On my fifth day in Kerala, India, I did something really special that I will never forget. I had the rare opportunity to head into the mountains in Thekkady, meet a local tribe that lives in the mountain forests there, and cook and eat an amazing tribal meal with them! Come along with me as I cook and eat authentic tribal food with an isolated mountain tribe in Pandikuzhi, India!
My afternoon started in the mountains of Thekkady, Kerala, India, overlooking the plains of the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. I couldn’t wait to cook and eat with the Mannan tribe! I had never done anything like this before!
We had to climb up to the tribe through a rugged and rocky environment. We met up with them. They already had a fire going and lots of pots and pans ready. They started by peeling shallots. They also had chilies, tomatoes, big onions, and fish from Thekkady Lake ready to be cooked, as well as chicken and two tapioca preparations.
They were also cooking some spinach. I watched as they washed, spiced and prepared the fish, chicken, and vegetables. They cooked the fish right on the burning fire in the ground. I learned that the tribespeople were speaking a dialect that is a mix of Malayalam, Kannada, and Tamil.
Then, they added a mix of tomato, ginger, garlic, jeera, and pepper to a pot of water over a fire. They took the fish off the fire and began peeling the tapioca. While we watched, I tried some of the fish. It contained some spines, so I had to be careful. The turmeric and salt, mixed with the charcoal flavor, were amazing! It was crispy and really nice!
The tribespeople we were with were a family. They were a mother, daughter, aunt, and brother. I helped cut open a package of ragi and watched as they washed the cassava. Meanwhile, the tomato, ginger, garlic, jeera, and pepper mix was forming a gravy. They added ragi and curry leaves to it. Then, they put a halved, unpeeled raw tapioca directly into the fire.
The daughter was working on the chicken, which she added onions, ginger, chilies, and tomatoes to. They cut them into small pieces. This type of cooking was so unique because they used no oil. Everything they use is locally sourced from the forest.
Meanwhile, they took the tapioca off the fire and scraped off the burned parts and added the ragi to a pot of boiling water. The daughter stirred for a bit and then I tried it. The ragi was served on large bay leaves along with the spinach, cassava, chicken, and fish, and finally, some of the chicken curry. It looked phenomenal and so healthy.
I went for the ragi with the curry first, which was almost like a thick potato mash. The chicken was super hot but not too spicy. Then, I went for some of the spinach, which was super fresh and mixed with onions. Then, I mixed the spinach, ragi, and curry. I loved it. It had a ton of flavor even though they didn’t use many spices.
The ragi was really filling. Then, I dug into the tapioca. It was really earthy. Then, I tried the fish, which was full of barbecue taste. Everything was light except the ragi. I loved the spinach and that the ragi sticks to your fingers!
Once you’re done, you clean your hands with water. At the same time, you rinse your plate.
You have to have this tribal food experience with a mountain tribe when you come to Thekkady, India. It takes two hours and is one of the most authentic experiences you’ll have in this part of the world.
I hope you liked coming with me to cook and eat authentic tribal food with the Mannan tribe in Kerala, India!
My name is David Hoffmann. For the last 12 years, I have been traveling around the world in search of unique culture, food, and history! Since starting David’s Been Here in 2008, I have traveled to over 1,100 destinations in 77 countries, which I welcome you to check out on my YouTube channel, travel blog, and social media sites.
I focus a great deal on food and historical sites, as you probably have seen! I love to experience the different flavors that each destination has to offer, from casual street food to gourmet restaurant dining. I’m also passionate about learning about the local history and culture.
P.S. Thank you for watching my videos and subscribing!
She cracks me up.
So Tevin, show me the ropes. Show me how you eat it.
The ragi.
Good afternoon everyone, this is David Hoffman from David's Bin here,
coming at you live from Pandikuri, Kerala, India.
Look at this, I am up in the mountains in Kerala,
and below me, a thousand foot drop, you have Tamil Nadu,
the other state, the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu.
And I'm super excited because today I'm doing a tribal lunch,
Indian tribal lunch. I'm meeting with a tribe right now,
it's the Manan tribe. We're going to make lunch,
we're going to cook the food together, it takes about an hour to cook,
and after that we're going to share a meal. I'm super excited,
I've never done this before. First time ever eating with a tribe.
Let's go visit the tribe. Follow me.
Yeah, so the way up to their little spot
is through this crazy, rugged, rocky environment.
Careful, don't slip. And here we go.
This is the tribe. Fire's burning.
Food? Oh wow. Hello.
Alright. Amazing.
So what they're doing is they're peeling the shallots,
they also have chilies, tomatoes,
big onions, and they have a fish. And this fish is from
Tagari Lake, right? So it's a freshwater fish.
And there is also a preparation of chicken, and there is also
two types of preparation of tapioca. In case you guys don't know
what tapioca is, that's root vegetable, and that's right here.
This is tapioca. It reminds me of like,
like a yam, you know, a cassava? Very similar.
There is also a preparation of Spanish,
that's here already, it's cooking.
They are not talking proper Malayalam.
It's a mix of Malayalam, Kannada, and Tamil.
So it's a dialect of three different languages
that has been mixed over the centuries, basically,
because they've been out here forever.
David, what they added just now is a mix of tomato,
ginger, garlic, and pepper.
And jeera.
David, you want to try?
Okay, I'll try. Ooh, it's still super hot.
There's some spines in there.
Mmm. Mmm.
The turmeric, the salt.
Wow, it's charcoaling. Obviously it was in the fire.
Oh, but you can see the spine right there. So you have to let go slowly.
Oh man, crunchy.
It is nice.
As you can see the spine, it's a little burnt.
A little crispy.
This is the daughter,
her mother, her mother's sister,
and her brother.
Oh, too much. Good?
It's okay? Too much?
We're adding curry leaves.
This is the gravy that after we take out the jeera,
and we added tomato,
some garlic, some pepper, some jeera,
and all. And now we added ragi and curry leaves to it.
Ragi is basically called pannipulya
in Kerala.
It's a kind of grass and
we make it as a powder. We dried it and make it such a powder.
That is called ragi.
And we are putting the raw tapioca inside the fire.
We are not boiling it or baking it. We are just putting it in the fire.
This is the preparation of chicken.
They already cut small onions into pieces. Now they are doing ginger.
Then they will cut tomatoes and chillies.
And they cut into small pieces and they are doing right now.
One of the most unique things about this type of cooking is that
they are using no oil. And everything is
locally sourced from the jungle, from the forest.
Right? So all this came from the forest and they are using
zero oil for this curry. It looks so good.
I can't wait for her to add the chillies. That's my favorite part
obviously. Chillies, chicken,
tapioca, and fish. Wow.
I'm excited. This is going to be amazing.
We mix coriander powder, chilli,
chilli powder.
We mix it for
ginger and garlic paste.
Then pepper, wild pepper.
By the way, the peppercorn we are using is directly from the forest.
Super wild, super spicy.
And right here we have a bunch of salt.
Put it. Garlic powder.
Where are you running?
The tapioca is ready. The fish is ready.
The only thing we are waiting for is the chicken to cook.
And that's it. Roughly about 20 minutes. 20 minutes, right?
Oh, the smoke.
So what he is doing here is removing all the burnt part
from the tapioca. It's a process.
He has to take all of it off. As you can see, it's really black,
dark. But that's what gives it such a
delicious, roasty taste.
Okay, so they are letting me try a little bit of the roasted tapioca.
Oh, it's nice. It's not as hard as it usually is.
Obviously because it's roasted. But it's still very tough.
I think it's going to go really well with the chicken curry.
For sure.
They just moved the chicken to that fire.
And now they are going to prepare a ragi preparation here.
It is called pul tindga in Malayalam.
And it's made up of ragi.
Alright, guys.
My turn to try the stir.
Oh, it's like a big paste.
Ragi paste.
I like the spoon.
You saying I'm good?
Tough thing is that you have to keep your leg down.
She cracks me up.
So keep rotating, right? Just keep going?
How do you know when it's done?
Very good.
Huge paste.
I'm starting to cook. Let me get out of here.
It's too hot.
This spoon is called matukambu.
And the stick that is holding the kettle is called idikambu.
They are serving the ragi to the bay leaf.
So they serve the ragi into the bay leaf.
Here we go.
Here we go. She's serving six, right?
So it's four, five, six people here eating.
Perfect.
Then we are going to serve more.
Time for lunch.
I'm excited.
So next up we have the chicken curry.
Look at this.
Looks phenomenal.
Spicy.
Right there.
This looks so healthy.
And it's called ragu, right?
Ragi.
Chicken.
It's nice and pasty.
So then you absorb the curry.
It's almost like a super thick potato mash.
Like mashed potatoes.
It's different.
Then eat the chicken.
It's still super hot.
It's so good. Not too spicy.
Spinach?
I didn't even notice that was spinach.
The spinach is super fresh.
Mixed with some onions.
Should I mix this with this and get some curry?
Like some gravy?
So there's a lot of flavor in here for having very little spices.
As you know, this is all from the forest.
Everything comes from the forest.
Spinach, onions, ragi, the chicken.
In terms of the spice in the chicken curry,
it's not that spicy.
The only thing is the chicken is still really hot.
A little bit of chilies.
It's okay. Not too spicy.
Ragi is very filling.
And then over here,
we have tapioca, right?
It's pretty good when you mix it here.
Nice and earthy.
So I think the next thing I have to do is get into this fish.
There's a lot of spines in here, no?
That's the flesh right here.
A lot of that barbecue taste.
Everything here is super light.
Obviously the only thing that's super heavy is this.
So what we should do is go in here into the fish.
Just careful, see? There's some spines here.
See them right there?
That stuff I'm just going to leave to the side somewhere.
And then I'm going to go in here and get some of that flesh.
So good.
I personally love the spinach.
I don't know if I could eat all the ragi.
It's really filling.
The cool thing is that it sticks to your finger.
So there's Devon.
If you want to book this experience, call her.
So Devon, show me the ropes.
Show me how you eat it, the ragi.
This is the least spicy meal I've had in Kerala.
Almost no spice here.
She's saying there's chilies here, but I don't taste chili.
This fish is so good.
Look at this, all the spines here.
By the way guys, the ragi, you don't chew it.
You swallow straight, so don't get too much.
Just get enough.
It's actually way better than I thought.
Easier, it doesn't stick to your gums.
It's too much.
If you do this, it's going to get stuck in your throat.
It's good.
Maybe a little more tapioca and I'm done.
So once you're done, you have to clean your hands, right?
So they gave me a little bit of water, and I put it over here.
So at the same time, you're rinsing your plate.
I have to say, there's one thing you have to do when you come to Thekkady.
Come out here, have this experience.
It takes 2 hours, you watch them cook for about an hour, hour and 20 minutes.
Then once you're done, you sit down all together,
here in the bush, and you enjoy.
I mean, it's really an experience.
Great food, really, really healthy.
I mean, the fish was phenomenal.
Love the chicken curry, almost no spice.
So if you guys are into spice, and you come to Kerala,
this will be a unique experience because you're mostly eating super spicy stuff all over Kerala.
And here, you're eating something very light, it's lean.
Obviously, this is the most filling thing, the ragi.
Everything else is super, super, just like perfect.
Lots of flavor as well. No oil.
Ingredients come from here, from the forest. Love it.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
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Leave me a comment below. Subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content.
And I'll see you in the next travel food adventure in Kerala, Kerala, India.
Incredible India.
