Faiza Moosa Makes a Malabari Mutta Surkka in Kozhikode
At a cooking lesson in Kozhikode, Tinaz Nawaz gets a primer into Mappila Malabari food and that beloved breakfast favourite, the mutta surka.
“My mother made sure I knew how to make chapatis by the age of 6,” Faiza Moosa tell us. Faiza believes the days spent on her mother’s kitchen bench were the spark that led her to becoming an expert chef, recognised worldwide for her work in Malabari cuisine.
Faiza entered the global stage when she and her husband, Moosa CP, opened a homestay, Ayisha Manzil, almost 3 decades ago in Thalassery, Kerala. Moosa, gifted with a silver tongue, and Faiza, with her magic in the kitchen, meant that every traveller at their Manzil had a spectacular time.
After a long and successful run, they eventually shuttered Ayisha Manzil, planning for a quieter life together. But that was not to be. Four years after closing, Faiza and her brother, Nawaz VC, opened their ancestral home, French Loge, in Kozhikode to cookery classes, and lavish meals that transport guests through Mappila Malabari history.
Breaking Bread with Faiza
I learn more about Faiza’s surkka at a cookery class with her.
“Mutta surkka (rice and egg fritters), lakottappam (sweet roll with banana filling), kelanji (bread), omana pola (sweet egg roll), meen pathiri (steamed rice bread with fish filling), adukkorotti (layered rice bread)… you don’t see these anymore.”
Faiza hums are she moves in the kitchen, setting up ingredients and utensils, prepping for our cooking class together. “Mutta surkka is easily one of the fastest, and simplest, breakfast breads. You just have to be mindful of the batter’s consistency, pouring technique, and the amount of oil,” Faiza chuckles inspite of herself.
As she shares the recipe, Faiza is constantly offering tips. “To get the consistency of the batter right, be frugal with your water.” I go in directly with the water bottle and Faiza almost knocks the blender down. She asks me to measure water in a glass to ensure I don’t add too much. The batter is thicker than dosa batter, similar to a cake-batter.
Before frying the surrkas, Faiza stresses on ensuring I keep the spoon as low as possible to the oil as raising it changes the shape. The instructions come at me hard and fast. “Once you’ve gotten a spaceship-like shape, start splashing oil over it with a slotted spoon. Make sure you keep moving the mutta surkka around otherwise you will get a dense centre, and we’re aiming for a bread-like consistency inside. When the edges are golden, turn it over and repeat.”
“Don’t allow for any other part of the mutta surkka to turn golden or brown. It should be pale yellow, laced with a golden border.”
“Make sure you only turn over your surkka once to get the correct texture and colour.”
“If the batter is too watery, then it flattens out when put in oil and, if it’s too thick, it retains a ball-like shape. And if there is too much oil, it will sink to the bottom.”
Faiza is a wizard of movement and multi-tasking. She doesn’t falter once, not in her stories, or her cooking. We make twelve mutta surkkas and some sugar syrup. Faiza deftly crushes three cardamom pods on her ammikkallu (mortar and pestle) and sprinkles it into the syrup to give it a little kick that knocks the sweetness of the sugar.
From Thalassery, With Love
“I spent most of my time in the kitchen, even as a little girl. We always had guests over!” Faiza reminisces. In a pink sari, worn with ease, she looks professional, but comfortable in her workspace.
Faiza’s journey has seen her work in many kitchens. After she married to Moosa CP, her days of cooking in home kitchens quickly evolved to professional kitchens, catering for exclusive, private cruises and gatherings. She tended to each workspace the way her mother had taught her — “Every kitchen you enter becomes yours in that moment.”
Ayisha Manzil came about as a happy accident. They had just moved in to the house when a friend at TransIndus, a luxury holiday provider, suggested offering their clients a rest stop at Ayisha Manzil. Thalassery would be a pause before heading to Kochi.
Faiza began cooking her mother’s recipes for travellers from Britain, Europe, and the US. Soon, people began booking exclusive stays at Ayisha Manzil just for Faiza’s Mappila cooking and Moosa’s stories. Faiza moved to offering cooking lessons, where guests could learn both simple and complex recipes from the region. Her prowess soon garnered international press, and she was invited to cook at Lyon, France. Later, Indian chef and TV show host Sanjeev Kapoor hosted a cooking session with Faiza at Ayisha Manzil.
The transition from Thalassery to Kozhikode was an unexpected one. Faiza and her brother were discussing opportunities to preserve and showcase the hidden gem that was the Malabar. Kozhikode had recently been named UNESCO’s City of Literature, but not many explored the intricacies of the region. At the French Lodge, Faiza now offers an introduction to Malabari spices, and Nawaz takes them through deeply traditional practices like coir-making and theyyam, a dance form.
Pickling Malabari Recipes
Malabari cuisine, specifically the Mappila side of things, hinges heavily on whole spices. Heat comes from chillies, ginger and garlic. The bite, from elaichi and cloves, and the cinnamon brings in warmth. It is a kintsugi of Arab and Malayalee fare, merging to form something entirely unique.
Faiza has revived several forgotten recipes, and anchored them in her book, Classic Malabari Recipes. “I miss making mutta surkka sometimes. It was always my guests’ favourite breakfast bread.”
Mutta surkkas are pillowy, yet crunchy, fritters. They are the perfect example of the fusing of Arab and South Indian influences. The batter is rice-based, like most Indian breakfast dishes, but uses an Arab bread-making technique. Malabari cuisine relies heavily on breads (kannam pathiri, ari pathiri, chattipathiri, mutta surkka, adukkoroti, kakkaroti), while ‘special-occasion meals’ are mostly rice-based (biriyani, neychor, thenga chor, erachi chor). Most of these dishes then tie in together with sulaimani tea, taking the love of chai from both sides and creating ‘mohabbath in a glass,’
“Most people don’t know about our culture. They think all Malayali food is the same. We each have our nuances, and special ways to even fry chicken,” says Faiza, voicing concern for the disappearing culture of Mappila Malabar dishes. Almost every dish hinges heavily on time.
“One thing I’m always grateful for are my cookery classes; they helped me reconnect with my childhood, when I, too, was slowly moving toward faster cooking techniques. It allowed me to find my mother, and through her, introduce Malabari cuisine to others.” Faiza takes her classes like her mother taught her in their kitchen, showcasing all the processes — from extracting coconut milk, to making garam masala if you’re in a pinch. “I am simply spreading the joy of cooking that Umma (mom) passed on to me,” she says.
Recipe for Faiza’s Mutta Surkka
Makes 12
Ingredients
200 g parboiled rice
2 eggs
Salt, to taste
Water
125 ml refined oil for frying
Method
Soak the rice in water for 5-6 hours. Wash, drain, and grind it with the raw eggs till it becomes a very smooth paste, using just enough water to give a batter of pouring consistency. Add salt to taste.
Heat oil in a deep wok. Once the oil is hot enough, using a deep-bowled spoon, take about 3/4ths of the spooned batter to it.
When the fritter puffs up, turn it over. Make sure you only turn over your surkka once.
Remove with a slotted spoon.
These can be eaten with meat stew, or for breakfast, sugar syrup.
Tinaz Nawaz is a freelance writer who loves to procrastinate by making endless cups of tea. She writes on her blog, www.sosimplyunordinary.wordpress.com
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