The atlas · A cuisine · South India — the southern peninsula, between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal

South Indian

Also Tamil, Keralan, Udupi, Chettinad, Hyderabadi
One of Indian cooking's regional kitchens · all 7 side by side

Rice, lentils, coconut and tamarind: fermented batters, sour broths and a sizzle of mustard seed and curry leaves, from the tiffin that starts the day to the feast on a banana leaf.

Where it comes from

The south grows rice, not wheat, and much of its cooking starts with rice and lentils soaked, ground wet and left to ferment overnight — the batter for idli and dosa. Tamarind brings sourness, coconut brings richness, and nearly everything is finished with a tempering of mustard seed, curry leaves and dried chilli in hot oil.

It's many kitchens, not one. Tamil Brahmin and Udupi temple cooking is vegetarian; in Kerala, Hindu, Syrian Christian and Mappila Muslim families each cook fish, meat and coconut their own way; and the Chettiar merchants of Chettinad are known for fiercely spiced meat. The Malabar coast sold pepper, cardamom and ginger to Arab, Chinese and later European traders for centuries, and the Portuguese, Dutch and British all came for it.

Hyderabad, up on the Deccan, is another story again: its Nizams kept a court kitchen in the Mughlai and Persian tradition, and its biryani is now the city's pride. In the twentieth century, restaurants run by cooks from Udupi carried dosa and sambar across India and beyond.

Where in it

  1. KeralaCoconut, pepper and the backwaters: fish curries soured with kudampuli, appam with stew, and the sadya feast on a banana leaf. Kochi has been a spice port for centuries.Meen curryAppam and stewPayasam
  2. ChennaiTamil Nadu's capital, and a city of tiffin: idli, dosa and vada with filter coffee in the morning, and sambar and rasam poured over rice at lunch.IdliSambarRasam
  3. ChettinadHome of the Nattukottai Chettiars, a merchant community who traded across Burma, Ceylon and Malaya. Their kitchens are known for spice roasted and ground fresh, and for fiery meat.Chettinad chicken
  4. UdupiA temple town on the Karnataka coast whose vegetarian cooks opened restaurants across India. Udupi hotels are usually credited with making the masala dosa famous.Masala dosa
  5. MangaloreA port where Tulu, Konkani, Catholic and Beary Muslim cooking sit side by side: fish, coconut and red Byadgi chilli, soft neer dosa, and kori rotti.Kori rotti
  6. HyderabadThe Nizams' city on the Deccan, where Mughlai court cooking met the Telugu south: dum biryani, haleem in Ramadan, and fiery pickles.Hyderabadi biryani

How it cooks

Tempering
Tadka, thalippu or oggarane: mustard seeds popped in hot oil with urad dal, dried chilli, curry leaves and asafoetida, poured over at the end.
Fermented batter
Rice and urad dal soaked, ground wet and left overnight to rise and sour — the warmth of the south does the work.
Ground coconut
Fresh coconut ground with spices into a paste, or squeezed for thick first milk and thin second milk.
Roasting spices
Whole spices dry-roasted until they smell toasted, then ground fresh — the heart of sambar powder and of a Chettinad masala.
Dum
Hyderabad's way: a pot layered, sealed with dough and cooked slowly over low heat so everything steams in its own juices.

Always in the kitchen

riceurad daltoor dalfresh coconutcoconut oilsesame oil (gingelly)tamarindcurry leafmustard seeddried red chilliasafoetidafenugreek seedblack pepperturmericjaggeryshallot

Cook from it

Tonight, with what's good in October

Its classics

South IndianMasala dosaA thin, crisp pancake of fermented rice and lentil batter, folded around spiced potato and served with sambar and coconut chutney.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianIdliSoft, spongy cakes of fermented rice and lentil batter, steamed in moulds and eaten with sambar and chutney.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianSambarPigeon-pea lentils cooked with tamarind, vegetables and a roasted spice powder, then tempered — poured over rice, or with idli and dosa.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianRasamA thin, peppery, sour broth of tamarind and tomato, with cumin and garlic — poured over rice, or drunk from a cup.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianMeen curryFish cooked in a clay pot in a fiery red sauce soured with kudampuli, finished with coconut oil and curry leaves.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianAppam and stewBowl-shaped rice pancakes, lacy at the edge and soft in the middle, with a mild stew of coconut milk, whole spices and potato.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianChettinad chickenChicken in a dark, fiery masala of freshly roasted spices — pepper, dried chilli, fennel, star anise — with coconut and curry leaves.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianHyderabadi biryaniMarinated goat or chicken layered raw under half-cooked basmati, with saffron, fried onion and mint, then sealed and cooked slowly on dum.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianKori rottiA chicken curry of coconut milk and roasted red chilli, poured over crisp, paper-thin wafers of dried rice that soften as you eat.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianPayasamRice, lentils or vermicelli cooked slowly in milk or coconut milk with sugar or jaggery, scented with cardamom and scattered with cashews fried in ghee.No one here has made it yet

How it got here

1500s–1700s · from Persia to HyderabadPulaoPersian pulao came to India with the Mughals and the Persian-speaking courts of the Deccan, and is widely thought to have grown into biryani there. Hyderabad's kacchi biryani, where raw marinated meat and rice cook together under a sealed lid, is linked to the kitchens of its rulers.Hyderabadi biryani →

Cooked here

No one here has cooked South Indian yet.