The staple food of Kerala, like most South-Indian states, is rice. Unlike other states, however, many people in Kerala prefer parboiled rice ("Choru") (rice made nutritious by boiling it with rice husk). "Kanji" (rice congee), a kind of rice porridge, is also popular. Tapioca, called kappa in Kerala, is popular in central Kerala and in the highlands, and is frequently eaten with fish curry.

Rice is usually consumed with one or more curries. Accompaniments with rice may include "upperis" (dry braised or sauteed vegetables), "rasam", chips, and/or buttermilk (called "moru"). Vegetarian dinners usually consist of multiple courses, each involving rice, one main dish (usually sambar, rasam, puli-sherry), and one or more side-dishes. Kerala cooking uses coconut oil almost exclusively, although health concerns and cost have led to coconut oil being replaced to some extent by palm oil and vegetable oil.

Popular vegetarian dishes include sambar, aviyal, Kaalan, theeyal, thoran (dry curry), pulisherry (morozhichathu in Cochin and the Malabar region), olan, erisherry, puliinji, payaru (mung bean), kappa (tapioca), etc. Vegetarian dishes often consist of fresh spices that are liquefied and crushed to make a paste-like texture to dampen rice.

Common non-vegetarian dishes include stew (using chicken, beef, lamb, or fish), traditional or chicken curry ("Nadan Kozhi Curry"), chicken fry ("Kozhi Porichathu/Varuthathu"), fish/chicken/mutton molly(fish or meat in light gravy), fish curry ("Meen Curry"), fish fry ("Karimeen Porichathu/Varuthathu"), lobster fry ("Konchu Varuthathu"), Spicy Beef Fry ("Beef Ularthiyathu"), Spicy Steamed Fish ("Meen Pollichathu") etc. Biriyani, a Mughal dish consists of rice cooked along with meat, onions, chillies and other spices.

Although rice and tapioca may be considered the original Kerala starch staples, wheat, in the form of chappatis or parathas (known as porottas in Kerala), is now very commonly eaten, especially at dinner time. Numerous little streetside vendors offer an oily parathas (akin to the croissant in its flakiness and oiliness) with meat, egg, or vegetable curry for dinner. Grains such as ragi and millet, although common in the arid parts of South India, have not gained a foothold in Kerala.

Sadya
Mealtimes
Lunch and dinner
Pickles and other side-dishes