Come Sankranti and the womenfolk here are busy preparing the sakinalu , the traditional crispy snack unique to the State and ubiquitous in households in the district.
The delicacy is prepared using freshly harvested rice, ajwon ( vamu ) and gingelly seeds ( nuvvulu ).
Preparation
The rice is first soaked in water for a few hours and later dried and made into flour. This is then mixed with ajwon and gingelly seeds and made into a dough. They are then moulded into various shapes, mostly circular and kept on a plain cotton cloth to dry. Following this, the dough is deep-fried in oil and served with chutney made of green chilli. Sakinalu has a long shelf-life.
Though the making of Sakinalu is a laborious process, there is lots of happiness in making traditional Sankranti snack items with the involvement of neighbours and relatives, says Srilatha, a homemaker.
This is a traditional and healthy food item, and it keeps the body warm. The use of ajwon seeds helps protect the person from cold and cough, she added.
Areselu , a mixture of rice flour and jaggery, is also prepared during these festivities. Eating areselu during this season would provide iron to a person’s diet (because of presence of jaggery) and it would also purge a person’s metabolism, says Radhika, another homemaker.
There is good news for working women as shops have come forth to sell sakinalu , areselu and appalu during the festival. In the open market, sakinalu are sold at Rs.200-Rs.240 a kilogram.
The crispy snack unique to Telangana is a delicacy every household looks forward to during Sankranti
