The Leela Palace brings God’s Own Country to Delhi with Kerala Tales

A meal at Jamawar is always a pleasure, for nowhere does the Leela Palace New Delhi’s modern Indian aesthetic shine brighter than at the Jamawar restaurant ‘behind the golden door’ and the shiny silver partition made of Rajasthani thikri work. So when we heard of ‘Keraleeyam’, a popular restaurant at Leela Ashtamudi doing a two-day culinary pop-up there, we had to visit.

The traditional elephant motif on the table with lace placemats and florals added a flavour of the coastal state.

Kerala’s cuisine is diverse as it comes – from its coastal Moplah and Portuguese influence, to its Syrian Christian and Jewish styles of cooking. What doesn’t vary throughout the region? It’s love for a variety of spice, and use of fresh produce, especially fish that elevates its cuisine and adds complexity in flavour.

This is exactly what we got to sample at the ongoing pop-up at The Leela Palace in Delhi. The chef had especially come in to organise the special menu that is going to be on over the weekend.

Beginner’s luck – Non-veg thoran

First up, we had a trio of a fiery looking pomfret, dressed in coastal spices typical to the region, Venad Paal Konju (prawns cooked in a mildly spiced coconut milk) and the star of the plate – a kozhi cheriyulli thoran – made of tender chicken fried with shallots, coconut and aromatic spices. It gave a kothu paratha but better vibe, and I liked it so much, I intend to recreate the dish on my ‘protein spike’ days. Eating chicken everyday needn’t be boring, especially if you get to eat spicy tiny chicken bits in the most delectable preparation, that gets done in a jiffy!

My eagerness to eat the pomfret resulted in a bone being stuck in my throat (my Bengali ancestors looking down at me in shame) but a bit of rice down the throat cleared that right up. We then moved on to our next course, the Ashtamudi Raviz Nirvana, which the chef had recommended to us in the beginning. A bright yellow curry served in a shallow clay pot, served with crisp appams, this dish has been named right! We could eat the curry everyday, just the right amount of coconut milk and a hint of sourness to brighten up the entire dish. The fish was perfectly flaky.

I could have called it a day post this, but the main course was yet to arrive. The main course involved five different dishes – a Malabar biryani, Ashtamudi Fish Mango Curry, Kanthari Prawns and Duck Mappas.

A non-vegetarian’s delight

The Kerala Style Malabar Biryani was only slightly different from the usual fare, flavoured delicately with spices and made with chicken and short-grained rice. The next dish Ashtamudi Fish Curry, was as much about the raw mango as the fish, a bright red in colour and, while we had it Malabar porotta, we would have liked to dig in with some steaming hot rice.

Duck Mappas was succulent, and a rare thing to find in Delhi, a good representation of the diversity of palette if you moved along the coast. The final dish, the Prawn, was made with a rich marinade of kanthari chillies, indigenous to Kerala, and the right kick for the main course.

For dessert, there was a platter with three options – a Vatallapam, a Tender Coconut Payasam and a jiggery and coconut milk pudding, reminiscent of a mousse. While the pop-up was only for the weekend, we really hope Leela incorporates some of the items on the menu on a more permanent basis.