One of the major agricultural products of Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, tapioca gives good results with less effort. That’s why tapioca became a staple food of people since early days. The people of Pathanamthitta tried many new dishes combining rice and tapioca, and have contributed several trademark dishes as well. Thus, trademark dishes such as Cheeni Puttu, Avalu Cheeni and Upperi Cheeni resulted from such experiments.
Tapioca is known by different names in different districts of Kerala. For Thiruvananthapuram, it’s Maricheeni, and for Thrissur people, it’s Kolli. Though Kappa is the common Malayalam name, for Pathanamthitta people, it’s Cheeni (a word used by Tamil people also). So Aval Kappa is also known as Aval Cheeni in some places of Pathanamthitta.
Aval Cheeni – Pathanamthitta’s Own Sweet Tapioca
The harvesting of tapioca is usually done in the hot summer, just before the monsoon season. For this reason, people used to preserve tapioca for the rainy month of Karkadakam, which is considered a resting month for Keralites. Read on to know more.
Tapioca is cut into pieces, dried well and preserved for the coming season. It was a staple food about 40 or 50 years ago and helped people overcome the season of scarcity in those days.
The tapioca is cleaned well and spread on large palm-leaf mats to dry. It may take a few days to dry completely. Once dried, it is stored in bharanis (airtight containers that were common in Kerala homes earlier) and used during the rainy season. When needed, scraped coconut and jaggery or sugar are added to the dried tapioca and crushed using a traditional ural (a stone mortar with a hollow used for pounding). Though this dish does not resemble aval in taste or appearance, it is soaked and prepared in a similar way. That is why it is called Aval Kappa.
Both Aval Kappa and Cheeni Puttu (a steamed cake made with tapioca) used to be favourite foods of workers in earlier times. As times changed, such traditional dishes even found their place in five-star hotels. Tapioca is rich in carbohydrates, vitamins and fibre. When jaggery and coconut are added, it gives extra energy.
It is a little difficult to make this dish, but the effort is worth it. With a little extra care, we can enhance the taste and flavour of our traditional tapioca dishes. Here is one such tip: When the water boils, add the tapioca pieces and cook for a short time. Drain the excess water. Do not overcook, as overcooking will reduce the taste.
In the case of Aval Cheeni, the more finely you crush it, the tastier it becomes. If you slightly heat the dried tapioca before crushing, it becomes easier to powder. In earlier days, a traditional ural was used for this purpose. Today, it has been replaced by a mixer grinder.
To prepare Aval Kappa in Pathanamthitta style, a two-stage process is followed. The first stage is drying the tapioca. The tapioca is split into four parts, the inner fibre is removed and it is sliced thin. Boil water in a pot and add the tapioca pieces. Once it boils well, drain the water. Do not allow it to cook fully — it only needs to be parboiled. Then dry the tapioca and store it in airtight containers. This dried tapioca is later used to prepare Aval Kappa (Aval Tapioca).
Ingredients for Aval Cheeni of Pathanamthitta:
- Dried Tapioca – 2 cups
- Scraped coconut – 1.5 cups
Jaggery/sugar – As needed - Ghee – A big spoon
How to prepare Aval Cheeni of Pathanamthitta?
- Crush tapioca once using ural (stone mortar) or a mixer.
- Add coconut and Jaggery/sugar and crush it once again.
- You can serve with ghee. You can also make balls out of it.
Courtesy: Vanitha Magazine, May 1-14, 2017
Click to read a few more delicious tapioca recipes here. Here is the page link. Click on the images in the gallery to read.
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