The areas of Kottayyam and Pala are known pockets of the Syrian Christian community in Kerala and their specialised cuisine over the years. They are supposedly traced back as the people who accompanied Thomas the apostle when he came to the Indian shores in AD 52. These Syrian Christians merged their original Syrian cooking techniques with the influence of local cuisine to develop a unique cuisine today that has created the Mappasas, the stews, the meat roasts, the fiery fish curry, and the fermented appamms.
They used the milk of the coconut to cook meats and fish to perfection like the Duck Mappas and the fish moilees.

Chef Suresh Pillai was intrigued by the way the people of Pala made the famous ‘Meen Pollichathu’ , where the fish is smothered in a spiced masala then wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed on a hot vessel. Many a time, the fish disintegrated when flipped over after cooking. This led him to pan fry the fish and later open cook them in banana leaves with ample coconut milk and spices.
The evolution and birth of Fish Nirvana as we know it now, has roots in the Meen Pollichathu of Pala, Kerala.