ENNA –OIL While enjoying the freshly packed banana chips friedusing coconut oil as snack with evening coffee, many nostalgic and interestinginformation came to my mind.
At one time there was only one cooking oil in Kerala- Coconut oil. Coconutoil was used for application on body also. As far as my memory goes, gingellyoil was given to Bhokthas to take bath and come. Oil along with incha/soap wasgiven the previous day evening as a reminder invitation. I have learnt in later days many ayurvedicpreparations use gingely oil. In srardha all preparations like ulundu vata,suhian, appam, Thenkuzhal etc. were /are prepared in coconut oil. Sesame balls(Ellurunda) were served. Probably I ate ellurunda on srardha days only- balanceof served to bhokthas- called Pithrusesham. On those days the smell of frying of Parippu vata in teashops attracted me very much and making out somehow some money I used to atethem from tea shops. In fact their combination of ingredients and proportiondoes not come if at all made in home. Coming to Chennai, most fried items were preparedusing groundnut oil. Even Kerala Nair’s runteashops and hotels. Later came refined ground nut oil. After marriage for longtime I was using refined groundnut oil. On those days getting coconut oil wasdifficult in shops. It was very costly also. My wife used for seasoning/frying coconut oil. Many items prepared in coconut oil has special smell.One is Kerala Pappadam. The blowup Kerala pappadam fried in coconut oil wouldraise taste buds of most. Now many other oils have come. Things can be fried.But aroma of coconut oil would not be there for a Keralite. In North mustard oil is used for cooking purposes. During my longstays in Delhi, I got accustomed to mustard oil. I used to bring for my latefather one large bottle of mustard oil. He used to apply it for body pain. First time while in Tutucorin, I could knew coconutoil is extracted in Tamilnadu VVD Company. From company outlet the oil cost wasless. For returning old bottle further reduction was there. While in Kodaikkanal during 1973’s coconut oil wasavailable in shops as solid cake. Why coconut oil was available is still a mysteryto me. Probably for the climate coconut oil was rub on body? Now coconut oil is plenty available in provision shopsin Chennai. Comparing to other oils price is slightly more only. Many Tamilnadupeople have started using coconut oil for frying appalams, vadams andporichhukottal. Now many use coconut oil for application in body andsmearing in head after bath in Tamilnadu also. Now most caterers in Tamilnadu serve pappadam insteadof appalam, banana chips are plenty and served in feasts. Banana ripen is eatenmore by Tamil people also. Day of pappada boli and pazhampori in Tamilnadurestaurants also plenty available. I have told my relatives who would not misunderstand me,bringing banana fruit, banana chips, pappads that they are plenty available inChennai. If they want to bring some non-available item, it can be jackfruitprocessed(Chakkavaratti) As it is the item though available, dearer in Chennai. R.Gopala krishnan dated 6-4-2021 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/2037023451.961377.1617720713067%40mail.yahoo.com.
