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What's cooking? Coconut Coast on BBC
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A BBC crew is in the city, shooting Kerala food. Produced in co-ordination with Kerala Tourism and The Casino group of Hotels, it is called Coconut Coast. PRIYADARSSHINI SHARMA meets the crew at Malabar House Residency.
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MOVE OVER, Chicken Tikka masala, it is time for Appam and stew to take over. Well, Kerala is in, and how! After the Kerala Festival in the UK, the English have come down all the way to Kerala to shoot ... Kerala food, of course.
Documenting the beauty of the State and its interesting history, is Janice Broxup, producer-director, Shooting Star, a company that is encasing Kerala for people abroad. To be aired in early 2004, on BBC Channel 4, "it is a true Kerala story," says, Ms. Broxup, all excited at the going. " It is a dedicated celebration of everything to do with Kerala and we have named it Coconut Coast. It will reflect all the different aspects of the State, traditional and modern. There are images of traditional sadya, the houseboats, the paddy fields, and tribal food. From rolling the bark of cinnamon, to harvesting the spices, to different fishing styles, the show will present the face of Kerala to the Westerner."
Reza Muhammed, anchoring the show, says, "It is a travelogue cum food show on Kerala." Reza who owns the well-known and very old, `Star of India' restaurant in Chelsea, London, is a foodie himself. "Food and television" is what he does, anchoring the very famous `Delhi Belly' show before doing this story.
Says he, who has been serving Chicken tikka masala for years in England. " It is time we move over to Thorans, Olans, Kalans and coconut. In this series we want to show how simple Kerala cooking is and how different. Here we found a new kind of foodline, something like fusion cooking. History has left its mark on the food of the place. Kerala food is slowly finding a place in the minds of Europeans. They have begun to understand the concept of a thali."
"Yes, Punjabi food and Delhi food is very popular in Britain, but then we have a thriving Asian community there, says the stylish restaurateur. " The Arab influence in Kerala food is very interesting. Something like crossover cooking."
Shooting at Malabar House Residency, where the troupe is highlighting the colonial shades in Kerala design and architecture, Reza has tried out the exotic hybrid dish, `brochette of seer fish in Travancore sauce'.
And what exactly is the Travancore sauce? Says, Txuku Solana, who has been apprising Reza and Janice on the menu she serves at her hotel, " It is fennel, mustard, onions, garlic, ginger, all fried, to which is added blanched and puréed tomatoes. Top this with coconut milk" Sounds perfect and goes down well with the European who is looking for easy-on-the-tummy food, but with a strong local flavour.
Produced in co-ordination with Kerala Tourism and The Casino group of Hotels, the programme will have 15 episodes, portraying images that will honestly showcase the countryside and urban Kerala.
Says, Mr. Ernie Louis, Manager, Brunton Boatyard, who is co-ordinating the entire trip, " Besides this travel and food programme, the series will also be on Ayurveda, folk music in Kerala, story on rice boats, coir weaving, a cardamom and pepper story and on festival foods, the sadya. At our hotel, Chef Sanjay De and Reza will try out the colonial cuisine, which is our speciality, for their viewers. So it will be Dak Bungalow chicken, Mutton stew, prawn moilee and Chuttulli Meen."
Reza who claims that `kodampuli' is available in England and at `quite a few places' is very sure that Kerala food is about to take over from Chicken tikka Masala.
So now when you travel abroad, you can safely ask for a cool snifter of karikku and a plate of kalamakkai to go with it. So can you ask for avial, nentrapharazm and palada.
Take a break and don't go away. There is more to come, as the Tharvadu architecture is high on the charts with chenda music in the background. Kerala is right there where it matters.
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