PAPPADAM AND APPALAM Today is 3rdOnam. Onam celebrations complete today. On those days feast was on all threedays. I recollect attending feast with my father on 3rd onam in the nearbypalace who invites first. Mostly 2nd onam was our upakarma day,exceptions were like this year. So good feast was on Upakarma day comparing toOnam day in the Brahmin homes in our area in Kerala.
I purchasedpappadam and my liking pepper appalam for Onam this year. Today after eatingsemi fried pepper appalam with meals, I thought of writing about Pappadam andappalam. Last two days I was busy withsome bank works in the morning. After gettingjob, before marriage I used to go home during Onam vacation if possible at allcosts. This was in 1965’s. Since we all three brothers were employed, feast wason large scale during Onam and Upakarma day. After marriage my going to home for Onam gradually stopped. While atChennai, the feast at Vijaya Andhra hotel at flower bazar and Udupi home near Egmoreserved best meals on those days in plantain leaf. Appalam was served about six inches diameter.I used to feel the costly meals like Onam meals. What I think aboutappalam is it is made more thickly and dried more time in open comparing toPappadam. The dough is preparing addingmore water for Pappadam and dried in sun shine for lesser period. On those dayswe could get pappadam only from the homes of a community called “Pandaram” in Kerala. For Onam days they prepared more and we usedto tell in advance our requirement. Pappadam was tied with coconut leaf torn tothe size of 1 cm width on those days. Normallypappadam was dried on clean cane mat called Perambu. Black gram powder was applied on both sides. I have seen the same method of making appalamat Kallidai kurichiin Tamilnadu in my younger days when I visited the Kuladeivam temple atSadavudayar kovil near Kallidaikurichi. Now there also we get appalams of differenttypes in packs. Kallidaikurichi appalam is famous in Tamilnadu. As I understandit is prepared in Brahmin homes. If not I stand corrected. I was writingabout pappadam. Normally it was made in small and medium sizes. For Onamspecial large pappadam was also prepared . Last time when I wrote on pappadam,Mr. APS Mani had responded still large size appalam is available in Palghatarea. Most areas now medium size is available in paper or plastic packs inKerala. Guruvayoor pappadam is famous in Kerala. I am stillnot aware who prepares pappadam and supplies to shops in Chennai now. Onlymedium size is available and fresh ones expand and blow up to the shape ofPoori. For the last 5-7 years pappadam is common in most provision andsupermarkets in Chennai. Present day some appalam also blowing up, though not tothe size of pappadam. In my boyhoodand younger days I liked to eat raw pappadam, feeling it tasty. Now too I likepappadam prepared and kept open for 3-4 hours and lost the crispness. Once I had atalk about it to one of my directors, a Brahmin from Andhra married a Keralitenair day who was also director while I was working in Calicut. During trainingperiod they loved each other and married. Later they got transfer to Palghat.On an inspection day to Palghat while I was working in Trivandrum, he invitedme to have meals with him in the quarters. To my wonder the lady director who prepared meals kept a few pappadamsprepared before hours to loose crispiness. Later I gathered she too likedpappadams lost crispiness and hearing my passion did so on that day. Still lateI understood my daughter in law’s mother also like the same type. Regardingappalam, I like the semi boiled ones. Pepper appalams which are thicker can besemi fried so that taste of raw wet black gram taste along with pepper taste canbe felt. On those daysthere were quarrels which I read in my younger days in newspapers, among co-brothers, co sisters for even serving slightly broken valiyapappadam, or over friedvaliyapappadam as a partiality. Now as heardin TV news the large quantity of liquor sold during Onam days, many persons in family may notbe feeling such things. It does not meanin any way all young males drink on Onam day, in any sense. Howeversuch petty quarrels are not there on pappadam. Though mywife (born and brought up in Chennai) likes nowadays to prepare Keralapreparations like aviyal, olan, and pappadam in preference to appalam. Present daysin fruit shops we get Banana of very large size, mostly grown in Trichy area. Pappadamis available in most provisionshops. When I asked for pappadam two orthree times, before years, in a newly opened shop, he started to talk in semiMalayalam to me later. Most shops people try to talk to Keralites here, in semiMalayalam, though the Thalayaleesknow Tamil also well. Banana chips are available in many shops prepared incoconut oil. Sarkarapuratti is also available in many shops. StillPappadam prepared day before yesterday is there in crispy condition. Additionis pepper appalam. Just now I exhausted the Kerala Parippu payasam, warmed anddrank prepared on onam day and kept in fridge. Specials aremade for our grandson through daughter, since she is away on a training tour.So this Onam is with our grandson. 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