Glossary
Common Malayalam terms you’ll meet on these pages. Spellings are romanised and vary; pronunciations are approximate.
The meal and the table
Section titled “The meal and the table”- Sadya (സദ്യ): a feast; the celebratory banana-leaf banquet.
- Oottu / Choru: a meal; cooked rice.
- Ela: the banana leaf used as a plate.
- Athithi: guest; the root of the deep hospitality custom.
- Mathi (മതി): “enough”; said to decline a refill.
Dishes of the sadya
Section titled “Dishes of the sadya”- Parippu: dal (lentils), the opening course, eaten with ghee (ney).
- Sambar: a tamarind-and-lentil vegetable stew.
- Rasam: a thin, tangy, peppery soup eaten over rice.
- Avial: mixed vegetables in coconut and yoghurt.
- Thoran: finely chopped vegetables stir-fried with grated coconut.
- Olan: ash gourd and beans in a mild coconut-milk gravy.
- Kaalan: a thick yoghurt-and-coconut curry with yam or plantain.
- Kichadi / Pachadi: yoghurt-based sides, savoury and slightly sweet respectively.
- Pulissery / Moru: a cooling yoghurt or buttermilk curry, eaten late in the meal.
- Pappadam: a crisp, thin fried wafer.
- Upperi: banana chips; Sharkara upperi: jaggery-coated banana chips.
- Puli inji: a sweet-sour-spicy ginger-tamarind relish.
- Payasam: the sweet pudding that finishes a sadya.
Beyond the sadya
Section titled “Beyond the sadya”- Appam: a soft, lacy fermented rice pancake.
- Pathiri: a Malabar rice-flour flatbread.
- Kanji: rice porridge; Nombu kanji: the spiced porridge of Ramadan.
- Biryani: layered spiced rice and meat; the Malabar/Thalassery style is celebrated.
- Sulaimani: a light, spiced black tea, often after a rich meal.