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Malabar South Indian Cuisine

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

At Malabar, an Indian warrior stands guard at the entrance to a warm and modern dining room. The conversation piece here is the almost-life-sized black and white mural depicting life in colonial times, with crowds of Indians swathed in veils around a procession of royal elephants.

 

The Malabar region of southern India is one of the subcontinent's great spice trails, south Indian food being hotter and earthier compared with the north Indian style most Australians are accustomed to. Malabar is lauded by regulars for its dosai: impossibly thin, crisp rice and lentil pancakes, stuffed with fillings like lamb, cinnamon and cloves, or prawns, green tomato and capsicum. With each serve come dishes of sambar (spiced lentils with tamarind and molasses) and green chilli tinged coconut chutney. Dosai are utterly delicious, and Malabar's are among some of the best in town. If you resist the temptation to fill up on these crispy delicacies, there are plenty of other dependable offerings on the menu. Starters include scallops tossed with southern spices, coconut and fresh ginger, or spinach chaat: layers of deep-fried baby spinach leaves, diced potatoes and chickpeas with yoghurt and date chutney. For mains, there's chicken chettinad, an aromatic, peppery dish from Tamil Nadu, or lamb kurumuh, the lighter, south Indian equivalent of korma.

 

Fiona Davies, February 2005