Guide to South Indian Food | Fresher & Healthier

I really like South Indian food… having said that, a month of it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, was pushing it a bit.

Things I noted in comparison with North Indian:

• In the South it was noticeably more vegetarian than with meat.
• The veg wasn’t cooked down so much. Instead of mashed up curry sides, we would have steamed veg occasionally or a fresher veg side.
• Less cream and butter. I always thought North Indian food wasn’t so healthy with all the cream and butter, but especially because the veg curries were cooked down so much a lot of nutrients are lost. In the South, I found the curries healthier and actually I lost weight and felt more fit eating South Indian food (minus the greasy breakfasts).

Ayurvedic food at Indus Valley in Mysore

• One of the biggest differences is the RICE. Rice with every meal… roti’s made from rice… I missed bread so much!
• Spicy! South Indian food is some of the spiciest in India… but I loved it! After eating South Indian, I came back and had a Goan sausage dish and didn’t find it spicy at all. On the other hand, peopl from Karnataka find Goan dishes like xacuti and sorpotel very spicy.

loved this masala egg dish

Who eats South Indian food? Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh.

Sambaar

With most meals you’re going to get a big heaping plate of rice with a little bowl on the side of sambaar. It’s a spicy liquid that can be drank as a soup. It’s a lentil dish with lots of chilies (think spicy dal). I would go all American and plop my papads in like a cracker. This soup is spicy, but not too much so and was usually my favorite part of a meal.

Rasam

The other staple that comes with the rice and sambaar. This one was a bit more bland and I didn’t like it as much. It was a less spicy lentil dish. Instead of drinking it like a soup, this was usually added to the rice on the plate.

Eating Rice with your Fingers on a Banana Leaf

Of course this is the way to eat! Each dish has rice in many forms: papad, roti, puffed… and it’s all finger food. You should use all your fingers on your right hand and make a little pile by pinching. Pick it up, then use your thumb to push the food to the very tips of your fingers and into your mouth with a flick/push. Your right hand is bound to get messy. Don’t wash your hands in the kitchen sink, use either a specified sink, or dump water on your hand right over your plate (in a dhabba) as the locals do. You’ll notice girls don’t have long nails on their right hands! PS this isn’t only South India, it’s all of India.

Banana leafs are the traditional plate. I’ve seen some people “wash” theirs before the food is served (serving is family style). I have also seen in small towns people sewing together leaves to make a proper plate rather than just a leaf.

Dosa w/ Coconut Chutney & Sambaar

This is my favorite South Indian breakfast food! It must be my readers too, because I put up a few Instagram pictures and people were drooling. You can’t get dosas all over India. The chutney is sometimes watered down in the highway restaurants and hotels = not as good, you might get sick. If you see a very watery chutney, don’t eat it. In the homestays, the chutneys were thick and full of taste. You rip the dosa with only your right hand, dip in both bowls, and devour.

Papads (or) Poppadums

These are tasty little snacks served with a meal, similar to a tortilla chip. I am a little picky on these. I like original fried ones like I get in Goa, but in the South, sometimes they were made with rice, lentil, or even jackfruit which I wasn’t crazy about. You can get these fried or toasted.

Rice Roti

Apparently, a girl is not marriage material unless she can make a simple rice roti! I learned how, but am not a fan so wouldn’t go about making these myself. Like a flour roti, it’s toasted over the flames of the stove… only the base is (like everything in South India) rice. In Karntaka it’s called a Akki roti, but specifically in Coorg it’s called Otti and is a little different.

Idli

pictured to the far right

Idli with every meal! it’s like a steamed rice patty? Instead of just rice on a plate puffed up, you might get it like this. I was not a fan. It was either Idli or dosa for breakfast and I always chose dosa. Apparently, this isn’t as popular in Kerala.

Mirchi Bajji

Technically, this is maybe North India, because mirchi is “pepper” in Hindi, which is north Indian language- but I never saw these until I was in the south, so wanted to mention. I LOVE these little snacks which are served with a bit of ketchup. They are tempura battered and deep-fried peppers. The seeds are usually taken out so they aren’t too spicy, but sometimes the seeds will be inside in which case they are hot!

Upma or Uppittu

This is a breakfast porridge of sorts. They really like it in Karnataka, but I am not one for porridge at all, or curd for that matter. Upma is the North Indian word for it. You can also try the sweet variation of the porridge, Kesari Bath.

homestyle cooking somewhere near Dandeli, Karnataka

Rice and Curd

I could vomit thinking of the rice and curd! After every meal, there was a pile of rice of each plate with curd running all over it, to be eaten with your hands of course. I just hate curd and would watch everyone eat their “dessert” and say no over and over when the mothers of the homestays would try to make me try it. You can’t go to South India, especially Karnataka without seeing rice and curd. They LOVE it! Well, I think everyone in India loves it.

Vada (or) Wada

this patty is something similar to vadda… I couldn’t find a photo, I guess I ate them too fast!

It looks like a donut, but it’s not. It’s lentil cake shaped like a donut but is a little sweet. It’s a breakfast food, at least as I saw it or a day time snack, rather than a dinner dish. You can also have it as a lentil patty rather than donut, but I do think that has another name. It’s very tasty though and not as sweet. You’re likely to get this on the train with your coffee. Speaking of which,

Filter Coffee

South Indians love it and are proud that it comes from the South. Especially in Karnataka, tons of the homestays I stayed at were actual coffee plantations. The women served coffee all day long! It was very strong and very delicious. The most well-known place for filter coffee is Coorg. I was surprised to hear that Tamil Nadu was known for coffee first!

Pandi Curry

This ISN’T pandi curry, this is pandi pani another yummy dish!

Can’t say Coorg in this post without talking about Pandi Curry (pork curry) a favorite from the Coorgi warrior meat-eaters. Coorgi people are hunters, and not as veg-obsessed as their other southern friends. Pandi curry is famous all over India and everyone knows the mothers in Coorg make it the best. I was lucky to try some and IT WAS SPICY! My goodness… I couldn’t hardly eat it, but the flavors were wonderful. Worth noting when you do get a meat dish in India, it will have bones unless you ask for boneless.

Seafood & Coconut

Of course the coastal regions of the South have a variety of seafood similar to what I get living in Goa and also from what I had cooked similar (like a rava fry): kingfish, snapper, and ladyfish being very common. Coconut dishes might be more Goan, but there is a big amount of coconut oil used and coconut milk in even Keralan dishes.

Pickles, Powders & Sides

With your meal, other bits and pieces will be put on your plate: salt, lime wedge, chutney powder, and pickles. The powder is actually North Indian. The pickle is sometimes raw mango or a spicy tamarind. There was usually a dill and lentil combination that I LOVED. You’ll get veg sides (not curried) of cabbage, maybe some carrot but that’s more rare and used in sweet dishes, eggplant, or maybe some bitter gourd. You’ll get some type of fresh salad, like lentil or cabbage.

Buttermilk, Almond Milk, Jaggery, and SWEETS

Sadly, I’m just not much into sweets except packaged American ones. Sorry! But I did try the milks. I wasn’t a fan of the buttermilk and found the almond milk too sweet. The jaggery with peanuts was very good!

And all other sweets I wasn’t so fond of, as they are just so sugary. Jaggery is used as a white sugar substitute. I feel like every one I tried, I would ask what was in it and be told “butter and sugar”. While in the North you have gulab jamon (balls of fried dough in a sugar syrup), in the South you’ll see specifics like Mysore Pak which might be the one I actually sort of liked.

So, there we have it… my guide to South Indian food. I’m sure I’ve made a mistake in spelling here or there because some I just knew by asking, What is this? and trying to remember the name. Hope this didn’t make you too hungry!

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