Kallidaikurichi Appalam : Best known South Indian delicacy Chennai Culinary Caterers prefer

The other day, I received a call from my college mate who is into trading agricultural prodcucts in his native village asking me to buy certain condiments including some packets of Kallidaikurichi Appalam and some dry chip varieties made of urad dal, cumin seeds, rice flour(in Tamil : Rice vadagam, Onion Vadagam, Jevvarisi Vadagam, etc) and keep them in my house so that he would collect it from me in a day or two. These items are to be airlifted through his friend to Chicago where my collegemate's daughter is living well settled. You may wonder purchase and despatch of chips from Chennai to Chicago??!!! Such things are quite common to Chennaiites.

There used to be two familiar adages in South India, viz.,(i) a feast without appalam or pappad is known as half feast and that (2)Even if Mom is not able to convince the kid to consume food, Mango pickle does(Maadha ootttaadha saadhamum Mango oottum) that neatly. Meanwhile, Kallidaikurichi and Sundarapandiapuram are famous shooting spots in many Tamil movies.

Many South Indian village side workers, still continue to have rice gruel and fire roasted appalam as important breakfast. If anybody had purchased appalam in Tamilnadu just a few decades back, the dough of that prepared appalam most probably would have been pestled (Ulaka) only from the mortar of Kallidaikurichi. What does it indicate ? Each house in Kallidaikurichi is involved in the production of appalam as cottage business.

What sets Kallidaikurichi Appalam apart from other varieties is its unique crispness and special flavour. The locally cultivated urad dal and Thaamiraparani (Porunai) river water which is religiously mixed with black urad dal powder, cumin seeds, salt, parandai veg, asafoetida, etc. seem to be responsible for that enviable taste Kallidaikurichi appalam carries with it. It is also in the knowledge of homemakers that homemade appalams and pappads are healthier and fresher than the packaged ones.

Anyhow, thats the thing of the past. Recent news is that big machines have arrived in cities and they finish the total appalam production of Kallidaikurichi within an hour. Now Washermanpet at Chennai, Anuppanadi in Madurai have gradually become heartthrob of appalam manufacturing activities.

Not only resident Indians , many of those settled in Silicon Valley cities which is home to dozens of major technology, software companies, Maavadu is an authentic traditional pickle recipe made with tender raw mangoes. Residents of Chennai in normal course would start welcoming the arrival of these baby mangoes in their markets during summer months of March-April.(In India).

While Appalam, pappad, vadagams would sync with sambar rice, rasam rice, vaththa kuzhambu rice, etc., mango pickle is so appetizing that it would sync with any other meals too. Selection of right baby mangoes is not an easy task so is the preparation. During the soaking and destemming process of this maavadu pickle, many houses where these are sincerely prepared don"t fail to spread amazing smells of mango to neighbouring houses. The stems hanging like tails, during Mango picle preparations, are not removed completely as these stems do help the delicious pickles stay good for months and months. At Chennai - West Mambalam, Mylapore, Pallavaram are some of the popular markets famous for acquiring tender mangoes.

While these culinary items are available in most of the super markets, Ambika Appalam and its outlets and Mylapore Ganapathys continue to serve their customers on a major scale. At Mylapore Ganapathys, even sevai made from par-boiled rice in multi flavours and Podi Idli, Buttermilk kali, Leaf Adai are available at shop-specific times.

Next time when you order for pickle at supermarkets, don't forget to ask for a pocket of Appalam and a bottle or two of mango pickle.