There are lots of dishes that are special in Kerala. What is interesting to note is that both vegetarians and non-vegetarians have a lots of options to choose from.  In the vegetarian dishes, aviyal is the most noteworthy dish made in Kerala. Aviyal plays an important role on feasts during auspicious festival days like Onam and Vishu. This is a dish that contains all the vegetables and cooked in curd, coconut oil and coconut gravy. The Ulli Theeyal is also yet another famous vegetarian dish made in Kerala. This looks like gravy made of onions roasted and cooked in coconut oil with a paste of coconut and other spices.

There are hundreds of non-vegetarian dishes that are made authentically in Kerala. However, just a couple of really famous dishes are mentioned herewith. First and foremost is the Meen Moilee. This fish curry tastes great with idli, dosa, rice etc. This curry is made from a type of fish that is round and fleshy (mostly sardines). This fish is then nicely cooked in a paste of coconut, jeera, green chillies and many other masalas. For extra flavour, some people also add coconut milk to this. The combination of coconut and fish gives such a divine feeling that one has to taste to feel it. Konchu Polichathu is another famous dish in Kerala. Konchu means prawns and polichathu means burnt. Prawn is cooked in a nice flavour of spices with coconut milk, roasted nicely on a tava and wrapped authentically in banana leaves while served. The taste of the banana leaves also sets in into the prawns, making it even more delicious than it already was.

Kerala has some pleasant surprises in store even in the desert section. People with a sweet tooth find Kerala the perfect places to indulge in. Some of the most common and famous deserts are ada pradhaman and unniappam. Pradhaman denotes a sweet dish in Malayalam, the local language of Kerala. Ada, a by- product of milk is used to make this sweet dish. Ada is cooked in sweet syrup made out of jaggery. Coconut milk and cardamom powder are also added to the mixture for the extra flavour and finally the mixture is garnished with cashews and coconut pieces roasted in ghee. This has a nice rich taste and is a universal favourite. Pradhaman can be made from jackfruit too. This is called Chakka Pradhaman. This is yet another unique and special dish of Kerala. Unniappam are small sweet balls. Rice flour, jaggery and coconut are the main ingredients used here.  These appams are very commonly made in most of the households in Kerala and they form a nice pastime snack. When you go to Kerala on a train, you would have definitely come across vendors selling Pazhampuri, another famous sweet dish of Kerala. The main ingredients for this dish are a ripe banana and rice flour. The banana is dipped into the flour mixed properly and then fried in oil. This is eaten after draining off all oil on a tissue or paper.