Yellow coloured lemon rice topped with whole cashews.

Lemon Rice

This Lemon Rice recipe comes from Chef Velu at Kalari Kovilakom and The Palace for Ayurveda. It’s a fantastic side dish for vegetables, dal or seafood.

Pumpkin and Pigeon Peas with rice and curry leaves sit in a black serving bowl.

Pumpkin Pigeon Pea Erissery

This vibrant Pumpkin Pigeon Pea Erissery is a treat when travelling through Kerala. Each year at the fall harvest festival of Onum it’s easy to find. It’s an essential part of the banquet feast or sadya for that festival. And, a whole lot of feasting goes on during that 10 days each year. We are …

Moong Dal Curry

Without the use of oil, this Moong Dal Curry is nicely spiced. It hits a home run for flavour and ease of cooking too. Overall, it will leave you feeling light, satiated and refreshed – just like the ideal Ayurveda meal should. We loved watching the chefs at Kalari Kovilakom prepare meals for the patients …

Bright Green Spinach and Moong Dal Soup

Spinach and Moong Dal Soup

This recipe for Spinach and Moong Dal Soup is a great example of the food at Kalari Kovilakom. It’s light, simple, easily digestible and loaded with nutrition. Soups like this are a cornerstone in the Ayurvedic way of eating. They make us slow down and pay attention to what we are doing. When we are …

Bright red tomato soup with a green cilantro garnish.

Ayurvedic Tomato Soup

What makes this Ayurvedic Tomato Soup Ayurvedic? Well, how you prepare it is the key. Many of us sauté aromatics (celery, onion, carrots, garlic) in oil to bring out maximal flavour in soups and sauces. Ayurvedic cooking is much lighter. Ayurveda is an ancient form of medicine based on the five elements and three body …

Green Chilli Fritters Frying

Green Chilli Fritters

Whether you are a visitor travelling across South India or a local bustling through a frenetic day in the life of Mother India, street food is often the easiest fuel supply to keep the human engine running. We spied these Green Chilli Fritters at a stall across from a monument we were visiting in Kochi. …

Papadams

Papadam (Papads)

Thin, crisp, round flatbread, papadam (papads) are typically made from seasoned dough of black gram (urad dal) flour. They’re either fried or cooked with dry heat (usually flipping over an open flame). For many years, when we’ve wanted to make papadam at home, we simply picked up a package at our local Indian grocer, brought …

A bowl of shallot salad

Quick and Easy Shallot Salad

Chefs love to talk food. And, we love to know what they are cooking – both professionally and at home. We always ask about their favourite dishes. Often, they are amazingly simple recipes like this Quick and Easy Shallot Salad. This is a dish that one of the CGH Earth Experience Hotel‘s chefs – Francis …

Kerala Chicken Ishtoo

Keralan Chicken Ishtoo (Stew)

We learned to make this Keralan Chicken Ishtoo (stew) at Brunton Boatyard in Fort Kochi, Kerala. It was our first day in the “land of coconuts” back in 2016. We attended the nightly cooking demo that CGH Earth Experience offers at all their properties. Chef Noble Francis expertly conducted the demo. He explained that coconut …