From Vadai to Parotta

 As I mentioned in my blog, I’m taking my sweet readers along with me to my hometown through my blogs. Day 2 of this travel. 🩷

So My day began with uluntha vadai. One thing that I miss in Chennai is uluntha vadai. The size, consistency, rate, and taste — everything here is just perfect. Even if you go to a very small shop with low maintenance, the taste still feels like home.

So after having a sip of hot water (as I easily get a cold due to change of water), I first gargled with salt water. Then, as usual, another sip of hot water. Then came the day beginner — vadai. Only when I come here, I have two vadas, and they always offer sambar and katti chutney. No matter how many vadas we get, we get this.

Guess what for breakfast? Uluntha kali. After so long, I got to eat this — that too specially made by my grandma for me. So it was extra special. It is very healthy, especially for women and children. It helps with menstrual issues and is excellent for strengthening bones and the spine. They add urad dal, rice, karupatti, and sesame oil. This oil is the actual highlight, as it adds so much taste.

My stomach said breakfast is over, but aachi said no. Then we had special dosas and tomato chutney. Just by using a little oil, every dosa she makes becomes special. If she had kept a hotel with my mom as co-partner, they would’ve built 10 A2B hotels 😅.

For the afternoon, she asked whether I wanted biryani. But as I’ve shared in my earlier blog, I like biryani but I’m not really a great fan of it. So I asked her to make chicken curry and rasam rice. It’s a deadly combo, I would say. Mom helped her, and it was a dish made by two best chefs 🥺.

Completing lunch with a glass of rasam is what my heart and stomach wanted.

Then we were waiting for the bus, and I saw a tamarind tree near the stop. It was so near to me that if I just stretched my hand straight, I could easily get it. I plucked a piece, and while doing it, a pinch of it spread on my hands. Licking that — omg, the pure taste of it freshly taken!

For dinner, we went to a bajji shop where samosa, bajji, vada, and their trademark paruthi paal are famous. It’s near Senbagavalli Amman Temple. That place holds so many memories. So whenever I visit my hometown, I make sure to go there and have something to relive those beautiful tastes, still the same delicious snacks. Unfortunately, the shop was closed 😭. It’s okay — just by seeing the shop, the stomach was half full.

So we went to our ever-favourite hotel. It’s not only favourite for its taste, but for how it was introduced to us. My thatha, since I knew to eat parotta, took me there every time. Every server is a friend of my thatha, so whenever we go, there’s a special welcome for us. They used to make sure the parotta was taken directly from the hot kallu, straight onto the vazhai ilai. My thatha used to tear the parotta into small pieces, and the server thatha would pour hot salna on top. A few bone pieces would be floating in it — whoever gets those is the luckiest 😃. So this hotel holds that much connection.

We ordered 2 parottas and 1 half boil. Anyone who loves half boil should try it once here in their lifetime, especially their handmade pepper — it makes it special. Though the taste isn’t as best as before, still, with those bundles of memories, it becomes special and makes us go again and again 🥹.

With a glass of milk with elakai, the day ended.