Kalathappam

If you carefully observe the savory dishes showcased in a traditional Onam sadya or even the traditional Malabar cuisine, you will find an abundant use of easily available local products including coconuts, rice, bananas et al.

Thus, it should come as no surprise if I reveal to you that when it comes to making sweet dishes too, the usual suspects once more find their way into our recipes.

Kalathappam is a sweet dish prepared commonly in the Malabar regions of Kerala, especially in Kannur and Thalassery. Think of it as a jaggery based rice cake, if you must.

• Commonly seen as a tea-time snack, it is quite easy to make. 
• Key ingredients include rice (or rice flour), coconut flakes, jaggery and shallots. 
• The dish itself can be prepared using a pressure cooker or a non stick pan.
• While it may not look amazing at first glance, the real beauty (at last for me) comes when you cut it and you see these wonderfully distinctive 'incomplete striated columns' (for want of a better description!) 
• Thus, much like how we describe various luxury chocolates, the humble kalathappam too boasts of 'a hard and crunchy exterior and a soft interior.'

Spongy? Juicy? Crunchy? The kalathappam has it all. And it makes for a wonderful tea-time snack. For those who would like to try it out, I'm adding a couple of recipes for the same which I came across online ( here and here ).

Authors note:
All pictures shown above were of a kalathappam made at home by le mom.