Appam is a rice pancake - a favourite within the Malayali community. Photo: 123rf
The aroma of spices instead of mint sauce signals the arrival of Christmas Day in kitchens across the country, as Indian New Zealanders celebrate with dishes shaped by region, faith and migration.
While many households across New Zealand will serve roast ham and pavlova, Indian families are gathering around tables laden with rice and meat dishes, rich curries and sweets infused with cardamom and ghee.
From Kerala and Goa in the southwest to India's northeastern hills, Christmas food traditions are being re-created in Aotearoa, adapted to local ingredients but rooted firmly in memory, community and faith.
In one South Auckland household, the aroma of coconut, curry leaves and roasted spices fills the air - signalling a festive season straight from Kerala rather than a traditional Kiwi roast.
For many in New Zealand's Malayali community, Christmas typically includes elaborate spreads of beef fry, appam (rice pancakes), stew and cardamom-scented cakes known as plum cake.
"Christmas is huge for Kerala's Christian community," Philips Augustine said.
Augustine moved to New Zealand in 2017, now living in the South Auckland suburb of Favona with his family.
"Food is really important and one of the main attractions for our family," he said.
Preparations usually begin on Christmas Eve, winding up before the midnight church service.
Some families also observe a strict 25-day Christmas Lent, which makes the festive meal all the more significant.
He said his family members typically gathered at the family home, along with friends and people of other religions, to enjoy the feast at lunchtime on Christmas Day.
"There will be a lot of meat like beef, chicken, pork and duck along with homemade wine," he said.
"We also make appams in the morning with a chicken or beef stew to begin with, and lunch will be a feast of many meat curries, cutlets (deep-fried meat patties), rose cookies and rice or biriyani."
In Kerala's Malabar region, some households also make neychoru, a rice dish cooked with ghee.
Many families in New Zealand are adapting these recipes to local ingredients while keeping the flavours of Kerala alive.
"After lunch, some households also visit other families and friends but also go out to the beach or for a movie as well," Augustine said.
Goan dodol (top left), doce de grao (top right) and bolinhas are Christmas favorites. Photo: Supplied
On Auckland's North Shore, Sofia Furtado is busy finishing her Goan Christmas sweets orders.
Originally from Goa, Furtado moved to New Zealand nine years ago.
"Food is something very close to my heart," she said.
"I was looked after by my granny and she always cooked with our own produce and curry paste, and the freshness of that stayed with me."
Her parents lived in Dubai, and she later moved to the Middle East, where she first began cooking more seriously.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Furtado set up a Facebook page and started a small cooking business.
With the support of Auckland Council's Kitchen Project, an initiative supporting local food and beverage start-ups with a focus on culture, health and sustainability, she launched Sofie's Goan Delicacies, an online restaurant offering Portuguese-influenced Goan food alongside her full-time corporate job in the dairy industry.
Goa, on India's southwestern coast, was a Portuguese colony from 1510 to 1961.
"Christmas is one of the biggest celebrations for the Christian community in Goa, starting with Advent, going to church every day, and then making a lot of sweets," she said. "When I was growing up, we made at least seven varieties of sweets."
Popular Goan Christmas treats include nueries (deep-fried pastries filled with coconut, raisins, nuts and sesame seeds), doce de grao sweets made from coconut and dal cooked on firewood, dodol toffee made with coconut milk, jaggery and nuts, bolinhas baked with coconut and semolina, and bebinca - a layer cake that is considered the queen of Goan desserts.
"[Bebinca is] a labour of love and takes four hours to bake," Furtado said.
Bebincas are layer cakes that are considered the queen of sweets in Goa. Photo: Supplied
She continues the Goan tradition of sending platters of sweets to neighbours in New Zealand.
In Paekākāriki on the Kāpiti Coast, Helen Ruolsingpui Keivom recalls Christmas in her home state of Manipur, northeastern India - a region that is home to more than 166 tribes.
"There's a significant number of Christians in that part of the country, and Christmas is particularly huge - very much a community event," she said.
Keivom moved to New Zealand in 1984 as a teenager after her father's posting as an Indian diplomat.
"Unlike New Zealand, where it's families that celebrate Christmas together, it is the church community in the northeast," she said. "It's followed by a big community feast."
Cooking is done outdoors in giant pots, with the community contributing money towards the meal.
Chartang (a very spicy stew made with beef or pork and tribal herbs) is typically served as a main dish alongside hmepok, a porridge-like dish cooked with rice, meat and dried herbs.
Fermented pork fat is a key flavouring ingredient.
Chartang is a very spicy stew made with beef or pork and tribal herbs in northeastern India. Photo: Supplied
Other dishes include hmarchadeng, a side dish made with roasted green chillies, garlic, ginger and onions, sometimes including fermented pork fat or soybeans.
Keivom said the festive feast included plenty of meat and fat-rich dishes, as many people in the region could not afford meat every day.
She said she missed these delicacies during the holiday season, with only a small community around her in Wellington.
Across regions and generations, families agreed that Christmas remained a time for togetherness - and that food sits at its heart.
"Christmas is that time of the year where you eat delicious food, meet your loved ones and forget about your problems," Augustine said.
Hmepok is a porridge-like dish cooked with rice, meat and dried herbs. Photo: Supplied