A fishy afternoon in the backwaters

Eating in a toddy shop in the backwaters of Kerala is a pleasure that is not easily matched.
A couple of weeks ago, I took off for a spot of R & R to Kumarakom. The resort I stayed in lay on the edges of the Vembanad lake, wrapped in the sort of tranquility that makes city stress evaporate, just like that.
On a slow Sunday afternoon, when the sun played peek-a-boo between the monsoon clouds hanging over the horizon, we sailed in a beautifully appointed houseboat down the lake.Yes, I know, it’s a touristy, over-packaged thing to do, but what followed was as earthy as you can get. And thus we floated, past paddy fields and banana groves and white-washed churches to a large island, called R Block. It’s all agricultural, but families from the surrounding villages also use it as a picnic spot. The high point of their day out is a meal at the island’s toddy shop.
And that’s where our lunch came from, too. Except, we had it all packed up and ate in on board the houseboat, on nice plates with glasses of fresh, frothy toddy. I would have been equally happy to dine in the dingy toddy shop, where you have to wash your hands from a drum of water kept outside.
First up were prawns, smothered in the local spice paste and fiery red. And then, what looked like jumbo prawns on skewers. They were, in fact, small lobsters from the lake — small, super-fresh with the sweetest flesh and shells so tender you could crunch into them. These, again, were tossed in a condiment mix and grilled. I shall never eat an over-priced and out-of-the-freezer lobster in a fancy restaurant again.
The Alleppey-Kumarokom region is justly famed for its karimeen or pearlspot fish. Ours, from the toddy shop, was done polichathu style, covered in a thin spice paste, topped with slivers of onion and lots of garlic, wrapped in a banana leaf and pan-fried. And I was again convinced that when it comes to fish, that freshness is all.
Then there was kappa, the boiled tapioca with a smattering of seasoning, and a robust, no-holds-barred fish curry made with lake fish. The smoky tartness of the local souring agent, kodampuli, does amazing things to this simple gravy. That then was my best gourmet experience in recent times, even if it emerged from a simple toddy shop.
And speaking of simple fare, here is a fish sambol, you may like to try:
You’ll need...
Two slices of seer fish, marinated in chilli, salt and lemon and fried
One onion, sliced fine
One small tomato, diced
Squeeze of lime
One chopped green chilli
Salt and pepper to taste
Allow the fish to cool and break it into small bits, removing the skin and the bones. Mix all the ingredients together and serve as a relish with a rice and curry meal.