By Rajaram Ramachandran
Shabdaavali: Bhoichane (n): Ground Nut (English), Nilakkadalai (Tamil), Mungfali (phalli) (Hindi). Bhoi in DM means ground or earth. Since this item grows under the ground it is called Bhoichane. This is a favourite item with many people for just munching. It is also used in cooking, for instance in Pitla, etc. lightly fried ground nuts are mixed to give additional taste. It is common belief that any item that is grown under the ground is not that very good for health. Now if one starts consuming good variety of roasted groundnut, the urge to consume more and more would be there. This is not good. Consuming a small quantity along with a piece of jaggery should be okay. But water should not be taken at least for half-an-hour after taking ground nuts. This of course applies to many dishes like Chapathi, Biscuits, savouries made out of flour - be it of rice or wheat. If water is taken immediately after consuming the above items, the digestive system would not work for some time resulting in uneasy feeling. In the North during winter season people would consume groundnut almost daily. And imagine people travlling in buses with closed windows due to chill wintry winds and the groundnut eating people would make way for obnoxious smell in the bus. Perhaps I have already stated that when I joined P & T Department at New Delhi, most of the employees of that office were displaced persons from Pakistan due to partition and at least one was from East Pakistan now known as Bangladesh. Those from (West) Pakistan would tell that they used to keep Chilkosa (also shalgoze in Kashmiri) or Nayzay in their pockets and would consume them as they did with groundnuts. This is one of the dry fruits, an inch in length with a thin pod and the nut inside a bit shorter, very tasty with an odd one spoiling the taste as it does in groundnut as well or a bitter cucumber. I have also tasted this as it is available across the country in dry fruit shops but very costly compared to groundnuts. If groundnuts at a raw stage is boiled with a little bit of salt while boiling, the taste is super, but then ‘Alavukku adhigamaanaal Amudhamum Nanjaagum’ and we should know when to apply the break!
Shabdaavali: Bhoichane (n): Ground Nut (English), Nilakkadalai (Tamil), Mungfali (phalli) (Hindi). Bhoi in DM means ground or earth. Since this item grows under the ground it is called Bhoichane. This is a favourite item with many people for just munching. It is also used in cooking, for instance in Pitla, etc. lightly fried ground nuts are mixed to give additional taste. It is common belief that any item that is grown under the ground is not that very good for health. Now if one starts consuming good variety of roasted groundnut, the urge to consume more and more would be there. This is not good. Consuming a small quantity along with a piece of jaggery should be okay. But water should not be taken at least for half-an-hour after taking ground nuts. This of course applies to many dishes like Chapathi, Biscuits, savouries made out of flour - be it of rice or wheat. If water is taken immediately after consuming the above items, the digestive system would not work for some time resulting in uneasy feeling. In the North during winter season people would consume groundnut almost daily. And imagine people travlling in buses with closed windows due to chill wintry winds and the groundnut eating people would make way for obnoxious smell in the bus. Perhaps I have already stated that when I joined P & T Department at New Delhi, most of the employees of that office were displaced persons from Pakistan due to partition and at least one was from East Pakistan now known as Bangladesh. Those from (West) Pakistan would tell that they used to keep Chilkosa (also shalgoze in Kashmiri) or Nayzay in their pockets and would consume them as they did with groundnuts. This is one of the dry fruits, an inch in length with a thin pod and the nut inside a bit shorter, very tasty with an odd one spoiling the taste as it does in groundnut as well or a bitter cucumber. I have also tasted this as it is available across the country in dry fruit shops but very costly compared to groundnuts. If groundnuts at a raw stage is boiled with a little bit of salt while boiling, the taste is super, but then ‘Alavukku adhigamaanaal Amudhamum Nanjaagum’ and we should know when to apply the break!