Occupation: Snacks vendor
You almost missed me. I was just about to go to the Corporation as they have approved some money for my new house. I start sales at around 10.30 am. Today I opened a little early so as to prepare the snacks before I leave.
I started this outlet opposite Fort High School just seven months ago. Before that, for 15 years, I was working in different shops selling murukku and chips.
Most of the cooking that I know was learned from the different places I worked in. Many of those shops only dealt with one or two snacks. Here I am selling a variety of eats ranging from the huge ‘Kai’(or piri) murukku to maaladu.
Fresh eats are prepared every day. Around 10 kg of rice flour is required for making various eats, which usually gets sold off by evening. I prepare more as soon as what I have gets over.
Three kinds of murukku
The murukku I sell are of three different kinds: the big one is shaped with the fingers, while smaller ones are made with the help of moulds. The main ingredients of murukku are rice and urad dal flour. Asafoedtida and sesame seeds add that special flavour to small murukku; ajwain contributes to that enigmatic flavour of the big murukku that is in demand for all kinds of auspicious occasions. Also, one of the smaller murukku varieties is spicy and there are a lot of takers for it.
Other crunchy short eats include karachovu, which is basically a splintered version of the murukku and the ubiquitous achappam.
Although I don’t make mixture, laddu, banana and tapioca wafers, I buy the best from other snack vendors I know and stock them for my customers. I know how to make all of them, but right now I don’t have the facility to make all that in this small space.
It is not just crunchy snacks. I sell an assortment of sweet ones as well. While laddu and badushah are outsourced, neyyappam and munthirikothu are made here itself. Munthirikothu is very similar to our sukhiyan and is made with a filling of fried, crushed green gram, grated coconut and jaggery. Neyyappam is a fritter made with rice-flour, jaggery and ghee.
Apart from the usual daily customers, I get bulk orders once in a while for weddings or similar events. The eats for the orders have to be made at least three days before.
Even the regular orders can be quite different sometimes, people ask for murukku in various quantities— a small packet for children to eat while travelling; a big one for a relative they are visiting; another packet for taking back home with them.
Packing is an issue as the Corporation has banned the use of newspapers for packaging food. Also I don’t stock cloth bags as very few customer seem to be keen to spend money on it. So I always encourage people to bring their own carry bags or containers.
The shop is open all days of the week. During harthal days, I open after 6 pm. I live at Kamaleswaram with my husband, Manikandan Nair, who works as a security guard, and kids, Manoj and Meenu.
A weekly column on men and women who make Thiruvananthapuram what it is
