‘A nostalgic cuisine from God’s own country’, ‘A nostalgic journey to our childhood days’. Google ‘pothichoru’ and those lines pop up. Umpteen videos demonstrate how to make the pothichoru.
What is it about the pothichoru that whets your appetite and makes your mouth water at the very mention of it? Perhaps, the magic lies in its simplicity – hot, steamed rice and curries, chutneys and pickles wrapped in slightly toasted banana leaves ( vattiya ila in local parlance).
That was how many people in Kerala used to pack a taste of home to take to schools, colleges and workplaces a long time ago. Remember that appetising aroma that wafts up when you open it during lunch time?
Somehow the same meals packed in sterile lunch boxes never taste the same. Perhaps that is why there are many takers for this homely meal packed in banana leaves.
Nostalgia is the other name for this food parcel. But now this common man’s all-in-one lunch packet is going places, having become an integral part of the menu of many upmarket hotels and restaurants.
The pothichoru served in restaurants packs a surprise as each is different. It is a guessing game for hungry customers. Usually, it is simple fare: rice, a vegetable dish (a thoran), a curry, an omelette or a fish fry and a pickle or chutney. A pappadam is a luxury. But the elaborate pothichoru that one gets at the restaurants leaves you spoilt for choices.
“The rich spread has got us a lot of customers. It’s been two years since we started selling pothichoru and the demand is going up. The taste lies in the slightly toasted banana leaf,” feels Ashok Kumar, manager of Sagara, Karikkakom where they serve three varieties of fish fry with the rice.
Jayakumar, a spokesperson at Aramana Restaurant, Vanross junction, adds: “Pothichoru is a hit wherever there is a Malayali. We have been doing business in Dubai and Sharjah and pothichoru is a favourite with the Malayali diaspora there.”
It is also an appetising offer for diners who hanker for a taste of home.
“Customers often refrain from placing orders for chicken or fish dishes because they are costly. But when you include them in the pothichoru, even if there are only a few pieces, people can get their bite of meat as well. That’s why we have chicken thoran on some days in our pothichoru,” says Somnath, owner of Steam Pot at Pattom.
Home cooks and takeaways are also packing lunch for hungry buyers. “Nothing can beat the taste of pothichoru, especially when served with homecooked curries such as pulingari and udachu curry that are not customarily available in hotels,” says Lekshmi G. Her Mydhili’s Magic Kitchen at Kowdiar is a takeaway that offers pothichoru. Prices depend on the dishes that accompany the rice and ranges from Rs. 60 to Rs. 200. As you open the pothichoru, you realise that nostalgia is a package deal!
On the platter
Some of the restaurants that serve pothichoru are Sagara (Karikkakom), Jashn (Vazhuthacaud), Aramana Restaurant (Vanross Junction), Steam Pot (Pattom) and Maincourse (Kowdiar). The spread is elaborate with parippu, payasam, curd/buttermilk, fish curry, sambar, pulissery, chutneys, fried chillies, chicken, dry fish and fish peera.
Special pack
Malayalis enjoy the aroma of baked plantain leaves and so there are many dishes that come wrapped in slightly toasted banana leaves. At Bread Factory, Azad Hotel’s boutique bakery, there is porotta and chicken/mutton curry packed in banana leaves. “That is something we used to do at our homes, especially the porotta-mutton curry combo. The taste is awesome. You have to place the toasted leaf on the hot tawa while you pack the porottas. The gravy is special in that it is slightly thick. It is poured in between two porottas so that they are completely soaked by the time you open it,” says Wazim Azad, one of the owners of the group.
