Kerala will never fail to impress you. Its beaches and lakes set the perfect mood for a serene vacation. But along with the place, the food you are served is spectacular as well. So many notes of flavors in their traditional culinary practices. And followed by each delicious meal there should be an equally amazing dessert to satisfy your sweet tooth. So here is the dessert guide you should follow when in Kerala.
16 Traditional Desserts You Must Try When In Kerala
1. Palada Payasam
Payasam that is prepared with rice ada (palada) is a popular sweet in every Kerala household during the festival of Onam and other occasions. There are many variations of it but its basic ingredients are the rice ada, milk, sugar and ghee
2. Banana Halwa
The halwa is cooked on special occasions and will most definitely make your mouth water. It is mildly sweet and chewy. It is prepared using banana, ghee, green cardamom powder, and sugar. Banana Halwa does not use much sugar because bananas are already sweet by themself. Sugar is only added to enhance the flavour. Jaggery powder is a yummy alternative to sugar.
3. Ada Pradhaman
A dessert that will be relished by your taste buds is Ada Pradhaman. This is a delicious sweet dish that is pretty famous throughout the country. It is made with ada rice, jaggery, coconut milk, and powdered green cardamom. It is perfect for the auspicious occasion of Onam.
4. Bamboo rice / Mulayari payasam
Bamboo rice payasam is a delicious dessert with a mild flavour. It is a very healthy dessert as it uses jaggery instead of sugar. It also uses ghee and coconut and it is served warm.
5. Coconut Ladoo
This dessert has 3 basic ingredients which are coconut, milk and sugar. It is usually prepared during festival seasons as an offering especially during Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, and Navaratri. They are basically round balls of sweet fudge.
6. Coconut pitha
It is a delicious traditional sweet made of flour stuffed with a coconut-jaggery mix. They are like coconut dumplings. It is garnished with grated khoya. It is served cold as a dessert.
7. Akkaravadisal
Akkaravadisal is a traditional Iyengar specialty. It is quite sweet. Traditionally, in temples, they cook akkaravadisal in a bronze pot like the one used for making sweet pongal. Although it takes time to prepare, the taste is worth the wait.
8. Bonda
Bonda is a traditional South Indian snack. It has multiple sweet and savoury versions of it in different regions. Keralites prefer the sweet version of it called Sugiyan, while the savoury version is common in the rest of India. It is best served hot.
9. Neyyappam
Neyyappam is a sweet rice fritter that is fried in ghee. Neyyappam is usually made of rice flour (can also be made with rava or semolina), jaggery, coconut, ghee, cardamom, and milk. It is usually served as a snack in the evenings along with tea.
10. Parippu Payasam
This Kerala style payasam is yummy, creamy and made during special occasions. It is also called Cherupayar parippu payasam. It is made with split yellow moong dal. This parippu pradhaman is a popular payasam in Kerala made with moong dal, jaggery and coconut milk as the main ingredients.
11. Unni appam
In Malayalam, the term “unni” means small and “appam” means rice cake. Unni appam is a tiny round dish made with rice, banana, jaggery, roasted coconut, sesame seeds, ghee and cardamom powder which is fried in oil. Alternatively, the batter can be made using jackfruit preserves in place of banana. This practice is common. It is quite a popular snack in Kerala.
12. Elaneer Pudding
If you like coconut in your desserts, you are going to love this pudding. It is a mildly flavoured pudding that is made with tender coconut and its water. Elaneer pudding is extremely rich and cooling which makes it perfect for summer.
13. Rava Laddoos
Rava laddoos require very few ingredients, but the end result is aromatic laddoos with a bit of a crunch to them because of the roasted semolina (rava). The basic ingredients are rava, sugar, coconut, ghee or milk and nuts are optional.
14. Arisi Thengai Payasam
Arisi Thengai Payasam is a traditional payasam made during festivals. Usually, payasam is made using dals and jaggery. But this payasam is made without using dals. Instead, it uses raw rice, coconut and jaggery to make this delicious dish. This payasam is preferred during certain festivals as it is preferred to use jaggery instead of sugar.
15. Mutta Maala
This dish is also known as egg garlands with egg pudding, clearly stating that this dessert is made entirely out of eggs. The whites and yolks are separated before cooking. The egg white is turned into the soft pudding or cake and it is topped with delicate necklaces (mala) of the egg yolk.
16. Chatti Pathiri
Chatti pathiri is a traditional layered pastry. Its variants include both sweet and savoury dishes. There are pastry sheets/pancakes made with flour, oil, egg, and water. The filling totally depends on whether you want it sweet or savoury. The sweet ones are made with sweetened beaten eggs, raisins and nuts, seasoned with cardamom.
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