Special Mom’s blog

My maternal aunt and uncle have come from India to Toronto to my brother’s house. How where we going to meet them? It had been nearly eight years since I have seen any of my extended family. I really wanted to meet them but we were all so tired after our trip to Sault Ste Marie. My brother said he would bring them to Niagara Falls so we could just cross the border and meet them. My aunt is more of a sister to me and my brother since we are very close in age and I did not feel that was right. With their busy tour schedule and our summer schedule I had to ask (pester) my better half to drive to us to my brother’s house. But I really had to bribe him with something. I told him the later we go or meet the treats from India would all be gone considering my brother’s friends circle. Ha Ha, now I got my husband interested and we rushed over this weekend for some fun and family time. In between the time, we exchanged gifts and she gave me the goodies she had saved for me (I think from my brother). The snacks you get from my place and my aunt’s place is so different. My Aunt lives in Kerala whereas my parents live in Tamil Nadu. Even towns in India have different variety of snacks and I get advertisements on Facebook saying they would ship it. So there were couple of things my husband has rarely eaten or has never eaten.

Jackfruit snacks are Kerala’s specialty and she had four different packets. Applam (one that needs to be fried), a jam, a sweet chips and a salty one. Nendran plantains are a kind of banana and are very famous. These are sliced and fried in coconut oil to make yummy chips. So below is the picture of all the snacks she got me. The yellow ones are the Nendran chips and stick like ones are the jackfruit salty chips.

The one below was completely new to my husband. I told him we need to break it with the hammer. He was surprised since all the other snacks from Tamil Nadu (or sweets) gets broken with fingers. He used our wooden roller to break one and ate every single piece of it. It is called “porulvilanga urundai”, what is present cannot be understood. So he kept guessing what was in it. But as I googled there were one two many aunties with the recipe video. It is just made with parboiled rice and jaggery. He loved it and I think I have to hide it from him since he has become an expert at breaking it.

The below one is a spicy vepilai kati. It is supposed to mean made from neem leaves. But it is from lemon leaves actually. A spicy side dish for rice. This is more popular and my husband knows about it. But he is not a fan of it. My special one loves spicy food and it is only matter of time before he is going to finish it all on his own.

The jack fruit jam or chakkavaratti. This is made with jackfruit and jaggery. Since I am dieting I did not push myself to getting it more. I am an addict to it. I think a small piece is enough to satisfy your taste buds.

Okay a treat that I did not bring home. It was Chaka pradhaman a pudding made with jackfruit jam and coconut milk for a prayer event at my brother’s house. My husband had never tasted this pudding. A cup of it after a big lunch gave both me and my husband the satisfaction of eating the perfect lunch.

As you read India is a country with so many different cultures and cuisines. I have always felt bad when I go to an Indian restaurant. My husband has never tasted a food from our neighboring state having grown in India, You can see how many varieties of food there are. The taste and flavor changes from one state to another and Indian restaurant doesn’t mean they have the food we cook and eat in our homes. Samosas and gulab jamuns are not the only Indian food. Samosas being the appetizers and gulab jamuns being a dessert. Yes , they won the race among top Indian snacks and sweets 😊.

Now readers I have mentioned jackfruit so many times in my blog today and if any of you have not seen this fruit, here is a picture. It just costs 25 dollars for one fruit here is n this part of the world.