Chewing Betel Leaves (Vettala Paaku Sunambu)

I mentioned the betel leaf (Piper belte or Paan in Hindi) and nut (together known as Vettilai Paaku in Tamil) in my first. The betel nut is actually the seed of the graceful Areca palm.

My first glimpse of the betel leaf has been the creeper of leaves snaking one of the coconut palms in my grandfather's backyard. Usually, someone would ask to pick a few slightly young leaves. The nuts looked like little coconuts in their skins and and allowed to soften in a pot of water. When needed, a nut was taken out for use and its fibrous cover would be peeled off. The nut looked like a small pinkish brown egg with striations. My grandfather used a little knife to make shavings from the nut. I liked doing that too, it was fun watching the soft flakes falling with each shave of the knife. Then he would take a couple of betel leaves and on the side of the leaf with the vein showing, he would smear a pinch of lime (Chuna in Hindi).

Paan or Vettrilai (also spelt as Vethalai or Vettilai) is mostly grown in Kerala and West Bengal in India and in other parts of Asia (Sri Lanka, Fiji).

Vettrilai Paaku (betel leaf and nut) is a combo and is considered both auspicious and healthful (a digestive, breath freshner, etc). For South Indians, giving vettrilai and paaku with manjal (turmeric) and kunkumam (sindoor - red powder) to a woman is considered auspicious. When invited to someone's home, the host either gives it to his guests as if to crown a good meal/feast or along with a fruit at the end of your visit. In fact, after seriously! enjoying the meal, the guests partake of the betel leaves along with pieces of crushed betel nuts and a dash of lime (chuna or sunnambu), chewing and chatting. A woman or a man with lips reddened by the juice of the betel leaves are considered sexy (watch the videos).

Now there is an unromantic side to this. You may come across people with betel stained teeth (not very pretty) which is attributed to chewing betel leaf. However, the culprit is actulally Katha, an extract used to coat the areca betel nut. Poor oral hygiene causes teeth to be stained. Also those who chew betel leaves with tobacco are often addicted to it, so their teeth always look stained. Chewing of tobacco with the betel leaf is often not considered harmful or similar to smoking cigarettes. The betel nut is a mildly euphoric stimulant. Both betel nut and leaf have some healing properties.

Colloqially in Tamil
Unna vethala paku vachu kupatanama? is a commonly used phrase to say "do you need an invitation to visit (come to the table for lunch/dinner)?". Another phrase with variations is "avan vai enna chumma vethala paaku poduma? meaning "Is he going to chew paan while something is happening that needs him to act?"

Songs about the Betel Leaf
Vethala Pakku Sunnambu from the film Neelamalai Thirudan made in 1957 (Tamil)
Vethala potta shokkula from the film Amaran made in 1992 (Tamil)
Paaku Vethala Potain Pora'la from the film My Dear Marthandan (Tamil)
Paan Khaye Saiyan Hamarey from the film Teesri Kasam made in 1966 (Hindi)
Khaike Paan Banaras Wala from the film Don (Hindi)
Kurte ki baaiyan ko oopar chadhaike / masti mein rehte hain panwa chabaike (Hindi)

Recipe for Paan or Betel Leaf (with or without Tobacco i.e. Thambakku or Pugha Elai (smoking leaf)
Make Saada (plain) or Meeta (Sweet) Paan by Muchhad

An Ode to the Muruku (Muruku than enaku pidicha Noruku)

In the last post, I referred to Muruku/s (also spelt Murukku/s. So here I am singing its praises.

Murukus - twisted ivory ropes, like a long braid coiled up, crunchy & crisp yet melting in the mouth - aha... to be so lucky as to have savoured this savory from the southern part of India. This is also called the Kai Muruku and is the authentic one. Kai meaning "hand" and Muruku meaning "Rope". "Muruku" in verb form means to tighten.

The muruku is made of rice powder with a small quantity of the urad dal or skinned black gram (lentil) and a bit of spice. The Muruku's cousins are the more common Mullu Muruku (or Thorny Rope)called Chakli or Chakri in the Northern part of India and the Thenguzhal (smooth Tubular coils) - both are made with small hand devices and are easier to make. Today, there are devices even to make the "Kai Muruku", but these machine made ones end up being hard (or kadak as they say in Hindi) rathen than being crunchy.

Here is a little poem I found about Muruku in Tamil, most probably a nursery rhyme..
Mazhai varudhu, mazhai varudhu nellu allunga,
Mukka padi arisi pottu Muruku sudunga,
Nellu allina mama'nukku Muruku kodunga,
Summa irrundha mama'nukku Soodu vai'nga...

I have translated it for those of you who do not speak Tamil.
Rain is coming, rain is coming, quickly pick the grains
Take 3/4 measure of rice and fry murukus
Reward your uncle who picked the grains with Murukus
and the one who did nothing, give him the hot spatula

{In earlier times, mothers would often discpline their kids by saying if you do mischief, I am going to punish you with a "soodu" - a touch of the hot, usually, steel spatula, she was using while cooking.}

My earliest association of the Muruku is with weddings. A wedding is not complete without a Seeru ( i.e. a variety of sweets and savories). One of the main items is the Muruku. It was decided between the bride and bridegrooms families on the number and even size of the murukus (the number of circles).

I remmember one time going with my grandmother (during a visit to Kolazhi, Trichur in Kerala), to her friend's home where there was going to be a wedding. My grandmother and some ladies made Murukus, the diameter must have been about 1.5 ft with star like patterns in it. It is called the Kalayana Muruku or the Wedding Muruku. My own mother learned to make the more humble ones (still by no means a mean skill) by practising on wheat flour. I loved to eat both the half-cooked Murukus that my mother mistakenly allowed us to taste. Once she did that, she had to always keep a few unfried ones for us. The well-fried and crunchy ones were no less yummy.

Talking of Murukus bring back many memories. My grandparents had a small pestle in which they would pound their betel leaves and nuts with a hint of lime (chuna or chunambu) to eat after their meal, like a digestive. Now, while the betel nut is not considered healthy these days, the leaf itself is good for health. In south India, it is an old practice to encourage pregnant women to eat betel leaves after lunch or dinner. As kids, we would be given the tiny stalk of the leaf. And if we liked it, the leaf with a dash of the lime. As kids, what we liked about eating betel leaves, was it made our tounges red. We did not care for the nut which one has to chew and spit out. I will write another post about the betel leaves and how it is eaten.

Getting back to Murukus and my grandparents, when we children were around, we would love to pound the betel nuts and leaves together for our grandparents who would find it easier to chew. It was the same with the Murukus. Since it was hard for them to chew, we would pound it in the pestle, so they could enjoy the Murukus.

Recipes for Kai Muruku

Related blog/site

Menu Today

Where and who makes Kai Murukus in USA

Learning to Give

One of the many simple lessons my mother taught us was about sharing (food, our home, friends, fortune with others -- whether less or more fortunate than us). As a child, I would not always understand why I had to give something or share anything that was given to me with someone else.

Amma (what a wonderful sound it is) would tell us that if we gave up something we liked (even if it was only sharing a part), we would receive something from another source. And God would make it happen, and it would happen when we least expected it. It was a prediction I learned to believe in. It made it easier for me to give up my favorite Murukku¹ to the unexpected visitor and to wait for a gift that could be even better than what I had given up. As a teen and young adult, I became more analytical, I would do it with a little rebellion. Many questions would come up in my mind.

Still, my mother's teaching and her own constant practice of sharing and giving, made this a habit for me. Today, I realize, Amma was teaching me a deeper lesson - to just give, to just share. I realize, that as a child, I needed the promise of the "gift from an unexpected source" to keep me on the path.

Footnote
1 Murukku is a crunchy savoury from South India, made of rice flour, twisted by hand to look like coiled ropes, and deep fried, Not very easy to make, but my mother learned to make them for us. More on murukkus in a later post!