Cooking Kerala Food Outside Kerala: The Spices You Actually Need

A working Kerala cooking spices list is shorter than most people expect: mustard seeds, turmeric, dried red chillies, curry leaves and coconut oil for everyday tempering, plus black pepper, fennel, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon for meat, stews and sweets. Add kudampuli (Malabar tamarind) if you want to make proper fish curry. With these, you can cook most Kerala dishes from Delhi, Pune or Bengaluru without a special shop nearby.

We hear from a lot of Malayali families living outside Kerala, and from people who fell in love with the food on a holiday. The question is always the same: what do I actually need, and what can I skip?

What makes Kerala food taste like Kerala?

It's less about rare spices and more about how common ones are used. Three things do most of the work:

• Coconut in some form. Grated, roasted, as milk or as oil.
• A mustard and curry leaf tempering. Kaduku (mustard seeds) popped in hot coconut oil with curry leaves and dried red chilli.
• Black pepper as a main heat. Kerala cooking leans on kurumulak more than a lot of North Indian food does, especially in meat roasts and stews.

Get those right and the rest is detail.

The Kerala cooking spices list, sorted by job

The everyday tempering kit

• Mustard seeds (kaduku)
• Dried red chillies (vattal mulaku)
• Curry leaves (kariveppila). Fresh is best. They freeze well if you can't get them often.
• Fenugreek seeds (uluva), a pinch in fish curry and some sambars
• Coconut oil

The ground spices

• Turmeric (manjal)
• Kashmiri chilli powder, for colour without too much heat
• Coriander powder (malli)

The whole spices for meat, biryani and stew

• Black pepper (kurumulak)
• Fennel seeds (perumjeerakam)
• Green cardamom (elakka)
• Cloves (grampoo)
• Cinnamon (karuvapatta)
• Star anise, for biryani and some masalas

The sour one

• Kudampuli (Malabar tamarind). This smoky, dark sour fruit is what makes the red meen curry taste the way it does. Regular tamarind works in a pinch, but the taste is different.

Which spices go into which dish?

What can you buy locally and what should you get from Kerala?

Mustard seeds, fenugreek, cumin, coriander and chilli powder from a decent local shop are usually fine. They're grown across India and turn over fast.

Where buying from the source makes a real difference is the aromatic whole spices: cardamom, black pepper and cloves. These lose their smell sitting in warehouses, and in a stew or a roast you taste that straight away. Kudampuli is also worth getting from a Kerala shop, since it's hard to find elsewhere.

If you're putting together a first order, our guide on your first Kerala spice order covers quantities.

A few tips from our kitchen

1. Heat the coconut oil properly before the mustard goes in. Wait for the seeds to pop fully before adding curry leaves.
2. Crush pepper fresh for roasts. Coarsely crushed in a mortar, just before it goes in. The difference is big.
3. Bruise cardamom pods before adding. A light press with the back of a knife lets the seeds release their smell.
4. Make a small batch of garam masala yourself. Kerala-style masala leans on fennel, pepper and cloves. Our post on the spices in garam masala is a good base.

Two safety notes

Star anise: buy only the Chinese kind (Illicium verum), from a seller you trust. Japanese star anise looks similar but is toxic, so never use pods of unknown origin, especially in anything for children.

Cinnamon: cassia has much more coumarin than Ceylon cinnamon. For everyday cooking in normal amounts it's fine, but if you use a lot every day, Ceylon is the gentler choice. More in our Ceylon vs cassia cinnamon guide.

What we can send you

We pack the aromatic part of this list from Idukki: cardamom, black pepper, white pepper and Adimali cloves, all whole and with nothing added, in resealable pouches. We also stock cassia, Ceylon cinnamon and star anise, which is bought in since it doesn't grow in Kerala. For the bigger picture on ordering, see the Kerala spices online buying guide.

Frequently asked questions

Can I make Kerala fish curry without kudampuli?

You can use regular tamarind, and the curry will still be good. It won't have the same smoky, deep sourness. Kudampuli keeps for a long time, so one small pack lasts many curries.

Is Kerala garam masala different from North Indian garam masala?

Often, yes. Kerala home blends tend to use more fennel and black pepper, with cloves, cinnamon and cardamom. Many families roast and grind their own in small batches.

Do I need coconut oil for Kerala food?

For the authentic taste, yes. Tempering in coconut oil gives a flavour that other oils don't. If you can't use it, a neutral oil works, but finish with a spoon of coconut oil if you can.

Missing home food? Tell us which dish you're trying on WhatsApp at +91 88482 65849, and we'll tell you which spices you really need for it.