Imagine raw, shredded beetroot and carrot crossing over from the bowl of salad to your plate of chaat ! This is how the 27-year-old entrepreneur Ram Karthick convinces me to try the Salem special thattu vadai . “It looks like desi sandwich or burger with layers of healthy vegetables inside and tastes like North Indian chaat ,” he says.
The thattu vadai , made with rice and urad dal flour, make for tiny delectable bites. Between two papdi- like discs smeared with red (tomato and red chillies) and green (mint and green chillies) chutneys, is sandwiched shredded carrot and beetroot in two colourful layers and sprinkled with some piquant masala powders. The crunchy bites make for a perfect evening snack.
Of late, there has been a spurt of pushcarts and kiosks in the city selling the thattu vadai and other South Indian savouries like the pori, mururkku and norukkal that a lot of people prefer over the North Indian chaat items like the bhelpuri, sev puri and papdi chaat.
Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 17/04/2019: For Metroplus: New spicy treats with South Indian savouries at Kaethal in Madurai. Photo: R. Ashok / The Hindu
Among them, Karthick’s neat 60 square foot shop at Milaném Mall, charmingly named Kaethal (the Kettle), is attracting crowds. He cites simple reasons. His mother makes the red and green chutney fresh at home every day and also adds her ‘secret’ ingredients into the different powdered masalas. They lend a unique taste. He builds on the basic recipe. He neatly stuffs vegetables between two crisp thattu vadais and offers them in tower sizes too by adding layers of onion, tomato, garlic, mango, sweet gulkand, cucumber or cheese, depending on the customer’s choice.
Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 17/04/2019: For Metroplus: New spicy treats with South Indian savouries at Kaethal in Madurai. Photo: R. Ashok / The Hindu
The menu also includes spicy chaat versions with puffed rice and murukku and traditional sweets like the kadala mittai, then mittai, kamarkat and green gram laddu. All these go perfectly well with a steaming cup of Kumbakonam coffee or ginger tea served in earthen cups. Kaethal is open from 4 pm to 10 pm every day. The positioning of the kiosk on the paved path at the entrance of the mall also works as a nice sit out with some plastic stools thrown in. The Biotechnology graduate shares that he always wanted to start his own enterprise and that he has invested ₹50,00,00 in to this venture. In less than three months, he is close to breaking even.
He’s happy that a lot of people have taken to his offering, and adds that footfalls double on weekends. Karthick presents the thattu vadai in small palm leaf trays and customers young to old are lapping up the perfect amalgamation of textures, colours and flavours from hot, sour, sweet and spicy to crispy and soft.
There are also healthy combos of fruits and vegetables packed between two murukkus to try. The norukkals, which are basically mashed murukku and thattai mixed with chutneys, onion, tomato, garlic, mango, cornflakes and groundnuts, are good too. The same ingredients go into the pori mix too, called the Garam Varieties. Every item tastes different and feels light to eat.
At Kaethal’s, prices range from ₹10 to ₹60.
