MANGALURU: Coastal Karnataka is known for many endemic vegetables, flowers and fruits. Matti Gulla, Shankarapura Mallige and and Bhatkal Mallige are widely recognised, but a special variety of chilli has remained a chef’s secret.
The Harekala Menasu, which gives the fish and chicken dishes of the coast their colour and taste, has now caught the attention of Geographical Indication tag activists. It is grown only here, and what is more, is Grade 1 organic.
Harekala Menasu grows on the monsoon mud deposited on the banks of the river Netravati. The taste of Harekala Menasu is known to cooks. The thovve (tur dal broth) popular in this region, especially among Brahmins, gains its taste from this chilli. The powder adds aroma to the everyday huli (sambar) and saaru (rasam).
Harekala Menasu is short, roundish, and resembles the hot Pimentos of South America. It is not long like the Byadagi and Kumta chillies of Karnataka. It does not shrink when it is dried in the sun.
It retains its size and shape and gives out a pungent fume in the drying season. Farmers are careful during drying, and walk gingerly around in the fields.
Farmer Kishore Saphaliga says it is grown without fertiliser. The river bank plays a big role in the cultivation. The Harekala area is like an island, near an estuary, and the mud that flows in when it rains provides fertile ground for the chilli.
“We don’t need any manure as the land is fertile with nutrients gifted by nature,” he says. The taste is superior because it is grown organically. Harekala Menasu was known only to people in Harekala and Pavoor in Mangaluru taluk. It was taken elsewhere by cooks specialising in non-vegetarian cuisine.
Harish Shenoy, agronomy scientist, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, says Harekala Menasu is unique among the chillies of India. Its deserves a Geographical Indication (GI) tag, he asserts.
Farmer Krishna says the price this summer was `280 to `300 a kilo. “Sometimes it goes up to `350. Hotels, cottage industries making pickle, and non-vegetarians prefer this chilli,” he says. Shivashankar, who trades in Harekala Menasu, takes his stocks from Mangaluru to Mysuru, where non-vegetarian hotels are his customers. A cook at Meena Hotel, Balmatta, Mangaluru, says the chicken dish Pulimunchi tastes great with the chilli.