In my boyhood, my grandma Ammini Thomas seemed like a fairy godmother pottering in the kitchen and fussing over her grandchildren with glorious food.

I remember the big table in dark wood in the kitchen laid out with a fan of well-worn knives and freshly peeled jackfruits on monsoon afternoons in Kochi. Grandma would work through the whole jackfruit turning them into a delightful array of jackfruit halwa and jams, sending up aromas of melting jaggery and cardamom.

As kids, stuck indoors due to the pelting rains, we would exploit the quiet of the afternoons to sneak into the kitchen, when grandma was napping, to stealthily scoop up the jackfruit treats in mouthfuls.

Before the days of fashionable cooking, Grandma was a foodie who would faithfully collect recipes torn off from the pages of magazines and noted down from TV shows. She ran a catering company and once catered to a big wedding party from her home kitchen which seems unbelievable now.

Here are some of my favourite treats from Kerala, laden with memories of my Grandma’s cooking and the magic of the monsoons.

Chakka vevichatu

This is a raw jackfruit mash which is a monsoon speciality eaten as a side to the main dish of fish or meat curry.

Parippu vadas

Dashing out in the rains to halt by a wayside eatery to buy hot deep-fried lentil vadas that looked like falafels is a must in the monsoons. The vadas are often served and wrapped in a parcel of banana leaves and a piece of newspaper. Made of soaked toor dal or split gram lentils, curry leaves, ginger, and mixed and shaped into flat discs and fried, the vadas with a crisp outside and soft centre are a treat.

Pazham pori

At Grandma’s kitchen, we had pazham peechis or squeezed malapazham. Grandma would pulp the bananas with a fork and fold it in rice flour and fry them for afternoon snacks.

Kanji payar

This conjee is a gruel of rice and green moong dal and is eaten with chammandi or pickle. It’s a monsoon meal that’s great comfort food in Kerala.

Meatball curries

Monsoons in Kerala resonate with a meatball curry with beef mince, lots of vinegar in onion gravy which is eaten with rice as a filling meal.

Pork ularthum

A good, fatty cut of pork makes this curry, spiced with pepper, and ground masalas, a delicious meal to go with appam or rice.

Chips

If it’s Kerala you will have a variety of chips made of fruits and tubers. They taste best in the monsoons with a cup of tea. Kerala offers a variety of hot chips like jackfruit, tapioca, and varieties of local bananas.

Chukkuvellam

The best pick-me-up is this drink which is warmer to beat the dampness, chills, and pouring rains. Dry powdered ginger, black pepper, cumin, and cloves and other spices are boiled with a piece of jaggery and it makes for a soothing hot drink.

Sadya

The end of the monsoon in Kerala is associated with the festival of Onam and the festival meal of sadya is a not-to-be-missed dining experience in Kerala. Served on a big banana leaf with a variety of vegetables that are stir-fried, steamed, stewed with red rice, and a platter of desserts it’s a wonderful repast.

The author is the award-winning chef and partner of the popular The Bombay Canteen based out of Mumbai. He graduated from the famed Culinary Institute of America, New York. Find him on Instagram.

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