Vacation visits, Shyamala Dandakam and Arachu Kalakki with Pappadam

The river en route...

Those days, for most, the only means of communication was through the postal service.  The postcard cost an Anna (6 paisa) and it took anything between 2 days to a week for it to reach a local (within 15 miles) destination after being mailed.  More importantly, nobody planned vacations or family visits much in advance to drop a postcard to give a heads up.   Meaning, relatives dropped in unannounced and the surprise visits evoked different feelings on us depending on who dropped in.    Long summer vacations prompted parents to seek temporary relief by unloading their kids on unsuspecting relatives.  As if like a custom, mother will say matter-of-factly during supper that we are going to her native village the next day morning.   I would take a couple of decent shorts and a shirt and stuff it into a cloth bag (LG Perungayam bag) and go to sleep, all excited.  Both my parents were from the same village and I had 18 cousins just in that village. 

We would get up early the next day morning and be ready to catch a bus that would take us halfway and drop us by the side of a small river.  Thereafter, it was a 4-mile barefoot trek through the paddy fields and mud paths, stopping once in a while to exchange a few words and pleasantries with curious strangers.  The early start got us to the village before the sun became hot.  The Annapoorneswari temple was right in the middle of the village and row houses lined up on both sides of the broad pathways running in all the four directions from the temple.  The one on the east side was called East Village and similarly there were South Village, West Village and North Village.  

East Village from the temple entrance

East village facing the temple

Father's younger brother lived in the East Village and mother's elder brother's house was in the South Village...   Hmmm, not exactly - the house was at an offset to the South Village, conveniently named Mukkuthiruvu (the turning at the corner).    Cousins from my mother's side were all boys and there were a few around my age group.  On father's side, those in my age group were girls.  I split my time between the two houses, but preferred to be with the boys, actually, a rowdy gaggle of boys.

Temple entrance

Temple compound

From the outside of the temple perimeter, we would climb on the 8 feet high wall surrounding the temple and jump inside the compound to join other village kids playing catch, hide-n-seek, simply racing around the temple, kabaddi and what not.  Kids played rough physical games those days.  They fought, got hurt, got dirty, but made up and took care of one another and remained kids.  As the sun set, we would cleanup ourselves either in the temple pond or at home by the side of the water well and rush back to the temple to be present for the Deepaaraadhana.  There would be a bunch of elderly male folks sitting in front of the sanctum sanctorum reciting Shyamala Dhandakam in unison.  The recital could be heard halfway across the four villages around the temple.  Inside the temple, waiting for the door to open for witnessing the Deepaaraadhana, the chants transported one to a world that only can be experienced, but not explained.  With Her blessings added, we will slowly walk back (with all the creepy crawly things that come out in the dark, the walls could be dangerous after sunset) home, talking loud and cracking jokes at somebody's expense. 

Mami (mother's elder brother's wife) would call out and ask us to wash our hands and feet and get to the kitchen for supper.  The younger cousins would already be there sitting on the kitchen floor, in front of their small plates and waiting.  And a few more plates would be there on the floor, kept in a semi circle.  We will all sit down cross-legged, next to one another and grab a plate each.  Mami will sit in front of us on the floor, with a vessel of cooked rice mixed with a kootan (gravy dish), which she distributed amongst us kids, one handful at a time.  After the gravy mixed rice, it was rice with buttermilk and it was distributed the same way.  There were no choices.  You ate what was handed to you, and nobody ever complained.  The whole process of supper for 7 or 8 boys of varying ages took less than 10 minutes, with no mess or whimper.  After that we were off to sleep lying on jamakkalams and sheets spread on the floor in the hallway, sharing hard pillows, talking in whispers about the plans for the next day.

Those visits to my parents' village were ones that I still cherish in my memories.  Life was simple and so were people.  My mama and mami are no more and their house has been sold a while back.  Three of those cousins with whom I used to play around are no more too.  My Chittappa (father's brother) and Chitti are also no more, but the ancestral house still remains.  My annual visits to Kerala include a day trip to the ancestral village and the temple.

Fried Kerala pappadams

One of the dishes that Mami used to make was Chenai Arachu Kalakki (Yam chutney).  I have lingering memories of her chenai arachu kalakki with fried cut pappadams (bite size).  The dish was simple and it tasted heavenly.  The fried bite-size cut pappadams were a masterstroke and went well with the arachu kalakki mixed with hot rice.    

Nellikkai Arachukalakki (prepared by my wife)

Arachu kalakki is a traditional Palakkad Iyer delicacy that somehow managed to stay in the mainstream menu of the typical Iyer household.  It is not a dish that you would find in a restaurant, tea shop or 'hotel'.  The simple Arachu kalakki could either be a stand-alone main dish and can be had with porial / mezhukku puratti / fried pappadams or it could be a side dish to be had with dal based dishes like mulagoottal.  Arachu kalakki (translated as ground and mixed) can be made with Chena (Yam), Uppu Nellikka (pickled Gooseberries in brine) or  Uppu Manga (pickled salted mangoes).    We often make Nellikkai or Chenai Arachu kalakki and it is one of our favorites. 

Chena (Yam)

Chena (Yam) plant

Tender mangoes used for pickling

Uppu Manga (Mango in brine)

Uppu Nellikka (Gooseberry in brine)

Gooseberrys (Nellikka) on the tree

Arachu kalakki 

1) Prepare the vegetable of choice -

     a) Chena (Yam) - If fresh, wash and remove the skin.  Cut into small pieces.  You would need about half a cup.  Also add half a spoon of tamarind paste.  (We use frozen yam,  that is ready for cooking, bought from the Indian grocery stores.)  The raw yam could be itchy on the mouth, tongue and throat.  The tamarind neutralizes whatever makes it itch. 

     b) Uppu nellikka or uppu manga - Take 3 or 4 or either and remove the seeds.  We use frozen Amla (Nellikka / gooseberry) instead of the pickled ones. 

2) Grind the chosen cut vegetable with quarter cup of grated coconut and green chillies (as many as you can tolerate) and a very small quantity of water.

  

3)  Add half a cup of sour buttermilk or beaten curds and required salt to the mix above.

4)  Temper with a spoon of  mustard seeds, a few fenugreek (methi) seeds, one red chilli broken into two and a sprig of curry leaves,  using coconut oil.

This delicacy is good consumed fresh  either as a standalone main dish with hot rice and a vegetable fry on the side, or as a side dish for Mulagoottal.