South India: Part II

South India: Part II

Tropical south India is vibrant and overflowing with culture. Having been there several times to visit my family I would have to describe it as a raw experience. I have chosen that word because it derives from the two main things I experienced there. First of all the exhausting heat and secondly the earthy warmth and friendliness of the people.

You can’t say you like Indian food unless you have experienced south Indian cuisine, so read on!
South Indian food primarily contains rice as a staple food (as opposed to north Indian chapattis), coupled with curries characterized by the use of ingredients combining 6 principle tastes:

• Sweet (Milk, butter, sweet cream, wheat, ghee (clarified butter), rice, honey, bananas, coconut)
• Sour (Limes and lemons, citrus fruits, yogurt, mango, tamarind)
• Salty (Salt or pickles)
• Bitter (Bitter gourd, greens of many kinds, turmeric, fenugreek)
• Pungent (Chili peppers, ginger, black pepper, clove, mustard)
• Astringent (Beans, lentils, turmeric, vegetables like cauliflower and cabbage, cilantro)

Each taste has a balancing ability and including some of each provides complete nutrition, minimizes cravings and balances the appetite and digestion.

South Indian Cuisine, is famous for its spiciness and mainly constitutes the cuisines from the states of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. My family is from the state of Karnataka.

I am quite partial to the Karnartakan cuisine which is often incomplete without a swig of whisky or two! South Indian is quite an acquired taste and you will find it less commonly in Indian restaurants around Sydney unless you head to the three little Indias of Sydney in Homebush, Seven Hills or Harris Park.

In Kerala, the staple food of localities is fish accompanied with steaming rice of usually large size grains. Coconut is featured in everything from curries to building shacks. An appam (rice and coconut pancake) with a coconut chutney is the basic breakfast. Here banana trees and jackfruit trees are very common. The Keralites prepare special snacks with these fruits like banana chips and jackfruit chips, which are equally liked and appreciated by the outsiders who come here.

Tamil Nadu is one of the important states of South India not just for its rich cultural past but because it embraces typical south Indian foods: Idlis (rice cakes), Dosas (thin crispy pancakes made of rice flour and lentil flour filled with spicy potato) and Uttapams (Indian style pizza) can be eaten with a spicy tomato soup called Rassam or a vegetable curry called Sambhar. Vadas are deep fried savoury donuts that are to die for.

You better be writing this down or you are missing out!