Andipputtu- A traditional malabar cashewnut palaharam

                     Another episode of Sinusitis,and I was off from the blogosphere and everything I loved, to fight it with all my might. Alhamdulillah! Allah has cured me like always.. But during the course, I have learned a few tips to tackle it.
  One of the most effective things I found was drinking water; and plenty of it.It is more effective than any mucolyte available on earth! When the mucolytes and antibiotics didn't give any apparent comfort from the gnawing headache, I googled for what else to do. The answer was,'Drink plenty of water'.And I began filling myself with water like a water tank from dawn to dusk :)
  But it worked like wonder!
The headache began to subside slowly and I felt more at ease and energetic.
If you guys have any other tips to fight recurrent sinusitis, please let me know.. I'm all ears!!

              So what did I do when I had these attacks! I got involved in making some traditional goodies to take my mind away from the hurting head. Andipputtu is a 'palaharam' which I grew up with right from my early childhood. Those days, when it was vacation time in the summer, we kids used to go picking the cashew nuts from the trees in our ancestral orchard. We would have our fill of munching the sweet and tart cashew fruits and after that collect the cashew nuts from under the ripe fruits. We used to bring them to our granny, who after drying them in shade for a few days would eventually roast them in the firewood oven. I still remember that sweet aroma which wafts up into the air while the cashew nuts are being roasted. And we kids used to look in awe keeping a distance from the mud oven as the cashew nuts make cracking sounds from inside and a few would come flying out as it burst.

      After they get fully roasted, granny would call us to help her crack open the shells of the cashews. We would take some rounded stones and start smashing the shells with them and pick the nuts carefully from inside the cracked shells. Many of the nuts collected thus would go into our tummys there and then because they were so irresistible. The leftover nuts would be used for making 'andipputtu' which was a masterpiece in itself.
               Granny  and her helpers used to grind them with roasted rice grains, 'sharkkara' and grated coconut in an 'ural' which was the food processor of that time. I'm sure, our kids would never know what it is, if they saw one in any of the old 'tharavadus'.

             Nowadays everything is made easy with our gadgets. Not to mention the food processor. I wonder how those old ladies had so much time to do all these from scratch while we have scarcely any free time even with all our sophisticated gadgets! It was my mom who showed me how to make 'andipputtu' in a mixer grinder / food processor. It is quite easy.

            To get that authentic taste of home roasted cashews, dry roast the nuts in a cast iron wok, till they turn slightly brown and aromatic, stirring constantly on medium heat.
      Here is how you make it....

Andipputtu Recipe:

1/2 kg  cashew nuts/peanuts
1 cup parboiled rice/matta rice
2 to 3 cups freshly grated coconut
350 g light brown jaggery/according to taste

Method:

• Dry roast the nuts in a cast iron wok on medium heat, stirring constantly to ensure even roasting. Remove from heat when slightly brown and aroma comes  out. Spread on to a wide tray to cool completely.
• Melt jaggery with 1/2 a cup of water and strain it into a bowl to cool. You can increase or decrease the amount of jaggery according to how sweet you want the 'puttus'.
• Wash the rice properly and drain. Roast it in a wok stirring from time to time on medium heat until all the rice is slightly brown and puffed up (about 20 min). Remove from heat and spread on a wide tray to cool completely.
• Pulse the cashew nuts and roasted rice grains together in a food processor or mixer-grinder, until fine powder.(It is better to pulse the roasted rice first until very fine powder and then add nuts and pulse again) Transfer to a big bowl and add grated coconut.Mix well. Pulse the mixture again in the food processor for  a few seconds until everything is blended well..Transfer to the bowl again.
• Add cooled melted jaggery little by little into the mixture and mix with a fork until you can roll it to balls.
• Roll the dough into small balls of the size of lemon using both palms.Store in air tight containers. Keep well up to two weeks in the refrigerator. Enjoy!