The South Indian dishes are hot and spicy when compared with the rest of India. However when it is mentioned as South Indian dishes one will think mainly about the dishes of Tamil Nadu and Kerala because they are the southern most states of India. Rice is the main food and all the other dishes are centered on rice. White rice is prepared by adding raw rice to the boiling water. After the rice is boiled the excess water is drained. In modern cuisine rice is cooked with pressure cookers and rice cookers.

For preparing most of the South Indian dishes you need pressure cookers, tawa, kadai, idli cooker and mixer grinder. If the masala items and podi items are made at home the South Indian dishes will taste delicious. In Kerala the rice used is bigger in size and slightly red color in appearance. They savor this red rice with fish items which are available there in abundance and banana and pineapple dishes which grow well there. The other side dishes are panasapattu curry, nuvvula podi, sorakaya, parippu curry, jackfruit puzhukku, moru curry, pulissery, erissery, kalan, parippu payasam, etc.

The South Indian dishes of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are hot and spicy like biriyani, kebab, pickles and kurma varieties. South India is noted for its spices. Especially in the Western Ghats and coastal plains the spices like cloves, cardamom, nutmeg and pepper grow well. As the banana trees grow well here the banana fruit variety called nenthrampazham is very famous and chips are made out of them.

Some popular South Indian dishes are chicken kurma, neimeen porichathu, thanjavur thengaipuri, kasi halwa, adai, aviyal, akkara vadisal, neer mor, milagu kolambu, maalaadu and puliyotharai. There are lots of gravy or curry or kuzhambu varieties that go perfectly with rice varieties. No one eats boiled rice as it is. It is mixed with these gravies before eating to get the great taste.

The specialty of South Indian dishes is its varieties. Not one type of food is served at a time. The boiled rice is served with at least two or three types of gravies. Some popular gravy varieties that are served in day to day household cooking are sambar, rasam, puzhikulambu and morkulambu. Along with this pappad, curd, vegetable curries of at least two types named as koottu and poriyal and pickles are also served. In the typical South Indian family banana leaf is used as plate to eat the meals during special times. In many restaurants of South India you can see this custom of serving in banana leaf.

Seasoning is an integral part of South Indian dishes. Most of them are seasoned with oil, mustard, curry leaves, red chilly and urad dhal. Seasoning is done either before starting to cook or after finishing up to add final touches. The flavor and aroma of the South Indian dishes prepared with right quantity of ingredients will tempt you crave for more.

Article Posted By : Sumazla  On November 18, 2011lView All Articles

Suhaina Mazhar is a freelance content writer and blogger with five years experience in content writing. http://sumazla.blogspot.com is her blog.

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