BoondiThis thread is prompted by an interaction with @[email protected] . I’m going to talk about Indian food in general and South Indian food in particular . Fellow folks from India , chime in with particulars of your regional cuisine and let’s make this place a little apolitical and flavorful hmmmm ?
@[email protected] so I’ll start with the cuisine I’m most familiar with . I hail from Tamilnadu and specifically from a wonderful city called Coimbatore. The cuisine from this region uses coconut , lentils , tomatoes and other spices as a base for both plant based and meat based dishes
Now I’ll talk about some of my favorite dishes and some other famous dishes from Tamilnadu . Our breakfast involves either Idli or Dosa , both made from fermented rice-lentil batter . Idlis are soft like pillows whereas Dosas are crepes and are super crispy . Sometimes , Dosas have fillings which are called masalas
Other breakfast mains include Aapam < a softer fluffier dosa > , Sevai < comparable to Angel Hair pasta made from rice > , Idiyappam < Sevai , in a connected round manner > and Paniyaaram < which is difficult to explain but so so yummy > . The accompaniments to breakfast are typically a plant based or meat based gravy. There’s Sambhar a lentil and tamarind broth and coconut chutney . Then there is Onion Chutney , Tomato Chutney and so many other different varieties.
For meat based accompaniments , I’d go by my family friend’s preferences and choices . There’s meen Kozhambu < Fish gravy> that people love to eat with appam or dosa . There’s chicken gravy and mutton gravy too . Then there are several Kurumas. Both the plant based and meat based variants use coconut milk . Then there is Paaya and Sodhi which again use coconut as a base
Lunch is always rice . We eat plain rice with Sambhar < a different variety of it is made for lunch > , Rasam < tomato broth > , vegetable curries and plant or meat based gravies . Some popular plant based gravies are kootu which is split lentil and vegetables , Aviyal < which is a yoghurt , coconut and green chilli based vegetable stew > , poricha kootu < which is a black pepper based broth , mor kozhambu < a yoghurt based gravy > and more
Some popular meat based accompaniments are fish fry < there are so many varieties of it like Vanjaram , Netthili etc > , aatukaal soup < a popular variant of mutton soup > , kola urundai , bone broth , karuvaadu < salted fish from the coastal regions > , chicken gravy and mutton gravy . If you have a kerala connect , Beef curry / Beef gravy is super popular and so is pickled sea food
Also any Malayali’s on the local feed . Someone talk about Parotta , puttu, kadalakkari and beef gravy no
Ajeesh@Karaboondi Me! Me! Me! My hometown is in Kanyakumari(Tamil Nadu) closer to Trivandrum(Kerala) so, including the languages, I was blessed to be familiar with cuisines from both the places. One day it will be hot Idlis with Sambhar, the next day we will have Puttu ( steamed rice with layers of coconut) with Payaru (cooked mung bean) and Pappadam. Puttu can be eaten with Kadala curry (black chickpeas) which is heaven for malayalees or non-veg options include Chicken and mutton gravy.
@Karaboondi Beef roast is another savoring option with Puttu. In hotels, they are accompanied usually with a Salna-like (Tomato and onion curry) gravy. 
@Karaboondi I would like to include some of my favorites as special mentions: Pazhampori (Banana fritters), my mom's Paruppu Saadham ( Dal rice) version cooked in coconut milk, Inji curry ( Ginger curry - but eaten as pickle), Pathiri( rice pancakes), neichoru (ghee rice) and kozhi curry (chicken curry) from neighbor houses in our old place, Ela Ada (steamed banana leaf pancake) and unniyappam made with jackfruit ( mallu sweet paniyaram but sweeter) 
@ajeeshrp7 I so badly want to plug in chakkapaattu
@Karaboondi it makes the unniyappam extra soft and we are so lucky to have known chakka
Deepak@Karaboondi Ah!!! The beauty of Puttu. Goes with everything. Beef, chicken, meat, fish, and egg curries. Payar, kadala, potato or any vegetable curry. Or plain Pazham and pappadom. My favorite is the Rava Puttu which my mom makes, inherited by my wife. I am the all day Puttu kind of a guy.
@Iwalkalone Puttu and Kadalakkari.
@Karaboondi That's just the staple. They have now come with these variations where the curry is mixed with the Puttu at the time of steaming, mainly non veg curries and just serve it on the plate. No need to order curry separate.
@Iwalkalone that’s like super convenient
BeYess@Karaboondi while on it, we should find any Portugese to confirm if it is indeed true that #Puttu originated in #Portugal
@beyess oh that’s something I didn’t know .
SG@Karaboondi cc @pins Your inputs here please.
pinsPuttu is staple breakfast in many homes in Kerala as it can be both savoury & sweet depending on our mood & choice. A steamed dish, can be made w/o long hours of prep, a two ingredient dish made of rice powder & grated coconut.
Std combos: Puttu with pazham (steamed/ripe banana), coffee/tea, ghee & sugar, pappadam, a coconut gravy fish/meat all, puttum kadalayum (in the pics)
@Karaboondi parotta & beef is a more popular combo when we think of Kerala food. To make it healthier, the maida is substituted with wheat, these days. Tasty, flaky, hot off the stove parottas with a beef fry, a chicken roast, a gravy of a kurma with vegetables and/or meat from a roadside thattukada is absolute blisss... I love to visit these shops more for witness the making of it. At times they allow us to try. :)
@Karaboondi Kappa (Tapioca) and meen (fish) esp the red fish curry, where the fish is boiled in kudampuli (malabar tamarind) is again very Kerala, a staple within homes & restaurants, a popular kerala food in people's imagination.
The Kappa Biriyani, made with mixing beef with it, and the kappa chips are equally tasty.
@Karaboondi Many of the Kerala gravy dishes (vegetables, meat, fish) are cooked in coconut milk as coconuts are available in plenty. It also goes hand in hand with coconut oil they are prepared in. The consistency can be loose as in a stew (pic 2) to just enough to know it has some, like a preralan. Duck, chicken, Kadala (Bengal Gram) in pics.
That's the kadala curry that goes with the puttu :) the chicken stew with the palappams.
The palappam is a filling plate for breakfast & high tea, first course for lunch & dinner. like dosa & idli, it requires a day's prep time. There are ready mixes available. The best combination with appam is a stew. But it can be had as is, with sugar. At times, more sugar is added to the batter to make it sweeter.
There is an egg appam like egg dosa these days served in hotels & made in homes. #pinnedfoood
.neeti.
Amlan Dutta 🦐🍴🍝 
@Karaboondi
Nettoli fries are my fav.
There is a place near tiruvallam jn. Trivandrum where u get in the mornings too, and can have it with dosa.. yum 😛
Nettoli fries are my fav.
There is a place near tiruvallam jn. Trivandrum where u get in the mornings too, and can have it with dosa.. yum 😛
@orphean_warbler Natholli oru cheriya meenalla:)
sam naveen@Karaboondi you forgot the most important breakfast item. Upma,kichidi and pongal
@samnaveen @milcom and I have a gentleman agreement to block anything that is Upma or Kanji . @mcknze Pongal is an excellent sleep aid . It’s rice and lentils cooked together with lots and lots of ghee , seasoned with whole black pepper , curry leaves , ginger and more . You’d eat it and sleep straight for 8 hours
the orb {im not here}
Ezaz 
@Karaboondi @samnaveen @milcom
@mcknze right now going:
@samnaveen @Karaboondi tell me about it!