The presence of mud pots and evergreen therali leaves around the nooks and corners of Thiruvananthapuram city around February –March season heralds the arrival of ‘Attukal Pongala’. Therali appam is always an amalgamation of flavour and fragrance.
Steaming hot in big tumblers on hot ashes of traditional kitchen-holds, the divine fragrance of this dish itself soothes our appetite. These evergreen therali leaves are of course an all-time favourite of young ladies and old women. But, for sure, our younger generation is unaware regarding the origin of these scented leaves.
A relative of cinnamon, this evergreen tree of Lauraceae family is known in science world as Cinnamomum malabatrum. The tree often dubbed as country cinnamon is vayana or therali in the local dialect. The tree, is a native of Western ghat forests, Tropical and subtropical Himalayas, U.P., Eastern Bengal, the Khasia and the Jaintia....
