Vegetarian and vegan in Kerala cuisine: avial, thoran, olan and more

You do not need to eat meat to love Kerala food. The state has a long vegetarian tradition, most famously in the festival feast, the sadhya, and in the everyday meals of many families.

The vegetarian classics

• Thoran: finely chopped vegetables (cabbage, beans, carrot) stir-fried with grated coconut, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Dry, fresh and quick.
• Avial: a mix of vegetables, such as raw banana, yam, drumstick and carrot, cooked with a ground coconut paste and yogurt, finished with raw coconut oil and curry leaves.
• Olan: ash gourd and cowpeas simmered in coconut milk. Mild, creamy and pale.
• Erisseri: pumpkin and lentil curry with roasted coconut.
• Sambar: a lentil and vegetable stew soured with tamarind.
• Pachadi and kichadi: sweet-sour dishes with yogurt, fruit or vegetables.
• Appam, puttu and idiyappam: rice-based breakfast dishes that go with vegetable curries or chickpeas (kadala).

You can see all of these in context in our post on how to eat an Onam sadhya.

Street food that is vegetarian

Alongside the traditional dishes, the street-food side of the menu has crowd-pleasers: samosas, onion pakoda, vegetable cutlets, banana fritters, gobi manchurian and paneer chilli.

What about vegan?

Many Kerala dishes are naturally plant-based: coconut milk, coconut oil, vegetables and lentils do a lot of the work. But some details matter:

• Yogurt and buttermilk appear in avial, pachadi, kichadi, pulissery and moru.
• Ghee is used in biryanis, desserts and some tempering.
• Milk is the base of payasam, the traditional dessert.
• Paneer is cheese, so paneer dishes are vegetarian, not vegan.

If you eat vegan, tell us when you order. Our kitchen can tell you which dishes are plant-based that day, so you are never left guessing. The menu shows what is on today.

A simple vegetarian order

For one person: a vegetable dish with coconut, a rice or porotta, and a crunchy starter. For two: add a paneer dish to share. For a group, ask us about catering and tell us who eats what.

New to Kerala cuisine? Read the beginner's guide, or visit us at Petersburger Str. 39, 10249 Berlin.