Walking down D B Road, I noticed two ladies munching something unusual. My mother didn’t recognise it too. But then we stumbled upon it ourselves. An old man was cutting thin slivers of something that was piled on his pushcart and selling them.
It looked like vazhai thandu, but not entirely. Had it not been for the frond of coconut blossoms on the side, I would never have recognised this as being in anyway related to the coconut palm!
The pale cream discs were in fact the tender shoot of the coconut tree called thennai kuruthu. This is that part of the trunk which carries the coconut blossoms at its tip. The middle portion between the main trunk and the blossoms is cut. The outer layers are peeled until the tender inner core is revealed. This is then cut and sold to the street vendors. And that is how we came to taste it. The texture is crunchy. It is a cross between the sweet tender coconut and the mature coconut. The outer darker portion is rather astringent, but the pure white core is sweet and delicate, besides being light, refreshing and cleansing on the palate.
But does this mean that if we want to eat this many coconut trees must be felled?
Coconut breeder Mr.Ram Mohan says not really. Most farmers will not chop coconut trees. Only those that are aged and vulnerable to rot are brought down. Then, there are farms that propagate coconut trees only for the purpose of selling the shoot. These trees, he says, are usually brought down when they are three years of age. There is no wide-spread felling of these palms. Phew!
One finds these goodies on pushcarts all over the city. Mr.Masilamani on Race Course and S.Gopinath on DB road say they set up shop almost everyday. You can spot them opposite the Subway restaurant and outside A1 Chips shop. Gopinath says he has been selling this thennai kuruthu right here in the same spot for the past 20 years. Farms in Pollachi and Dharapuram call him when they have to bring down trees. He can be reached at 8124631836. Masilamani has been in this trade for the past year and he gets his thennai kuruthu from Theni and Dharapuram. His number is 9750727418.
After tasting it, I recalled that it tasted of the vegetarian curries I had in Malaysia and Thailand. These shoots, cooked in coconut milk with chilli, make a great vegetarian Thai curry or a laksa.
One can do many things with the thennai kuruthu. It can be eaten both raw and cooked. It can be sliced, shredded and added as a crunchy garnish to spicy noodles, fried rice or a sticky prawn dish. A friend suggested that these coconut shoot slivers can be blanched in coconut milk and then salted and dried. I will try that once the sun comes out, but for now , the coconut shoot will find a happy place in warm soups and comforting curries.
(Read more about food on Shanthini’s website >www.pinklemontreerecipes.com )
