At the corner of DB Road and Periasamy Road in RS Puram, stand many vendors with carts laden with seasonal produce. I always make it a point to see what they have every time I pass that way. This time, they offered an unexpected treat. A fruit I hadn’t seen or tasted in years. The seeni puliyanga! A wave of nostalgia engulfed me and, of course, I had to stop and buy some. The twisty and spring like bunch of pale pink and green produce are colloquially known as Konae pulliyanga. It literally means crooked, sour, tamarind-like fruit.
The convent I studied in on Trichy Road had a majestic seeni puliyanga tree. And the fruit therefore was free. Despite being quite thorny, we had no difficulty in plucking the fruit. One just needed to hook the finger on the last swirl and give a good yank. The pink ones were the ripe ones and had a sweet grainy flavour. When greed got the better of us we nibbled on the green ones that had a rather unpleasant tartness that lingered in the mouth. But we didn’t care. We were more intent on popping the velvety outer skin, picking the vivid white fruit inside and then easing out the shiny black seed, before devouring it.
At my aunt Jaya’s home, unusual food was cooked. Their cook Vellingiri, whipped up seasonal delicacies. My aunt and uncle allowed him the freedom to explore his cooking skills. Always smiling, he was only too eager to feed the band of cousins.
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He introduced our palette to the seeni puliyanga poriyal. To this day I have neither seen nor eaten this dish elsewhere. It’s a very basic poriyal made with sliced small onions, curry leaves, dried red chillies, mustard seeds and a bit of oil. Once sautéed, add the small white seeni puliyanga kernels and toss well. Add a small amount of grated coconut in the end to finish it off.
The sweet graininess of this fruit imparts a very unique flavour and texture to this poriyal. It is the perfect accompaniment to rasam rice.
The tree like most seasonal varieties is fairly drought resistant. The leaves and fruit are used as fodder for farm animals even today in farms on the outskirts of our city. Abroad, it is known as Camachile fruit. In the west it is dried and sold as a snack. It's more commonly available in the markets of Mexico and the Philippines. The seeds are also used to make jewellery by craftspersons of that area, much like we do here with tamarind seeds.
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Having enjoyed eating it so much as a child, I am keen to find out if that tree still stands in the school and if students still eat its fruit. The reminder of yet another local summer produce has added one more healthy dish to my list of seasonal foods. I couldn't be happier.
Read more about food on Shanthini’s website www.pinklemontreerecipes.com