Recently, I came to know that Kaffeehaus, the ever popular Swiss cafe at Vazhuthacaud has started a new brand called Spicehaus and have started doing Kerala cuisine under it and is available for delivery thru the popular food delivery app services… Of-course, I couldn’t try any of it back then cause until very recently, my area was a full on containment zone and so food delivery was not possible… Once food delivery started, a few days later, the owner of the place contacted me informing me that they are starting to do Pothichoru (the quintessential Kerala style Banana Leaf wrapped Meals parcel) and suggested that I try it… Finally got the chance to try it today and this review is about the same… 🙂
The owner had informed me that there are 3 variants ie, Chicken, Fish and Veg variants of the Pothichoru… I discussed with my parents and we decided to try the Chicken and Veg versions… They delivered the parcels as shown in the pics above right on time for lunch… That idea of using carry bags made with newspapers felt like a really good idea as I felt it further added to the overall rustic feel of having a Pothichoru for lunch… Both when opened looked like the pics below… Quantity overall seems fair… Good ratio of Rice to Side Dishes too… So far so good indeed with the fragrance of the Banana Leaf infused food… 🙂
So, lets talk about the Chicken Pothichoru first… There were 3 curries along with the Banana Leaf parcel… They were found to be Pulissery, Sambar and Chicken Curry… Inside the Banana Leaf parcel or Pothi, I found that there was of-course the Rice, Chammanthi, an Omelette, Cabbage & Long Beans Thoran, Beetroot Pachadi, Kootu Curry, Lime Pickle and a smaller Pothi again wrapped using Banana Leaf as well as shown in the pics below…
Coming to the taste, lets first talk about the Vegetarian items… Of-course the rice was perfectly cooked where each grains stays separately with the outer layer just starting to be sticky which in my opinion is the best level of cooking the Red Parboiled Rice… The Chammanthi felt like it was made with an extra dose of dried Red Chillies as its flavour is what appears to stay on top of everything else along with that of the Coconut, but without too much heat… The Thoran had the fresh taste of Cabbage and Beans along with the Coconut and Mustard seeds… Cabbage Thoran is my personal favourite, so seeing that Thoran having Cabbage here was a welcoming sight for me… Both the Beetroot Pachadi and the Pulissery had one thing is common, the Yogurt’s sourness definitely was giving a bit of kick to the tastebuds… But other than that, the flavours were just right for me as in the Pachadi had a good flavour of the Beetroot and the Pulissery had a nice flavour of the Turmeric and the Tempering / Tadka spices especially the flavours of Shallots, Mustard Seeds and Curry Leaves… The Kootu Curry had a bit of sweetness to it which felt like it came from Pumpkin other than that, of-course the earthy taste of the lentils and of-course the Coconut was nice… I loved the given Sambar… Just the right amount of spiciness with the taste of Carrots which I love… Everything was seasoned just right for me where I could enjoy the taste of each ingredient instead of being overpowered by the spices… The flavours of Curry Leaves, Coconut (Oil) and Mustard Seeds were common among pretty much all the side dishes but since as I said, since the use of Spices was right, the flavours of the ingredients made sure that each side dish had a unique taste compared to the others…
Now coming to the Non-Vegetarian items, first of all, the Omelette was nicely done… It was quite soft and fluffy and was made in the Kerala style of adding Onions and Green Chilly… The smaller pothi inside the big one, when I opened, found pieces of Fried Chicken inside… It was done in Kerala Style with the classic Spices used in case of Fried Chicken here along with Dried Red Chillies, Green Chillies and Curry Leaves as can be seen from the pics… What needs a special mention here is just how incredibly flavourful the Chicken itself was as in the flavour of Chicken by itself was quite strong that I wonder if it was Country Chicken and that too based on texture and size of the pieces, a Spring Chicken of that kind was the one that was used… The spices of-course did enhance the overall taste and the fact that it was perfectly seasoned altogether made this Fried Chicken to be a really Yummy one… The cook level on the Chicken might be a bit overdone for somebody who is used to the western standards of cooking meats, but here in Kerala, this is how we cook all meats and so its fine… Last but not least is the Chicken Curry… The only complaint which I felt about it is that I wished that there were more of it… Its definitely one of the best tasting Naadan Chicken Curries I have had… Perfectly seasoned, Slightly sweet and creamy, incredibly flavourful with the flavours of the masala, along with the Coconut, Garlic and the incredibly flavourful Chicken as well and I felt it worked perfectly with the rice… The piece of Chicken in that curry was perfectly cooked too… But, personally I loved the gravy more than the piece of Chicken in it that if they serve just that gravy with the rice, I could happily eat that… So, Safe to say I cleaned that container well 🙂
So, overall, I think this is an amazing Pothichoru option and I can go as far as to say that it is most certainly one of the best option for the same in Trivandrum… Its a must try that I can recommend to everyone…
Now coming to the Vegetarian Pothichoru, it was basically the same as the Chicken Pothichoru but of-course minus the Non-Vegetarian side dishes… This means that it had the same Chammanthi, Cabbage & Beans Thoran, Kootu Curry, Beetroot Pachadi, Lime Pickle in the Pothi along with the Sambar and Pulissery at the side… Of-course, I had talked about all of them above… So, my mom is the one who had this, being a vegetarian herself and my dad of-course took his share from both the Pothis and made a meal for himself… 🙂 Regarding the food overall, my parents had this opinion which I agree wholeheartedly to which is that the food overall tastes like it is homemade as in made with love and care like how food is made at home rather than from a restaurant where in many cases, cooking is just a job…
Thats it for now… Overall, a lunch that I along with my parents enjoyed very much and I think this would be our go to option going forward for whenever we feel a craving for Pothichoru, which happens once in a while for all of us… We are Malayalis after-all… 🙂 😀
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