Kalathappam

A dense, dark Malabar rice cake sweetened with jaggery and studded with coconut and shallots, slow-cooked in a heavy pot.

Kalathappam is a baked rice cake from north Kerala made with rice flour (or soaked, ground rice), jaggery, coconut pieces, fried shallots, cumin and cardamom. The batter is cooked low and slow in a heavy covered pot until it sets into a dense, sticky, deeply caramelised cake.

The combination of jaggery sweetness with savoury fried shallots and cumin is characteristic — it is a beloved tea-time and Ramadan cake across the Malabar region.