kerala Parotha, eaten by dipping broken pieces into the stew. Abida says, “We usually eat it like this,” and demonstrates by quickly pouring half of the mutton stew onto the stringed parotha and pats the parotha with her finger tips to let it get soaked in the stew, takes a morsel and let it slip down the throat with utter bliss and says, “this is how it is done.”
But who are Moplahs? Moplahs are Malabari Muslims from North Kerala who trace their roots to Arabs who came here centuries ago to trade in spices and silk; stayed on and married locals. The Arab influence is evident in some of the dishes and flavours and Abida explains it as the robustness — “Both in flavours and cuts, but there is a subtleness in all use of spices and flavours.”
“There are certain dishes that are intrinsically Moplah — like Pathiri or ‘rice chapati’ made in different ways. Others are the Neichoru , an exotic fried rice and the sweet Mutta Mala or the egg-garland made of the yolks of eggs without a trace of fat.
As we speak and proceed to puttu and kadla curry , a little amount of raw banana stir fry with desiccated coconut is served.
Abida says the Moplah style of cooking also has traces of Yemeni flavours. “It is Muslim food but unlike the Mughlai cuisines of India from Hyderabad, Lucknow, Kashmir and even Delhi, they are less heavy and not rich in gravies. It is not rich food and mostly uses chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric, jeera and a few whole spices.”
The puttu log was soft and fluffy and relishing it by mixing it with kadla and the fish curry was a pleasure.
The mutton stew is unlike the regular Kerala stew. It isn’t white and is more like a runny soupy mutton curry. The taste? Well, one would be tempted to drink it by the bowl but it’s best relished with an appam.
The biryani is flavourful but doesn’t taste anything like the Hyderabadi dum biryani.
Moplah cuisine also has starters that are equally high on taste. Before the thali was served Ulli vada, khoon pathiri , fish fry and chicken fry were served. Ulli vada is onion vada while khoon pathiri is steamed vadas made of rice flour stuffed with mushroom. A good change for vegetarians. In the mains for vegetarians the dishes go as thus: Vegetable ishtu, Muringa curry (drumstick leaf curry) Pachakayi Upperi (raw banana poriyal) Parippu curry and Tellichery pachacurry biryani .
The desserts include elaneer payasam , tender coconut payasam, chakkara choru , whole wheat and jaggery payasam, trio of specialty halwa and banana fritters with honey.
Finally end the love affair with a cup of Sulemani chai.
