PULIYO PULI Though we express the tart taste of an item by the word Puli in Tamil and Malayalam,Tamarind tree itself is called Puli in both languages. Probably tamarind treewould have been the first source to produce the tart taste.
Though there is no bar in having or growing a tamarind treein a home, it can be brought up only in large areas like road side, and homeshaving large compounds. In my home at Pandalam we had two tamarind trees;nothing would grow in the shading area of the tree except turmeric. Tamarind is forbidden in thepreparation of srardha items. The sour taste is natural in Lemon, tomato, mango.Ampazhanga, some varieties of orange etc. For fermenting some add to the boiledand become warm milk a piece of tomato or lemon juice. When things get fermented the Pulippu (tart flavour) also appears. But wecannot use all fermented items. One example is the water obtained by washingrice called Kati, if kept for days it will have foul smell and sour taste dueto fermenting. From this the origin of word Pulichha kati- Something to throw away. There are varieties of tamarind- some varieties havingsweetness also are there along with sourness/tartness. The Puli fruit obtainedfrom tamarind tree is sometimes called also as Valampuli. Kodumpuli is a fruit about the size of an orange and yellowishdark from a tree. As it gets dried up it becomes darker. For Non- vegetarianpreparations Kodumpuli is used for special taste. In Kerala we have a small tree having fruits in externalappearance like that of kovakka (Ivy gourd) maximum to the size of index finger.Very tart I miss name of the tree. We used to prepare pickle with it, butrestricted use. It is also used for preparation of non veg items. If consumedmore, it was told it would thin the blood. Sometimes Sri Venkataraman Perinthalmanna may be able torespond with name of tree on reading. When tart taste is more in the liquid preparation rasam,often one used to ask- Isit Pulivellam? (Tamarind water)... Recently I read somewhere in internet the tamarind inlimited quantity is good to reduce blood glucose levels. My wife adds moretamarind by nature in dishes. For her it is normal. Probably for me it ismore!! Valam puli is plucked from tamarind treeswhen ripen, skin removed and seeds removed and dried in Sunlight on a perambu (Canemat). After well drying it is packed slightly adding salt. Normal packing is inPalm leaves small mats. As tamarind age a little it is called Pazhampuli. Just like Oldrice, old tamarind is also preferred for dishes. New tamarind smell many not bepleasing. Now we get in supermarkets processed tamarind extract also. Very easy touse similar to Nestle’s coconut milk… If one does not relish more tartness in sambar tomato is added,tamarind is not added.Butter milk if more fermented cannot be used to prepare fresh sambharam. Thereis a limit of fermentation. It has to be thrown away. Keeping in refrigeratordoes not affect natural fermentation. If we keep milk in refrigerator for days,it will ferment with afoul smell The seemantham of iyers is Pulikuti for Nayers. I am not sure it hasanything to do with tamarind juice, once conducted with pomp, now it is with infamily members among nayers. There is a place called Puliyangudi near Tenkasi. Most of the streetnewspaper collectors in Chennai belong to Puliyangudi… There is a place calledPulinkeez near Tiruvalla. There is an old sugar factory there, stillfunctioning. There is a saying- Pitichalum pitikkanam Pulimkompil pitikkanam.If one is going to hold, it should be on the branch of tamarind tree- a veryhard tree. It means, ifhelp is sought it should be from a very possible person. Icchiri Pulikkum is a usage meaning you cannot getit a thing done through a particular person or group or institution. Many preparations are there with prominence for Puli. Oneis Puli inchi- Puli proportion is more. Inchipuli has more proportion of inchi.There is alsoPulikuzhampu. Puliyodarai is a nivedyam in Perumal temples. Also Thairsadam. Thakkali sadam, is another preparation. Because of the ingredients addedPuliyodarai may last 2days and consumable Not only in curd, but in preparation like kitchadi puli hasmore prominence. If a hotel serves mealswith -out curd or buttermilk, there will be no satisfaction of the meals. Puli moota and uppumootta are games where one takes anotheron back- preferably children. Writer- R. GopalaKrishnan dated 23-8-2016. Reposted with addition and editing on 17-4-2021 -- 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/992156198.2199094.1618644764729%40mail.yahoo.com.
