ERIVU-HOTNESS Dear friends,
ERIVU is the word in Tamil and Malayalamfor hotness. We get hotness mainly from Chilli, ginger and pepper. Since pepper andginger are used in srardha from earliertimes they would have been in use for more time comparing to Chilli. Chilli is a late comer to India and a foreigner. It’s native to Mexico. Today I thought of writing about hotness. Hotness is feltby tongue and nose. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 16-4-2021 1 Pepper and Ginger There are many species of ginger and chilli. Regarding PEPPER I have noted onlytwo varieties- Pepper from hill areas are Larger in size comparing to one grownin planes. Pepper is plucked from the creeping plant when it is hot whileeating. They would be greenish in colour. When ripen they would have read skin . I have eaten theskin- It is very sweet. Green pepper pickles are now common. After drying pepperbecome dark. Pepper powder is driedpepper ground, and comes in small jars in the dining table. Masala in the pooriadded with limited pepper is very tasty. Pepper is very costly. Pepper rasam isprepared and given when fever is there for some person. Some take pepper water. Because of hotness quantitytaken has to be limited. Ginger has to beused after removing external skin. Any snacks or Tiffin added with limited ginger is tasty-From uppuma, Pongal, chatni, vadai etc For srardha items were cooked earlier using pepper only. Now chilli is also used. However pepper will be added in Vadaand thenkuzhal. Pepper isMilaku in Tamil and Kurumulagu (Mulaku like a seed) in Malayalam. Ginger paste is compulsorily served in srardha. A very mischievous child is compared to pepper. 2 Manga inchi There is a less hot and smelling variety of ginger – Maanga inchi. It has special aroma in pickle . One of thespecial items for iyers. 3 Ginger preparations Ginger when added more it is Inchipuliand when tamarind is added more, it is Puli inchi. Lemon pickle added with green chilli would haveplenty of ginger pieces added. One of the preparations added with ginger is CHENAKKATI. Another is kitchati. Ginger cut added in curd with little salt is a tasty sidedish with dosai and iddali. In Tamilnadu INCHIRASAM is also prepared. Inchi is also added in Thairvadai. A dish with inchi equals onehundred dishes. 4 Ginger medicinal use For stomach pain a glass of semi liquid curd added with gingerextract with little salt is the BEST medicine. For me nothingelse will be effective than this. Ginger has to be used after removing skin. 5 A legend about ginger-INchi thinna kurangu. Once through the hill section a person was coming down tosell ginger in a basket. He kept the basket down to have a cup of tea from away side shop. A monkey was watching the basket from a tree. It jumped down took a big piece of ginger and in ahurry ate it fully. Monkey observed it is hot and sat a little to cool. Theperson found bits of ginger on the ground and monkey on the road wall with anangry irritated face. From this originated the saying- INCHI THINNA KURANGU- The monkey ate theginger to mean a hot and irritated person… 6 chukku(Dried ginger) Dried inchi will appear externally slightly whitish and groundand added in appam, coffee etc. Dried ginger is called CHUKKU. Another usage is Chukkuillatha kazhayamilla(There is no Kashayam without chukku).Chukku is such an essential item. There is a usage- Enikku oru chumilla means I am least bothered of theconsequences of an action by others orhim. 7 chukkumo laguthi ppali Once there was a person egoistic of his knowledge but studiedvery less. A person from his family fell ill and Kaniyan (Local ayurvedicphysician) wrote the prescription- CHUKKU MULAGU THIPPALI. The patient could not read it. The egoistic came. This small line!!!- Not able to read byyou??? He read- chkuumo- Laguthi- Pali ad wrote it clearly to take to theshop for purchase!!! 8. Chillies and skin Regarding CHILLIES there are many species from small kanthari to capsicum.Actually the seeds havehotness and not the skin. The green skin ishaving special smell and it contains proteins and vitamins. The red chilli is obtained by drying the ripen chilliorange or red in colour from the plant. Green chilli is plucked while it isjust getting ripen. 9 Vembakkottai There is a place called VEMBAKOTTAI near Sivakasi - a hotarea where we can see fields of green chilly cultivations for hundreds of acres.To see the green and red carpet ofchillies I had been to the place once where I could see separate fields with chilliesripe red and green- growing. 10 Chilli in place ofpickle Chilly is sliced and added in chutni, thoran etc. Insteadof pickle many use lengthy chilly piece from sambar, dishes etc. if necessary add little salt as side dishwith rice and curd. The hotness ofchilli is absorbed to dishes whileboiling. Some chillies are so hot that even a bit of 1/4th of it issufficient to give hotness of the preparation. 11 karanampotti andKanthari KARANAMPOTTI is almost round, and extremely hot. KANTHARI is delicious and hot. Some soft variety is used toprepare bajji and finally capsicum, one can doubt whether it is species ofchilli- so soft. I had both chilliesand kanthaari in my home garden. After two yields they dried up. I did not growagain. Green chilly socked in curd and salt mix and dried is thair mulaka fried andused as side dish with rice and curd. Some types of red chilly gives more colour than hotness.Dried chilli is added in masalas. Chilly should not be kept within the reach ofchildren. Red chilli powder is many times taken in pack byyoung women to throw on the face of followers with negative thinking and sexualharass. Some naughty kids not controllable are called Kanthari. Similarly younggirls who are fearful due to their courage are nicknamed Karanampotti. Where as ginger grow in special soils chilli grows in allsoils. The plant’s life period is less. -- 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 thatha_patty+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1915132367.2104083.1618590660269%40mail.yahoo.com.
