Christmas was a time to celebrate and enjoy great non-vegetarian food at Thekumbagom in Chavara in Kollam district, where I grew up. Christian homes in the area prepared delicious chicken and beef dishes during this time and eagerly shared the delicacies with their neighbors. When I was a child and not well off, my friend Charlie would invite me to his house on Christmas Eve, and I looked forward to these celebrations every year. Charlie’s family hails from Thoothokudi in Tamil Nadu and had settled in Chavara.
The special Christmas meal at Charlie’s house was made with plantains. It was made by soaking plantains in coconut milk and was called “Ettakka Putapikka”. I thoroughly enjoyed this dish along with ‘velayapam’. But the midday price on Christmas Day was even better. The main dishes were a fish curry made the day before with crispy buffalo meat, tuna and pot tamarind, and a delicious chicken curry. This was my routine every Christmas until 10th grade. In my house, a sumptuous ‘sadhya’ was prepared during Onam, but we had to wait till Christmas to taste the meat and fish delicacies.
It wasn’t until I moved to London that I started participating in Christmas celebrations again. So I visited a British colleague’s house during the festival. In that country, all young people left home when they turned 14 and had a family gathering at Christmas called “Roast Day.” I would like to introduce the recipe of “Ettakka Putapichatu” which has many sweet memories for me. The typical dish is prepared with plantains, but try variations that also include jackfruit.
preparation
Remove some of the ripe jackfruit pods and slice them.
Also cut some ripe plantains.
Fry the jackfruit and plantains in a pan with a little sugar and cardamom.
sugar must be thoroughly dissolved
Prepare the first (thick) milk (onnam paal) and second (thin) milk (randam paal) from coconut
When the sugar has dissolved and mixed well with the fruit and has a syrupy consistency, add the second milk.
I was able to experience a pleasant scent.
Once the fruit starts to cook in the second milk, add the first milk
Add some rice flour dissolved in water.
Stir the mixture and continue cooking until it forms a mash
Once ready, this dish makes a great pairing with rice cakes like ‘puttu’, ‘appam’ and ‘idiyappam’.