Slice of Malabar in Madurai

Lemiya Shafeel introduces flavours from the kitchens of Kannur and Kozhikode to Madurai

June 08, 2017 04:58 pm | Updated 04:59 pm IST - MADURAI:

FEAST FROM THE COAST: Lemiya Shafeel. Photo: G. Moorthy

FEAST FROM THE COAST: Lemiya Shafeel. Photo: G. Moorthy

With a scarf piously wrapped around her head Lemiya Shafeel robustly cooks for hours and dishes out wide range of mouth-watering snacks every evening. From pathris and polas to adas, she serves a variety of Malabari snack items from the small organic shop, Feel Nature, that her husband runsat the Majesty Cine Mall complex in KK Nagar.

Just few months of business has given her dedicated customers returning for the peculiar cuisine. “Their response has encouraged me to introduce more recipes,” beams Shafeel, who learnt the kitchen formulae from her mother Dilsha V. “I grew up playing with my mother's larder.”

The lesser-known recipes are the typically local delicacies in select pockets along the coast of Northern Kerala. “I come from interior Malabar and these snacks are precious secrets of Muslim households in coastal Kannur, Malappuram and Kozhikode. It's a lot different from what's termed broadly as Malabari cuisine and includes biryani and curries,” says Shafeel. “People are bored of popular items that have become stereotypes of a regional cuisine and foodies are increasingly looking for local flavours,” she adds.

For instance, aval paal (drink made of mashed bananas, puffed rice, sugar and milk), is something that one finds only in the Kottakkal region of Malappuram district. Likewise, Kozhi Ada is a snack item prepared for travellers undertaking the Haj or people flying to Gulf. “Boiled chicken or meat is pounded in an ural or shredded and deep fried in coconut oil with lots of shallots and green chilli. The mixture is then stuffed inside maida sheets and further fried. It is perfect for long travels as it remains fresh for a fortnight,” she says.

The holy month of Ramadan along the Malabar coast is synonymous with a colossal range of snacks prepared specially for Roza and Sahar. “Breaking the fast in the evenings is an elaborate affair when we invite relatives and friends and a table full of food items is shared. From sweets made from egg and dates to spicy chicken and mutton items, women of the household start cooking right from the morning.” The unique factor of the recipes is that we don't add any spice in powdered form, says Shafeel. “Except a bit of turmeric and a liberal amount of chopped green chillies, shallots and cinnamon, no other kind of spices like coriander or pepper powder is added.”

The sweets are made in ghee while the spicy items are cooked in coconut oil. Mutta mala and Mutta surukka are sweets made of egg and ghee. “In mutta mala, egg yolk is drawn into thin threads and dropped into a pan of boiling sugar syrup. A drizzle of ghee is added to the retrieved threads. Mutta surukka is more like a pudding made from the egg white,” explains shafeel.

A variety of pathris (pancakes or thin puris made from rice flour or maida) and polas (fluffy rice cakes interspersed with layers of spicy mutton or chicken) are other specialities. Meen pathri is a star item made with the ayila meen , a sea water fish. “The fish is boiled and mashed which is prepared into a masala with spices. The mixture is stuffed into thick pathris, roasted and glazed with oil. As the Malabaris are meat eaters, there's little option for vegetarians. Sweets like Pazham Nirachad and Pazha petti are items made from the succulent nentrapazham and sugar and are great for desserts, says Shafeel. “The centre of the long nentrapzham is scooped out and stuffed with a mixture of grated coconut, sugar and cardamom, which is later fried in ghee.” Erachi Pola, Athishaya Pathri, Unnakaaya, Chattipathri and Kalthappam are the other items available. For more details, call 9946724720

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