The South of India is a big area with a mix of climates, culture and habitats. The food can be equally heterogeneous, making use of locally available ingredients and paying homage to the south’s diverse historical influences. Amidst the variety, however, there are some classic South Indian staples that reappear again and again on the menus of cheap, cheerful and busy local restaurants all throughout the region.

Most South Indian dishes were completely foreign to me, not having made the journey to most Australian menus like their North Indian counterparts. Luckily vegetarian restaurants are plentiful so I could take a plunge into the culinary unknown, secure in the knowledge that whatever came out of the kitchen would be delicious and meat free.

The dosa, a large savoury pancake made from a fermented batter of ground rice and urad dal that is cooked quickly on a grill, is ubiquitous in the South. The most common kinds are plain, butter, onion and masala dosa (potato and onion cooked in spices) although some restaurants are more inventive and will add different combinations of vegetables as a filling.

Dosas, like many South Indian dishes, are served with dal or sambar (a soupy tamarind flavoured dish) and a cooling coconut chatni.

The masala dosa…a dish worthy of potatoes

I could easily eat a masala dosa a day (and if multiple universe theory is correct, I bet somewhere, sometime I do). However, with just three weeks in the south I reluctantly limited my dosa intake to allow time to try some of the other dishes on offer.

Another mainstay of South India food is the idli. Idlis are bright white steamed dumplings also made from ground, fermented rice and urad dal batter. Generally you get a couple per serve, along with sambar or dal and chatni, and they make a delicious, light breakfast.

One of the things I love about Indian food is the range of different savoury snack foods. A classic Southern example is the vada. Vada look like a doughnut, only they are made from lentils or potatoes and are savoury rather than sweet. They are a very cheap option, and so pop up frequently on restaurant menus and railway stations.

Perhaps because all English menus have to transliterate the name of menu items from Hindi or Tamil, or because of differences between local dialects, I often found that the spelling of dishes on menus varied significantly. Oftentimes I could take a reasonable guess at what we were ordering, but on occasion we were surprised to order the same dish under completely different names.

So it was with the dahi vadai (otherwise known as thair vadai). This is a vada served in yoghurt and sprinkled with chaat masala. It’s not an unpleasant dish, but the combination of fried lentil doughnut in yoghurt was a surprise and a bit much for my delicate breakfast palate. I thought it would be a one-off order until the vagaries of transliteration led me to try it again.

One of my favourite discoveries in the South was uttapam or uttapa. These reminded me of an omelet, but were made with rice flour, urad dal and sometimes coconut milk, instead of eggs. I loved uttapam for breakfast - they were satisfying without being too greasy like omelettes and came with different fillings, like tomato, onion, and chilli. Definitely a dish I’ll be trying at home where they can be a great vegan alternative to the omelet if you use oil instead of ghee.

South India has a much heavier reliance on rice than the North, and consequently bread plays a lesser role in South Indian food (although still an important one). However, one popular type of bread is paratha, a flat bread cooked in a pan and eaten either plain or stuffed with a filling. While it is prepared in different ways, the plain version is recognisable by the streaky, layered look and texture which comes from the way the dough is rolled out. Paratha with chatni and dal was often one of the cheapest options on restaurant menus and made a great, light snack.

Pongal or kichdi is a sticky, clumpy rice and lentil dish, flavoured with spices like mustard seed, black pepper, cumin and bay leaves. It’s eaten for breakfast with sambar and chatni is the ideal comfort food with a reassuringly bland taste.

While there are plenty of fast, tasty South Indian foods to try, the best way to sample the food in each region is to order a thali. These tend to come with more rice than their North Indian counterparts, and usually have two - three vegetable curries, two or three soup-like dishes, dal, plain yoghurt and a dessert. While we tried a lot of thalis, no two were ever the same and we generally found that the curries used in the thali would be from the area so it was a great way to get a snapshot of the local specialities.

I went to India salivating at the prospect at North Indian curries, but left a convert to South Indian food. Cheap, fast, fresh and tasty, South Indian food is a vegetarian’s delight.

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