From kalkals to gongura mutton: Flavors of Christmas across South India

Across South India, Christmas is a month-long affair. Snacks like kalkals (aka kulkuls), rose cookies, and marzipan are readied and packed in advance. Each household follows heirloom recipes rooted in family traditions. Preparations for the plum cake start months in advance, as the longer the fruits marinate in the boozy mix, the more decadent the cake.

Lunch on Christmas day is typical non-vegetarian fare consisting of coconut-based stews, spicy seafood gravies, pork or beef curries, roast chicken or turkey and rice-based versions (biryanis, appams, neer dosas and ghee rice to name a few). Then there is rich plum cake topped with a light custard. 

A meaty affair 

For Tresa Francis, founder of Bengaluru restaurant Coracle, known for its Kerala Syrian Christian and South Indian food, Christmas is a “lot of cake, be it fruit or plum cake. We also make rose cookies, kalkals, banana halwa or maida halwa. Aval vilayichathu, made of thin beaten rice tossed in jaggery and coconut, is also a season’s special.

“Growing up in Calicut (now Kozhikode), celebrations revolved around dishes like duck, crab or pork roast. Appams and vattayappams were a must too. There was also Continental fare like baked chicken, shepherd’s pies and fruit trifle,” she reminisces.

Mangaluru cuisine 

In Karnataka, Mangaluru stands out on the Christmas culinary map with pork preparations like bafat, sorpotel and indad being favourites.

The fiery dishes are polished off with soft, slightly sweet sannas or spongy neer dosas. The spread also comprises chicken, mutton and seafood with ghee roasts or coconutty roce curries. Kuswar, a traditional Mangalurean Christmas snack box with treats like kulkuls, neureos, bolinhas, marzipan, and plum cake, is put together for family and friends.

Ashish D’abreo, who hails from the region and is co-founder of the cafe Maverick & Farmer, has been on a quest to perfect pork indad, which holds a special place in his family’s traditions.

“The smoky flavour of indad comes from cooking over firewood during large family gatherings, difficult to replicate at home,” Ashish explains.

“Growing up, I never liked its subtle sweetness from jaggery but now I appreciate the traditional techniques involved in its making.”

In Tamil Nadu, Christmas sweets take on distinctive forms. Food historian Rakesh Raghunathan points to munthiri kothu as one of the most characteristic festive sweets in the state. “It’s made with green moong dal, jaggery, coconut and cardamom,” he explains, adding, “this filling is dipped in rice and urad dal batter, somewhat like dosa batter, and fried.” What makes it visually striking is its shape. “Three small balls are held together to form a triangle, resembling a cluster of cashews. That’s why it’s called munthiri kothu—munthiri meaning cashew, and kothu meaning a group,” points out Rakesh. 

Other sweets include somas (or somasi), with crescent-shaped fried shells and sweet fillings of roasted rava or gram; adhirasam, rich with jaggery and rice flour; and achappams or rose cookies. Rakesh also speaks of vivika, a steamed rice cake with coconut similar to Kerala’s vattayappam or Goa’s sannas, served with mutton curry by certain communities.

In Andhra Pradesh, tangy gongura mutton curry, zesty Andhra biryani and crisp garelus (medu vadas) anchor the savoury spread, while sweets like shell-shaped teepi gavvalu soaked in jaggery syrup and golden poornalus filled with rice flour and jaggery and served with ghee add a traditional touch. These sit comfortably with plum cakes and Anglo Indian baking influences. Christmas in Anglo Indian homes begins with fruits steeped in dark rum for the cake and spice tins refreshed with nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. “Christmas lunch is always grand,” says Karen Martin, Deputy MarCom Manager at The Lalit Ashok Bengaluru, who loves cooking Anglo Indian dishes passed down from her grandmother. 

“We have roast chicken and bread sauce/gravy, a big pot of ball curry, pepper beef or mutton stew, and yellow rice with whole spices. We have sautéed vegetables, potato chops, cutlets and soft white bread with butter. There’s also salted meat, meat sausages, pineapple cheese skewers, pudding with a brandy flambé, roasted potatoes, rum punch and doldol (black rice halwa),” she adds.