Any true blue Tambram will know what this means and would have tasted one of the many avatars of Apuchi's !.
For the uninitiated , these are simple delicacies dished out on rainy /sunny days . Most often they are improvised from left over , boiled over , over cooked , ingredients .
Testimony to spartan lifestyles .
This can be a suffix as in Nei Apuchi or a dish by itself which would other wise be an Anamika .
Nei Apuchi :
Ah ! Nei Apuchi .. When butter is clarified to make ghee at home .. the residual hardened butter crumbs at the bottom of the vanali ..How can you waste that ? Abhachaaram ! So add more calories to it in the form of sugar and starch -rice flour and saute for a few minutes and you get this gourmet Nei Apuchi .
( oh ! that 'yuk' apuchi ..giggle my brats ) God's food - mere mortals cant digest .
Verkadalai with vellam ( ground nut with jaggery ):
The English language really gives the Drool factor a big miss . ( Do I hear you reading the tamil name aloud ? )
Hailing from the North Arcot district .. verkadalai or monkeynuts were a staple at home .
After school , mid morning , in between meals - verkadalai with vellam powder is an all weather snack that would bring a smile to our faces .
Simple pleasures .
( Ah ! that unimaginative boring snack ..say my brats in unison ) What do they know about the taste of crispy nuts in the melting jaggery . Their loss entirely !
Vilampazha Pachadi : ( wood apple )
One has to be really lucky to taste this gourmet snack . Because most wood apples are either unripe or rotten inside . Only good karma from past lives can get you a perfectly ripened wood apple . Apparently one fruit - rather the seeds have to be eaten by one person fully as per my grandmom . Suits me fine .
Open the fruit , take out the seeds, moisten with a little water sprinkled , add jaggery and honey to bring to a jam like consistency .
I love to sit alone in a quite corner with a good book and relish this plating it in the shell of the fruit .
( That mushy - mushy , slimy jam ? mutter my brats and ask "Can we have a kiwi instead ?" Arghh...
Sweet potatoes in Jaggery syrup :
Ah ! this is the mother of all Apuchi's . Sweet potato discs boiled and cooked in jaggery syrup . Just love it .
( Actually , "not hungry for a snack , ma .. But can we have muffins" ..- my brats ) Sigh .
So Ganesh and I get to eat the undivided share of all Apuchi's ! He likes them too and thats where my luck runs out !
Testimony to spartan lifestyles .
This can be a suffix as in Nei Apuchi or a dish by itself which would other wise be an Anamika .
Nei Apuchi :
Ah ! Nei Apuchi .. When butter is clarified to make ghee at home .. the residual hardened butter crumbs at the bottom of the vanali ..How can you waste that ? Abhachaaram ! So add more calories to it in the form of sugar and starch -rice flour and saute for a few minutes and you get this gourmet Nei Apuchi .
( oh ! that 'yuk' apuchi ..giggle my brats ) God's food - mere mortals cant digest .
Verkadalai with vellam ( ground nut with jaggery ):
The English language really gives the Drool factor a big miss . ( Do I hear you reading the tamil name aloud ? )
Hailing from the North Arcot district .. verkadalai or monkeynuts were a staple at home .
After school , mid morning , in between meals - verkadalai with vellam powder is an all weather snack that would bring a smile to our faces .
Simple pleasures .
( Ah ! that unimaginative boring snack ..say my brats in unison ) What do they know about the taste of crispy nuts in the melting jaggery . Their loss entirely !
Vilampazha Pachadi : ( wood apple )
One has to be really lucky to taste this gourmet snack . Because most wood apples are either unripe or rotten inside . Only good karma from past lives can get you a perfectly ripened wood apple . Apparently one fruit - rather the seeds have to be eaten by one person fully as per my grandmom . Suits me fine .
Open the fruit , take out the seeds, moisten with a little water sprinkled , add jaggery and honey to bring to a jam like consistency .
I love to sit alone in a quite corner with a good book and relish this plating it in the shell of the fruit .
( That mushy - mushy , slimy jam ? mutter my brats and ask "Can we have a kiwi instead ?" Arghh...
Sweet potatoes in Jaggery syrup :
Ah ! this is the mother of all Apuchi's . Sweet potato discs boiled and cooked in jaggery syrup . Just love it .
( Actually , "not hungry for a snack , ma .. But can we have muffins" ..- my brats ) Sigh .
So Ganesh and I get to eat the undivided share of all Apuchi's ! He likes them too and thats where my luck runs out !
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