Mistress of Kerala

Darina Allen has just returned from South West India, where she discovered Bibi Baskin running a beachside guesthouse in Kerala, and lots of superb foodRemember the vivacious Bibi Baskin of RTÉ fame? Well, she's alive and well and running a heritage guest house in one of the most beautiful parts of South India. On a recent trip we made a detour to Allepey on the Malabar coast to have lunch. When she retired from RTÉ she moved to West Sussex to write a book while she contemplated her next venture. Bibi has always had an interest in Ayurvedic medicine and massage, so when a friend called to invite her to join him on a trip to Kerala she was easily tempted, an irresistible invitation at any time but particularly during a British winter.
The inevitable happened. She fell in love with Kerala, and found a property overlooking a most beautiful long sandy beach near Alleppey. Bibi means ‘Mrs' in Muslim, and by a quirk of fate she has now become the mistress of a Muslim house called the Raheem Residency. She is convinced that it was her destiny. Restoring the beautiful 1860s Muslim house, with the last owner, Mr Raheem, has become Bibi's passion.
The restoration has been architecturally acclaimed. There are seven bedrooms romantically furnished with local antiques. Mr Raheem's grandparents' four poster marriage bed with hand-painted vignettes of the Taj Mahal at the head and foot of the bed takes pride of place in the honeymoon suite.
There's a wonderful, gentle relaxing feel to the house, to which Bibi has now added a secluded swimming pool and an Ayurveda Suite. The dining room is in the shade of an old mango tree on a covered veranda. It overlooks the beach where the locals and visitors swim. There was a wonderfully cool breeze, even at lunchtime.
Bibi's chef cooked us a feast of little dishes from the Malabar coast, Thorin, Samba Dahl. First there was a pineapple pachadi. Then local fish wrapped in a neat little banana leaf parcel. We also tasted Bibi's signature dish, Alleppey fish stew, cooked in coconut milk and spices and tempered with fresh curry leaves and mustard seeds. Local fried fish served from the lake with Mrs Baskin's green mango pickle made from homegrown mangoes was equally irresistible. We ate Indian style, mopping up every morsel with the fingers of the right hand. Somehow the food tastes even more delicious eaten that way. For pudding we ate delectable banana truffles. This was some of the very best food we ate in South India – well worth making a detour for. From Alleppey one can cruise through the famous backwaters of Kerala. They extend from Cochin (don't miss the 16th century synagogue and the colonial architecture of Fort Cochin) south to Allapuzhia (Alleppey), where peppercorns are still traded in the time-honoured way, silently using hand signals beneath a handkerchief shared by buyer and seller.
One of the most magical experiences is to hire a traditional rice boat to glide through the backwaters. Many of these kettwellan have been converted into houseboats complete with chef to provide luxury cruises through the southern lagoons.
The slightly unappealing term backwaters belies the magic of this intriguing area. It is neither an untamed wilderness like Florida's Everglades nor a waterfront city like Venice. It is an intricate system of rivers, canals, lakes and lagoons, fed by rivers inland from the Arabian Sea. People live all along both sides, in palm thatched houses often with tidy picket fences around their houses.  Bougainvilleas, hibiscus and banana trees abound. They wash, swim and fish in the brackish water and do their laundry on washing stones along the banks of the canals. Chickens scurry about and scratch and livestock travel downstream. Children run along the narrow paths to school with be-ribboned plaits flying in the air. Kerala has an enlightened education policy and over 90 per cent literacy.  
The waterways are their roads – post, newspapers, building materials and all essentials are delivered by skiff. Women catch mud fish with their bare toes in the shallow waters. We passed a dugout canoe from which two impish little boys sold cockles complete with balance scales.
Kerala is a rich fertile land on the South West coast of India, interlaced with rivers and plantations of teak, rubber, tea and spices, all kept green with two monsoons a year. This is the land of coconuts. Coconut in its many forms and coconut oil are an essential part of the cuisine in this area.  No part of this tree is wasted and Kerala has a flourishing coir matting industry.
Coffee plantations spread across the foothills of the Western Ghats, tea grows at higher altitudes on the bush hillside around Munnai. We visited the Connemara tea company to see the intriguing process of tea production. Women in colourful saris were picking the tea leaves in the tea gardens and flicking them at high speed into panniers on their backs.
The Malabar coast grows the world's best pepper and a variety of other spices. Cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves grow in profusion in the hot dry climate. In the past, several European countries battled to secure supplies. We visited an organic spice garden in Thekkady in the Malabar Hills to see the fresh spices being grown and harvested. The air was heavy with the scent of black peppercorns drying in the sun by the roadside.
Rice paddies on the flatter, fertile land produce two to three annual harvests of rice. Tasty plump Keralan rice is eaten at virtually every meal. It is parboiled before de-husking which gives it a characteristic plump grain flecked with red, a process which preserves the vitamin D.
Kerala not only has Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Jews, but many different castes and communities all with their own customs and traditions, styles of dress, food, jewellery and marriage rites. All of this adds to the magic. There appears to be a genuine religious tolerance and harmony in Kerala, a state remarkably free from the communal violence that still haunts some other parts of India. Visitors to ‘God's own Country' should also try to take time out from visiting churches, temples and museums and coconut edged beaches to see a performance of the traditional Kalthali dancers. Try to get there early to watch the dancers apply their dramatic make up and don their masks and ornate skirted costumes, some of which weigh up to 35k (77lbs).
Don't miss out on an Ayurvedic massage, a soothing and relaxing experience which will linger in your memory. If you plan to travel in Kerala in August, you might like to time your visit to coincide with the snake boat race, a famous regatta held on the Vembanad Lake in Alleppey on the second Saturday in August each year. However, you'll need to book well ahead if you want to be able to stay with Bibi at the lovely Raheem Residency.
∏More: contact@raheemresidency.com  www.raheemresidency.com  Tel/Fax: 00 91 477 2239767/2230767. Mobile 9447082241