Paul and Mike is a chocolate brand operated by Synthite Industries, based in Kerala, India. They are known for producing fine flavor chocolate with cocoa beans sourced from their own farms as well as from other regions of India.
Paul And Mike focus on bean-to-bar chocolate, controlling every step of the process from fermentation to packaging to ensure the quality of their product. They also experiment with unique infusions and flavors in their chocolate bars, such as sitaphal (custard apple) and jamun (Indian blackberry).
Upperi is a popular Indian snack made by frying thin slices of plantain in coconut oil. The chips are flavored with salted water while they are still frying in oil. The snack is a specialty of Kerala, especially during the Onam harvest festival, when these salted chips take center stage in a banana leaf during Sadya, a vegetarian banquet. It is available throughout the year, but during Onam, all of the shops are stacked with fresh yellow chips sealed in plastic bags. It is recommended to pair upperi with a hot cup of coffee or tea for a delicious snack.
Coconut chutney is a popular South Indian condiment or side dish, consisting of a coconut stew that is combined with shallots, tamarind, ginger, chiles, and curry leaves. It is a specialty of the North Malabar region, where it is prepared in two versions - solid and liquid. The liquid version is usually served with idlis and dosas, while the solid version, also known as uruttu chammanthi, is commonly served with rice, either for lunch or dinner. It is said that the best coconut chutney is made with ammikal, or mortar and pestle, when the chutney is ground by hand, resulting in a far superior flavor than the ones made with a blender or a food processor.
Sadhya is a traditional feast originating from the state of Kerala. All of the small dishes are vegetarian, and one sadhya feast can contain up to 28 dishes at a time, all of them traditionally served on banana leaves and meant to be eaten with hands. This feast is typically served for Onam, the state festival of Kerala. Rice is usually served on the lower side of the leaf as the main dish, and the first dish after the rice is parippu – a curry made from ghee and small gram. It's followed by sambar, a stew of vegetables cooked in gravy of onions, chilis, coriander, lentils, and turmeric. Among a huge variety of dishes, some of them include upperi (banana chips), sharkara varatti (sweet jaggery chunks), naranga curry, elisheri (stewed pumpkin, red beans, and coconut), kaalan (yogurt, coconut, and banana or yam), inji curry, parripu curry, sambhar, pappadam, kichadi, kootu curry, and rasam (tamarind soup), while the last dish is usually payasam, a traditional dessert that's similar to a pudding. This huge feast is usually served for lunch.
Putu mayam is a popular street food dish with origins either in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu or Kerala. Although it is south Indian in origin, it is also extremely popular in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Indonesia. The dish consists of rice or idiyappam flour noodles which are topped with desiccated coconut and sweetened with sugar blocks. The noodles are made by passing the dough through a sieve (usually a traditional rattan basket with holes), and then they are steamed in the same basket, imparting a wood-like aroma to the noodles. Traditionally, putu mayam is served on a banana leaf, for easier consumption. It can be used as an accompaniment for meat dishes or curries. The name of the dish stems from two words, putu, Malayan for rice cake, and mayam, which is derived from the word mayang, meaning desiccated coconut.
Avial is a vegetable stew from the state of Kerala, where vegetables are simmered in a thick, lightly spiced paste of ground coconut, cumin, and green chilies, then finished with a souring agent such as yogurt and a fragrant drizzle of raw coconut oil. Deeply woven into the cultural and culinary fabric of the Malabar Coast, the dish is an indispensable centerpiece of the Sadya—the grand, multi-course vegetarian banquet served on a fresh plantain leaf during festivals such as Onam and Vishu. According to popular Indian mythology, the invention of avial is attributed to Bhima, one of the Pandava brothers from the ancient epic, the Mahabharata. Legend states that during their period of exile, Bhima assumed the disguise of a cook in the kingdom of Virata and, when faced with an unexpected feast and a shortage of single vegetables, he resourcefully chopped up the available scraps of various root vegetables and gourds, boiling them together with grated coconut to create a dish that unexpectedly delighted the royal court. Another enduring tale attributes its creation to a king of Travancore who, loathing waste, ordered his chefs to combine leftover vegetables from a massive feast into a single, cohesive curry. A proper preparation explicitly avoids watery, soft, or overpowering vegetables like tomatoes, okra, or cabbage, relying instead on hearty, native produce that holds its shape. A typical combination includes elephant foot yam, ash gourd, raw green plantain, drumsticks (moringa pods), snake gourd, carrots, and yard-long beans, all uniformly sliced into thick, two-inch batons. Because these vegetables have vastly different textures, a skilled cook staggers their addition to the cooking pot—beginning with the dense yams and carrots, and ending with the softer gourds—ensuring that every component is perfectly tender but never reduced to mush. Minimal water is used; the vegetables are essentially steam-cooked in their own juices until they are ready to receive the dish's defining flavor profile. Once the vegetables are cooked, a coarsely ground paste of fresh grated coconut, fiery green chilies, and earthy cumin seeds is gently folded into the pot, providing a sweet, aromatic bulk that clings to the batons rather than forming a runny gravy. To balance the sweetness of the coconut and the heat of the chilies, a souring agent is introduced. While lightly whisked, slightly sour yogurt (curd) is the most traditional choice in Kerala, regional variations often utilize raw mango slices or tamarind extract, particularly in Tamil Nadu or the Udupi region, which yields a slightly different color and sharper tang. The cooking process is halted almost immediately after the souring agent is added to prevent it from splitting. The crowning glory of avial, however, is its final tempering—or rather, the lack of a traditional cooked tempering. Instead, a generous handful of bruised, fresh curry leaves is scattered over the hot vegetables, followed by a liberal pour of raw, unheated coconut oil. The pot is immediately covered, allowing the residual heat to trap the volatile essential oils and produce an intoxicating, deeply tropical aroma that permeates the entire dish. Avial is typically served with steamed rice, sambar, pickle, and papadom flatbreads.
These flower-shaped cookies are prepared with a thin batter which consists of rice flour, eggs, and coconut milk. They are made with specialized achu molds which are heated, then dipped and coated in batter, before the cookies are deep-fried until golden and crispy. Achappam cookies originate from Kerala, where they are usually associated with Christian communities, but similar sweets are found in other Asian countries. It is believed that all of them were modeled on traditional Dutch cookies known as rosette or struva.
Malabar fish curry or Kerala fish curry is a traditional dish originating from Malabar, Kerala. The curry is typically made with fish such as seer, sea bass, tilapia, or sardines. Other ingredients include onions, tomatoes, hot chili peppers, chili powder, curry leaves, coriander, turmeric, garlic, fenugreek, tamarind, oil, and coconut milk. The coconut milk gives the curry its rich creaminess, and it's flavored with deep and earthy Indian spices such as fried curry leaves and tamarind. The fish is added to the boiling curry sauce and it's simmered until the fish is fully cooked. Once done, this fish curry is usually served hot with a bowl of basmati rice or naan on the side.
Kallapam is a traditional coconut pancake that's popular in Sri Lanka and Kerala. It's made with a combination of raw and cooked rice, coconut milk, grated coconut, yeast, shallots, sugar, salt, and cumin seeds. Traditionally, the pancake is made with kallu (toddy or fermented palm wine), which is used as the raising agent instead of yeast, but it's usually not that easy to get a hold of it. The batter is fried in a pan, and after a minute or so, the pancakes are ready. Kallapam is usually served warm with chicken curry or beef cooked in coconut milk.
Urulai kizhangu podimas is a traditional dish originating from Kerala. It’s made with a combination of potatoes, oil, mustard seeds, urad dal, onions, green chili peppers, ginger, curry leaves, and turmeric powder. The ingredients are fried in oil, then combined with boiled potatoes. The combination is then mashed, and these spicy mashed potatoes are usually served with paratha flatbread. If desired, the dish can be garnished with coriander leaves and lemon juice.
Karimeen pollichathu is a dish of heavily seasoned cichlid fish that's been fried, enveloped in masala (a mixture of spices and fresh ingredients), and wrapped in banana leaves to make a packet and then shortly pan-fried or grilled. The dish comes from the Indian state Kerala, which is naturally so as the main ingredient, the green chromide (or pearl sport), a type of cichlid fish, is native to the region. The preparation starts with shortly marinating the fish in a paste of spices, such as turmeric, chili powder, pepper, salt, and lime juice, and then shallow-frying it on both sides in coconut oil. While the fish marinates and fries, masala is prepared with fresh ingredients and spices, most commonly tomatoes, onions, ginger, garlic, curry leaves, green chili peppers, turmeric, and vinegar. Karimeen pollichathu should be served hot, with sides like lime juice and onions, rice, or naan.
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