Dosa, idli, vada?
If you visit a restaurant in South India for the first time, there are probably many items on the menu you have never even heard of. South Indian food is different from the North Indian cuisine that is usually served in Indian restaurants in the West. It is often vegetarian, although meat is available and fish is popular on the coast. South Indian food is generally served with rice while breads are more common in the North.
South India’s tropical climate grows many of the spices that are used in local food: ginger, cumin, coriander, mustard seeds, turmeric and chili. Coconuts grow everywhere and are used in cooking especially in Kerala on the southwest coast. Visit a market anywhere in South India and you will see the spices that flavor South Indian food: baskets filled with red chili peppers, ginger root and coconuts.
South Indian Breakfast Specialties
South India has its own specialties and many of them are breakfast foods. Dosas belong to the most popular South Indian breakfast dishes although they are also served at lunchtime and in the early evening. A dosa is a savory pancake and it is available in seemingly endless varieties. A plain dosa is a thin pancake that is fried in oil and served with sambar (a spicy vegetable/tomato sauce) and sometimes coconut chutney. Set dosas are thicker and you generally get a plateful of them with a bowl of sambar. Masala dosa is a thin dosa that is filled with a spicy potato mix.
Another popular breakfast dish is idli, a steamed spongy rice flour “cake”. Idlis are not spicy but they are served with that spicy sambar, and you can ask for a sambar refill once you run out. Idli-vada is a plate of idlis mixed with vadas, deep-fried savory doughnuts.
If dosas and idlis are not to your taste, a great alternative is upma, a mix of semolina, spices, vegetables and nuts. Semolina is also used for a sweet dish called kesari bath that is flavored with fruit and lots of sugar. A serving of kesari bath and upma together is called chow-chow bath. Appam, a type of a pancake made with rice flour, is a popular breakfast dish in Kerala.
Many South Indian breakfast dishes are served with spicy curries and sauces. If you would like something less hot for your breakfast, most restaurants serve omelets and toast.
South Indian Lunch Specialties
The most popular lunchtime meal in South India is thali, a meal that is served on a plate or sometimes on a banana leaf. The plate is filled with bowls that contain a range of vegetable or meat dishes: sambar (the vegetable stew you also get with your dosa in the morning), a spicy soup called rasam, and dhal: the lentil stew that is the daily staple in many parts of India. A South Indian thali comes with unlimited servings of rice and usually also includes a chapatti (a flatbread) or a puri (deep-fried bread). Thalis can be very filling as waiters walk around handing out more sambar and rasam as soon as you run out. A bowl of curd, natural yoghurt, helps to cool you down the heat in the sambar, and most thalis also come with a sweet dish.
All meals end with a cup of chai (tea). Tea in India is always made with milk and sugar and it is sometimes flavored with cardamom, ginger, black pepper and other local spices to make spiced tea or masala chai. The sweet and caffeine-rich chai keeps India going from early morning until late at night. Coffee is also popular in South India and like tea, it is flavored with a lot of milk and sugar.
Coconuts grow in abundance and you will see coconut stalls everywhere in South India. The water inside green young coconuts is one of the best thirst quenchers in the South’s tropical heat. When you buy a coconut at a roadside stall, the stall holder will cut the top off the coconut and give you a straw for drinking the refreshing sweet water. When you have finished drinking, he’ll cut the coconut into two halves so that you can eat the tender coconut meat.
Eating Tips for South India
Vegetarian food is generally safer to eat than meat dishes in the hot South Indian climate. Restaurants that look busy with locals or with tourists are the best places to eat because the food is more likely to be freshly cooked. Eating food that has been standing in the heat for hours is an easy way to get an Indian stomach bug.
Many restaurants in India close for a couple of hours in the afternoon after lunch, usually between 3 and 5. Dinner is often served from 7 or 7.30 pm onwards. From 5 until dinner time you can usually order only dosas and snacks, such as samosas (deep-friend pastries filled with spicy vegetables or meat).
Most restaurants give you a fork or a spoon, but locals eat with their hands. Or to be specific, with the right hand. Never use your left hand for eating or for receiving food, as the left hand is the unclean hand that is used in the toilet. As a Westerner you can get a fork if you request it, but it is a good idea to get used to eating with your hands especially if you visit Indian homes or eat in local restaurants outside tourist areas. You should obviously wash your hands before and after eating and most restaurants have a hand washing area (usually a sink and a bar of soap in the corner).
About the Author:
Satu Susanna Rommi is a travel writer with a passion for India. She spent most of 2005 to 2009 living and traveling in India and writes a blog called Indian Travel Journey about her Indian travel adventures. She has also written two books about India. Follow her on Twitter @MyIndianJourney
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