Fruits make simple, healthy and easy meals. You can bite into an apple or peel a banana without reaching out for a plate during travel or whilst at work. I was recently banned from taking my favorite fruit into a movie hall, Elanthai Pazham. I did not possess a durian fruit but just the humble. My addiction to this fruit has not waned since school days. I had long oily plaits when I was 12 years old and used to stand in front of corporation schools to buy this fruit. Many of my classmates suggested that I become the brand ambassador for this South Indian cherry and I was constantly bullied. The poor vendors were always shooed away from private upscale schools that reckoned selling these common fruits in close proximity would extensively damage their brand value. Common, this is racial discrimination! Strawberry, cranberry, blue berry, kiwi, star fruit, and black currant apparently fall into this elite club. Orange, apple, grapes, banana and pineapple are middle class and the poorest of the poor is my Elanthai Pazham. Just the sight of these red, glistening jujubes makes my mouth water. Choosing the fruit comes with practice and I’m quite an expert. The round, semi firm ones in a dark red color without any dents are always perfect. Dark brown ones can be bitter, whereas the over- ripe ones are very sour .
Occasionally these fruits have tiny worms (I must have eaten 1000 in all these years!) and this can be easily be detected by the tiny pores on the surface. Once you buy these fruits I suggest that you wash them with warm water ( I have never washed and always gorge at once) and strain before you sprinkle a generous amount of salt and chilli powder. Make sure you toss them a couple of times so that the seasoning is evenly coated. The taste is a rare combination of sweet-sour and will leave your teeth squeaky clean. The fruit has only a two day shelf life, so it would be best to dry them for a couple of hours in hot sun, discard the seeds and grind it along with tamarind, drychilli and rock salt to make a coarse paste. Make tiny vadas out of this, dry them for a day and store in air tight containers. They will last one month, and if refrigerated, for about three months. The fruit alleviates insomnia and stomach ulcers besides soothing the throat.
Avg cost for two: Rs 10/-