Every region has its favourite ingredients. South Indian cooking celebrates the versatility of rice, coconut and curry leaves. These three ingredients pop up in various tasteful guises in almost every meal. Dishes from this part of India tend to be made with wettish spice pastes, moistened with water, while north Indian dishes are more often based on dry spice additions.

Malabar is noted for its variety of pancakes and steamed rice cakes, biryani made of mutton, chicken, egg and fish. Arikadaka, a concoction of rice , fennel and coconut filled in mussels and steamed are a Malabari gem . Meen moilee (a Greenish yellow fish curry ), Mathi Fry (Pan Fried Sardine), Oyster stewed in Coconut sauce or a Pan Fried Sardine are also staples of a Malabari diet. olath erachi (fried mutton or beef are amongst the more popular meat items in the region. Another interesting feature is the abundant use of coconut, coconut oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves, and coconut milk.