Monday, February 9, 2009

Tambul

Formerly in the Indian Subcontinent, it was a custom to chew Supari (Areca nut) and Paan (betel leaf) from rich to poor people. Kings had special attendants carrying a box (call Paandaan) with the ingredients for a good chewing session. The skilled paan maker is known in India as a paanwala. Many people believe that their paanwala is the best, considering it an art that takes practice and expert touch. Paan is chewed as a palate cleanser and a breath freshener.

It is interesting to note that paan made it into Bollywood .
In the Bollywood movie, "Don" starring Amitabh Bachchan there is a song about paan.
"Khaike Paan Banaraswala khul jaye band akal ka tala….."
And from Movie, "Tisari Kasam"
"Pan khaye Sainyya hamaro sawli surtiya hoth lal lal…."

Generally, eating paan after heavy meal of any festival is a part of a tradition. In our house , my Hema Kaku (my aunty) makes very good paan for everybody. I will definitely post her paan's procedure one day.
It is very time consuming and you have to eat this paan on the same day. So to overcome this and at the same time to enjoy taste of Paan, our elders converted this paan's ingredients into powder form which is called as "Tambul". Tambul has good digesting properties. For "Renuka Devi" of Mahur (Maharashtra), Tambul is the main prasad.


Ingredients
Paan (betel leaf) - 50 leaves
Kattha - 5 gms
Chuna - 5 gms
Gulkand - 3 tablespoon
White Supari - 10
Badishep/ Souf - 100 gms.
Jaypatri/ Javitri / Mace spice - 5 gms
Grated Dry Coconut - 1 cup
Cardamom - 10-12
Cloves - 10-12
Saffron - 5 gms.

Procedure
Wash & dry betel leaves. Remove stem of each leaf. Apply chuna to each paan a little bit. Cut the leaves in small pieces. Then cut the supari in small pieces. Now roast Badishep, jaypatri, Grated Dry Coconut, Cardamom and Cloves Separately for about 1 minute. Then mix all the above ingredients except Gulkand. Now grind it in the Mixer to a thin powder. Put the mixture in a dish and add gulkand to it. Mix neatly. Allow it to dry in shadow for 1 to 2 hours. You can store it for 1 month in a fridge. I think you should definitely try this.

5 comments:

Sunshinemom said...

I buy this from a lady who makes it at home nearby. Thanks for the recipe. Makes a great digestive.

Sapna said...

Hi, you haven't mentioned when to use kathha, i suppose it should be applied to paan along with chuna, thinking of making this so please let me know, thanks.

Anonymous said...

Hay how pan can be dried it will be paste instead of powder can you please explain?

Khaugiri said...

Hi,
we have to just wipe water from pan and not completely drying it. Because of other ingredients it will not turn into a paste. Grind it coarsely.

Unknown said...

thanks for sharing it..

Paan Wala in India

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