Lakshadweep Laddoo

Lakshadweep Laddoo (Pic by June Carvalho)

IT was the packaging in thick brown paper, tied neatly with twine that caught my attention at the billing counter of the friendly neighbourhood supermarket.

Intrigued, I picked up two...the yellow strip around it read Lakshadweep Laddoo....now I've heard of and tasted a hundred different types of laddoos, but had never come across something called a Lakshadweep Laddoo. Lakshadweep, an island in the Arabian Sea, off the coast of Kerala conjures up images of swaying palms, beach resorts, scuba diving, fresh seafood and dry fish...least of all a sticky laddoo made from dry fruit and nuts! Tasty though.

Upon closer scrutiny of the label it was apparent that the laddoo was not in fact made in Lakshadweep (!), but in the little town of Kasargod in north Kerala, bordering Mangalore...wonder why it was called thus...marketing gimmick maybe?

Oil-free Chivada

MY pick of the day from the local store was Navratna Chivada, manufactured by Avis Foods of Belgaum. This chivada (or "mixture" as its commonly called) had rice flakes as the main ingredient with a sprinkling of groundnuts, gram dal, curry leaves and green chilli. Those mysterious green and pink thingies you see in the picture are nothing but palak sev and beetroot sev. Since the pack boldly claims that there are 'no colours added' I'll take their word for it.

I found this chivada really crispy, crunchy and tasty. And best of all, it's oil-free! A 200 gm pack costs Rs.34.


The packet carries the address, email, phone number as well as a customer care number in case of complaints, but I don't have any.

ON THE SHELF

ROYAL Falooda Mix
EVERYONE loves falooda but no one likes to make it from scratch. Most of us prefer to order ours from local ice-cream or lassi bars, usually on a day out.

And so, full credit to my dear friend Aruna for introducing me to Royal brand falooda mix. The packet contains sabja seeds, vermicelli and pink, rose-flavoured granulated sugar. It's a one-step method. You warm a litre of milk along with a glass of water, empty the contents of the pack into it and boil for 10 to 15 minutes. Cool and then chill. Serve as it is, or topped with either jelly or a scoop of vanilla ice-cream or both. Tastes as delicious as it looks. The packaging is simple. What you see is what you get!

Since I love shortcuts and anything that’s quick and easy, I’m hooked to this one. Happily enough, I also found it in my neighbourbood supermarket.

This is a product I’ll always keep handy. Serves six and at a mere Rs.50 for the 200gm pack, it won’t even make a dent in your pocket. Also available in flavours like vanilla, mango, strawberry and butterscotch, but traditional rose is the best. When you think falooda, you think pink.

SPLITZ Tamarind Concentrate
TAMARIND is the most commonly used souring agent in Indian cooking, almost on a daily basis in curries, chutneys, sambar, rasam and even in some rice dishes.

I’ve rarely bought tamarind concentrate, always preferring to use whole, cleaned tamarind by soaking it in warm water to extract its pulp or grinding it straightaway in a masala.

Shop shelves stock many brands of tamarind concentrate, but Splitz is one that caught my eye, and one that I bought, for the first time. I guess it had something to do with the packaging. With a tiny opening (that can be closed) at the top left corner of the pouch, it’s most convenient to use. You can simply squirt the tamarind straightaway into a sambar or a rasam a little at a time and adjust the taste. True to its claim, it's cooking without mess.

The product has no added preservatives. Shelf life: 24 months. A 227gm pack costs Rs. 54.

No-Bake Oreo Cheesecake

READY-to-make, quick and easy packaged dessert mixes come in handy when you want to take the easy way out. Predictably, they won’t stand up in taste, richness or texture to the pudding or cheesecake made in the original, long-winded way, but they’ll do when you’re hard pressed for time and have hungry kids whose constant refrain is: “What’s there to eat??”

(If there’s no bread should they eat cheesecake?)

While in Abu Dhabi a couple of months ago, I was scouring the packaged food shelves in a hypermarket for anything new and interesting when I spotted the Jell-O Oreo Dessert Mix.

It’s a simple three-step mixing procedure, with clear instructions printed on the side of the carton. Inside were three sachets containing separately, the dark, rich Oreo crumbs for the base, the filling mix and some crushed Oreo cookies to fold into the creamy mix as well as for decoration. The only additional ingredients needed were butter and chilled milk.

Mixing and assembling took less time than it takes to shout "Jell-O Oreo Dessert Mix"… OK, so I’m exaggerating a wee bit, but well, it took less than seven minutes and once set, about that much time to polish if off.

I wasn’t out to impress anyone, so didn't bother to reach out for the flan tin which was hiding somewhere behind a stack of cake tins and set it in a glass dish instead. It doesn't hurt anyone to be lazy sometimes, does it?