A tour of Kerala will acquaint you with not just the backwaters, rich cultural heritage, and clean beaches, but also the diverse population that introduces you to a vibrant foodscape. With Christmas around the corner, it is a must to dive into the traditional feasts prepared by Christian communities in the state.
It will not only open a new world for gastronomes but also offer people a chance to understand a unique blend of culture, rituals, and traditions. In the Malabar region, many Christians identify as Saint Thomas Christians, popularly referred to as Syrian Christians of India. They are further classified into Oriental Orthodox, Protestant, Eastern Catholic, and independent bodies.
The community has historically been crucial in the socio-economic, healthcare, and education developments in Kerala. Slurrp connected with Chef Regi Mathew, co-founder of Kappa Chakka Kandhari, and Chef Jomon, Director Of Culinary, The Tiffin Box, to bring you insights into how Kerala’s Christians prepare a hearty feast on Christmas.
Chef Regi Mathew
Ask any kid, and they will associate a festival with a specific food. For Christmas, it’s cake, sevaiyan for Eid, gujiya for Holi, and kadha prasad for Guru Nanak Jayanti. Chef Regi Mathew, a Syrian Christian, also has similar food memories associated with the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
“I remember, we used to visit Church early on Christmas morning. When we were back at home, the first thing we ate was the Christmas plum cake with royal icing,” he added while reminiscing about his childhood.
For breakfast, his family used to indulge in appam and stew, a popular breakfast dish in Kerala. Appams are like pancakes made from fermented rice batter and coconut milk. They are soft, sweet, and fluffy, and accompanied by stew, a vegetable curry featuring a coconut milk base and irresistible flavours from aromatic spices.
“The lunch used to be a lavish feast,” Chef Regi Mathew said, adding, “My mother used to prepare several delicacies. We did have meals divided into courses, but everything was served on the table.” His family enjoyed onion salad (also called sarlas), bread, and chicken or duck roast, both prepared by greasing the meat with butter, seasoning it, and roasting until the chicken or duck is cooked to perfection.
They also had pork roast or pork vindaloo, a traditional dish in which pork loins are cooked in a spicy and tangy gravy and served with steamed rice or parotta. Other delicacies included appams, fish curry, and more. “We used to eat, eat, and eat,” Chef Regi said with a laugh while referring to the grand feast.
His mother used to start preparing the luscious Christmas cake two days before the feast. “I remember the conventional oven in which she used to first add a layer of sand on a tray and top it with the batter inside the mould. When the tray was subjected to fire, sand helped with the even distribution of heat. The top of the mould was also covered and subjected to fire while baking to achieve the perfect rise,” he shared.
Christmas cake was Chef Regi’s favourite dish among all the delicacies on the table. Why not? His mother put so much effort into baking it to perfection. This year, he will be hosting special meals at his restaurant from December 20, 2024, to January 1, 2025. This special thali includes special dishes that Chef Regi has savoured across Kerala during Christmas.
You will get to try chicken cutlet from Kottayam, grilled prawns from Ashtamudi, mutton coconut fry from Malabar, broma bread (baked in woodfire oven), chicken roast from central Travancore, sweet vattayapam with red meat vindaloo, appam paired with moilee, Thalassery mutton biryani, and cloud pudding among other lip-smacking dishes. His restaurant will also be serving special dishes to vegetarians.
Chef Jomon
Chef Jomon is a Christian Pentecostal, a community that does not believe in a specific date when Jesus Christ was born. Hence, he does not celebrate Christmas now, but as a child, his grandparents, cousins, and family members used to gather in one place and enjoy the festivities. “My mom and grandmother used to prepare a feast,” he added.
He remembers long holidays stretching from Christmas to New Year during which he used to participate in sports and play around with his friends. When speaking about traditional delicacies prepared at his home, he remembers appam and duck stew, a spicy dish in meat that is slow-cooked in a flavourful gravy.
The notes and lip-smacking taste of dishes are etched in his memory, motivating him to replicate the recipes he grew up cherishing. Red meat delicacies, mutton stew, chicken pepper roast, payasam, etc. “We hardly had cake around Christmas but the feast used to be grand and unlike regular days,” Chef Jomon said while sharing that his mother was not a baker but she was an excellent chef.
When his mother prepared the feast, the chef used to run through markets collecting ingredients or visit a butcher's shop early in the morning to buy the best-quality red meat or duck or get amazing fish. This year, he is hosting a special meal called Ichayan’s Sadhya. “Though sadhya is a special meal prepared during Onam, I am carrying forward the same idea this Christmas,” he added.
On December 25, 2024, you can relish a hearty lunch consisting of dishes like dry fruit plum cake with wine, paal kappa (tapioca cooked in sweet coconut milk), fish vattichathu (meaty fish curry), cabbage thoran, dates pickle, mathi porichathu (fish fry), pappad, pazham (fritters), etc.