South Indian food is famous for its taste, smell, and flow. Not only are Southern dishes delicious to eat, but they are also nourishing and digestible. Rice is South India’s staple food, where lentils, coconuts, and spices are often used in abundance.
Top 10 Must Eat Dishes You Must Try In South Indian Cuisine:
To bring out the color, seasoning, nutrition, taste, and appearance of the brilliant blend in the prepared dish. Here are 10 of the best South Indian delicacies to try and pamper your taste buds!
1. Pongal:
Pongal is a sweet rice dish that is typically eaten in Sri Lanka on special or ceremonial occasions. Usually, it’s cooked over an open fire in a clay pot. Milk and water are boiled first, and if the liquid spills over the pot. It will bring good luck and wealth to the family, according to Tamil beliefs.
Pongal preparation is a family affair, as each member ceremonially adds a handful of rice to the pot. The remaining rice with mung beans, cane sugar, and ground cashews is subsequently added to the bowl. Pongal is served on banana leaves and the whole family says their prayers to the god before eating. Read Also: Why is the Pongal Festival Celebrated? See How South India Celebrates Harvest Festival
- Places to eat: Sangeetha Restaurant, Chennai
- Price: ₹80 per person
2. Masala Dosa:
A traditional South Indian dish is known as masala dosa. It is made from a batter of soaked rice and lentils and is baked into a thin pancake. Usually stuffed with potatoes, onions, and mustard seeds are popular throughout the country. Sometimes, the dish is garnished with grated coconut and chopped cilantro.
There are also some variants of the dish with enormous popularity. Such as Mysore masala dosa, Rava masala dosa, onion masala dosa, and masala dosa paper. It is usually eaten as a short snack or as part of some of the day’s meals.
- Places to eat: MTR – Mavalli Tiffin Room, Bengaluru
- Price: ₹100 per person
3. Appam:
Appam is a popular bowl-shaped Indian pancake made from a batter of coconut milk and rice flour. In Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, and Kerala, appam is most commonly eaten for breakfast or dinner. It has a cultural connection to the Syrian Christians called the Nasranis, who bake appam on a stone.
The pancake first appeared on the southern tip of India, according to an American food writer and historian, Gil Marks. Although not much of Appam’s history is known, some even speculate that it originated in Jewish communities in India.
- Places to eat: Hotel Junior Kuppanna, Coimbatore
- Price: ₹120 per person
4. Upma:
Upma is a wholesome Indian dish cooked in a thick porridge made with dry semolina or rice flour. Its taste is slightly bland, usually served hot for breakfast. So various nuts, beans, and spices such as turmeric and chiles are typically added to intensify its flavors.
Upma originated in South India. But over the years it has gained popularity and is now commonly found across the world. As every South Indian cook can make it differently. It is said that no Upma is the same, and there are various variations of the dish. Such as Upma’s prepared with grated coconut instead of onions, or Upma’s with maize and milk.
- Places to eat: Upahara Darshini, Bengaluru
- Price: ₹60 per person
5. Sambar:
Sambar is a common curry dish cooked with broth, lentils, and vegetables based on tamarind. It comes from Tamil Nadu, but in Sri Lanka and throughout South India, it is also very popular. Traditionally, the dish is eaten with steamed rice or various flatbreads from India.
- Places to eat: Murugan Idli Shop, Chennai
- Price: ₹40 per person
6. Dosa:
One of the most popular Indian dishes is the thin pancake known as the dosa. It is made from soaked rice and black gram beans. It is ground into a paste and mixed to make a thick batter, usually left for overnight fermentation. A handful of fenugreek seeds enrich the mixture, giving the dosa its distinctive golden-brown color and a delicious, crispy texture.
It is then baked, with a delicate, thin texture and a round shape, on a hot oiled griddle. In the whole world, Indian dosa is a staple dish. But some claim that dosa originated in the Tamil Nadu state of South India. It is an ancient dish, the roots of which go back to the 1st century AD. In 1st AD Tamil literature mentioned it for the first time.
- Places to eat: Saravana Bhavan, Chennai
- Price: ₹90 per person
7. Vada:
Vada is a fried dish that is mostly eaten during breakfast. The dish is made with legume paste such as (Arhar) pigeon pea, (Chana) chickpea, mung vigna mungo (Urad), etc. Some of the various vada forms served with coconut chutneys and Sambar are delicious.
The word ‘Medu vada’ in Kannada means ‘gentle’. Typically, these Vada’s are soft inside and crisp outside made using black lentil batter in the form of a doughnut.
- Places to eat: Brahmin’s Coffee Bar, Bengaluru
- Price: ₹20 per piece
8. Rasam Rice:
Rasam is popular not only for its delicious taste but also for the health benefits it has to offer. The key advantages come from the ingredients used in Rasam. Such as tomato, tamarind, and black pepper, which are good for the overall health and digestive system.
Its serving can be as a soup or with rice as a side dish. The medical prescription of Hot Rasam is common for a sore throat and cold. Nowadays, all the necessary combinations of seasonings and ground into Rasam powder beforehand, which is available in almost all supermarkets.
- Places to eat: Hotel Rama Sagar, Chennai
- Price: ₹100 per person
9. Bisi Bele Bath:
Bisibelebhath is a popular Karnataka dish available at almost every home in Kannadiga. It is a rice-based dish with Toor dal and vegetables cooked together. In Kannada, Bisi-Bele-Baath translates to “hot lentil rice”.
This dish is present warm and served with Chatni, Boondi, salad, papad, or chips of potato. In restaurants serving Udipi cuisine, you can commonly find this dish.
- Places to eat: Vidyarthi Bhavan, Bengaluru
- Price: ₹110 per person
Karnataka More Information:
10. Uthappam:
Uthappam is a very special dish in Tamil Nadu, India. It is the ticker version with onions, green chilies, capsicum, and tomatoes topped with dosa. Also available on the market are ready-to-batter and instant mixes.
- Places to eat: Sree Gupta Bhavan, Chennai
- Price: ₹80 per person
Tamil Nadu Articles:
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