Munroe Island and the Kerela Fish Curry

My journey to Kerela is difficult to describe in words. It was one of those travels which can only be experienced not written about. And the calmness you feel living there is almost close to nirvana.

My journey started in a small town called Ashtamudi. Ashtamudi means "Eight Coned", and is called so because the Ashtamudi's lake topography consists of multiple branches.

Ashtamudi Map

During my stay in Ashtamudi, we made it a point to visit the Munroe Island. Munroe Island is a cluster of 8 tiny islands surrounded by the Kallada River and the Ashtamudi Lake. There are daily village tours that take you around the narrow backwaters in a small canoe allowing you to experience the village life at close quarters. Fishing, coir making, boat making, vegetable growing and goat herding are some of the experiences you get at the village.

Women haggling with local fish vendors

The highlights included small children running out of their houses asking you to gift them pens. Apparently, the children use chalk for writing in schools, so pens are a novelty item which they get only from tourists. Another experience is being a witness to serious haggling of village women with their own local fish vendors. We also manged to get ourselves invited to a village home and learn about their living, specifically their traditional kitchens and open bathrooms.

Coir making process

The best part of the trip was this soft sacred hymn from the island temple interspersed with the light sounds of the water hitting the shores that echoed throughout the island. It gave an very good feel to the village visit which can never be forgotten.

My visit to Ashtamudi cannot be complete without the mention of food.

After spending half a day at Munroe island, we asked our driver to take us to any local place for a traditional Kerela fish curry meal. He was hesitant at first and suggested we go back to the resort for lunch, but after insisting, he took us to a small local food joint for the traditional meal. The restaurant was called City Hotel and was very simple and non fussy. Most of the customers eating there were the villagers, so we felt like outsiders with our western clothes. The restaurant had long granite tables with chairs lined up, and most customers sharing tables with strangers. We sat down on an empty table and ordered our Kerela fish curry with fried fish.

The waiters first set the banana leaf as a base for the rest of the food. The next was two types of achars (pickles), followed by dollops of white boiled rice, a vegetable curry and crispy papads (papadums). The spicy fish curry and the fried fish were served separately in bowls.

As they say, when in Rome do what the Romans do, and that's how we ate our meals. We used our hand to mix the rice with the curries and the taste was fantastic. The spoons were set aside and never used.
The food quantity and quality was very good. The rice and the vegetarian gravy were unlimited but ordering more fish came at a cost. The fried fish (not sure about the variety used) was perfectly cooked with simple flavors, but the curry was a little hot for my palate.

Kerela Fish Curry with Fried fish, Rice, Vegetable Gravy, Pickles and Papads

I was not expecting the presenatation of food to be fancy, but was happy to know the cleanliness standards they maintained while serving food. And they probably paid more attention to us since we guests from outside the city.

So on a concluding note, I would say "when in Ashtamudi, sink into the local flavours, both with travelling and with food!" I'll write more about my next Kerela adventure in the following post.