Enjoy Real Fishermen’s Home Cooking While Relaxing on The Backwaters

(To open the embedded Facebook posts fully for the recipes and details, just click on the date/time under the heading Food and Travel Secrets.)

Perhaps the very best way to finish a visit to Coconut Lagoon is to be picked up by a CGH Earth’Spice Coast Cruises Houseboat…..just in time for lunch! 

Spice Coast Cruises’ Kettuvalams are the original traditional houseboats, that used to transport rice, and spice but now they have been restored into a wonderful place to relax on the water, with your own personal crew and some exceptional home cooked food!

Spice Coast Cruises have six boats, three boats with just one double bedroom and three boats with two. 

One of the great things about booking your own Kerala houseboat is being able to get into the kitchen and learn how food is cooked in real Kerala backwaters homes.

Chef Kochumon first learnt his cooking from his mother then later he trained in hotel management. His favourite  dish to cook himself, is Kerala Kokum Fish Curry with Tapioca. 

Lunch Day One on Spice Coast Cruises

Our first meal on board Spice Coast Cruises was some magnificent Jumbo prawns along with delicious dishes of Beetroot Mezhukupurattu, Beans Thoran, Moru Curry, Pumpkin Pachadi and Kerala Red Rice.

Jumbo Prawns

Pumpkin Pachadi

Stopping at Kalloorkad St. Mary’s Forane Church Champakulam

Coming in the monsoon season means it’s likely to be rainy, the water is high and the sky is cloudy. But  Kerala life continued on with sandbags, raincoats and umbrellas, despite the heaviest rains for perhaps 100 years some said.

We stopped at St Mary’s Forane Church, surrounded by water, made warm by the sun.

Our First Dinner on Spice Coast Cruises

I’ve heard that a meal in Kerala is not complete without fish or seafood, which is wonderful news to us! So for dinner it was only natural for Kochumon to start preparing a simple, but amazing dish of mackerel, just marinated and quickly panfried. This was accompanied by Masala Potato, Yellow Moong Dal Curry, Ladies Finger  (Okra) Curry and Aubergine Fry.

Mackeral Marsala Fry

Yellow Moong Dal Curry

Marsala Potato

Ladies Finger  (Okra) Curry

Aubergine (Eggplant) Fry 

Waking Up Onboard Spice Coast Cruises

It is very lovely to wake up and see the river outside your window and watch the world get ready for the day as you glide past the riverbanks.

The Highlight Meal of the Trip – A Banana Leaf Lunch

It’s easy to see why banana leaf thalis are served at weddings. There’s something so festive and special about them. Almost straight after breakfast, Kochumon started preparing our own banana leaf lunch to enjoy with a peaceful view of the water.

Our lunch was a tasting platter of small dishes, full of the different tastes, textures and preparations that are traditional for a thali meal and included a Fresh banana, Salt, Beetroot Pachadi, Tomato Pachadi, Cabbage Thoran, Cucumber Curry, Sambar Dal Curry, Pappad, Cabbage Thoran, Kerala Red Rice, Bitter Gourd Fry, Bitter Gourd Moru Curry and Kozhukatta.

Tomato Pachadi

Beetroot Pachadi

Bitter Gourd Fry and Kozhukatta

Sambar Dal Curry

Cucumber Curry

Last meals on Spice Coast Cruises

The last two meals we enjoyed as our time on Spice Coast Cruises came to an end had a great Raw Banana Thoran, delicious Chicken Kebabs and the famous backwaters Pearl Spot (Kariemeen) marinated and grilled as well as some specially made appams on my hopeful request.

One of the best things about my two night on Spice Coast Cruises was how laid back Kochmon was in letting me help in the kitchen. He patiently explained the recipes as he made the dishes and let me write, snap and taste as we went along. It was very interesting to watch similar dishes being made with many steps in common. For example, we used a coconut masala mix of fresh grated coconut roughly ground with green chilli, ginger, garlic, onion and cumin seeds for the lunchtime Thoran and also the Beetroot Pachadi (but added black mustard seeds) and Tomato Pachadi (but added green mustard seeds for a different taste). However, we used plain ground fresh coconut for the Sambar Dal and the Cucumber Curry.

I came away with my notebook filled with recipes and my mind filled with Kerala kitchen memories.