THENGA POTI (SAMMANTHIPOTI) Dear friends,
One week back our workman removed the husk and gave aboutten coconuts which had fallen from two coconut trees in my compound. All werehalved and gave by servant lady today and I asked my wife- Why can’t we make Sammanthipoti? While enjoying Sammanthipoti as side dish with softiddalies, I thought I may write about Sammanthipoti today. Other than somenostalgic memories, nothing special in this posting. Gopalakrishnan 21-2-2024 1 Sabarimalai pilgrimage and Sammanthipoti. My late father used to conduct sabarimalai pilgrimage coveringall the three hills. So two things taken were curd and sammanthipoti. Rice was beingcooked on way. Sammanthipoti was side dish. Normally 10-15 persons were therealong with my late father during the pilgrimage trip. This was when he was not invited to go with Pandalam Rajaduring Makaraviakku. After the Chalakkayam route started, he had fewpilgrimages. He requested Lord not tocall him again. 2 My first Sabarimalai pilgrimage My first Sabarimalai pilgrimage was with my late eldestbrother on that account. Normally nearby two or three persons joined us by thetime, walking in Valiya patha in 1960 end. Mostly we went before Mandalam itself so that crowd might be less. 3. Later trips All my later tripswere Via Pampa and Chalakkayam. By thetime cooking vessels got reduced. It was a custom, not a single person alone goto Sabarimalai from our home. Cooked raw rice was given from temple counter. Only we took sammanthipoti.Buttermilk was available later years from vendors. While I was in Tamilnadu, many from my office/exchangejoined with me for pilgrimage. Trip was later by jeeps on those occasions. 4 My last trip My last trip was with my son in 1992 with my son after hisfirst employment in Elcot in Chennai after apprenticeship. By the time everythingrequired was available in the way side restaurants. Kanji kappa (Porridge and cassavacooked) was the favourite food we took. If we start previous day night by 11 PM,the bus from my native Pandalam reached Pampa by 2 AM. After bath in PampaRiver, rest, we used to reach the temple by 5 AM. After worship, returning andreach home by 5 PM itself. 5 Ingredients of Sammanthipoti Coconut grated from ripe coconuts, salt, chilli powder andtamarind. Coconut grated is fried in an open pan adding the ingredients as required till theproduce gives a fragrant smell of coconut oil with tamarind and brownish incolour. Can be used for a week as side dish with iddali, dosa, and curd rice.Also many add directly to hot rice and side dish as pappadam for consuming. 6. Preparing sammanthipoti. After my father became a widower in 1972, he lived withme whenever he liked, till he got bored wherever I was working till he becamevery old to take train journey alone by 1985. Sammanthipoti was a favourite itemfor my late father, and from him my wife learnt it’s preparation. 7. Nanganallur shop Nanganallur in Chennai has a lot of Brahmins. I havepurchased Sammanthipoti from a shop near Hanuman temple; it was good for 3-4days. In my area, Camp-road also there is a shop selling Brahmin items. Butquality is not so good. Just to satiate the taste buds, it can be used for 2-4days. Mambalam might have at least a few shops, since many Brahmins residethere. Sammanthipodi is considered as a Brahmin special item. -- 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/1158946193.3052626.1708511039211%40mail.yahoo.com.
