Malabar snacks on Iftaar table

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ramzan has brought a  new wave of Malabar aroma in and around Poonthura with stalls offering delicious snacks of Kozhikode attracting people in a big way. The snacks at these stalls include lip smacking vegetable samosa, chicken samosa, vada, egg puffs, chicken puffs, meat roll, mutta surka, pazham pori, kinnathappam, erachi pathiri and Killikoodu. Dates of different varieties have also been kept ready for buyers to break their fast.

Salman-Ul-Faris, a vendor at Kabeer Bakery, near Poonthura Puthunpally Juma Masjid said: “People here just love  Kozhikodan snacks with tea and coffee after the long fast. Buying fruits daily is unaffordable for many. Moreover, they have to buy new dresses for their family for Ramzan and school reopening is just around the corner. Most of them are picking up snacks instead of fruits.”

He claimed that all snacks were homemade. “We are using clean spatulas to serve snacks and giving priority to cleanliness,” he added. The prices of these snacks are quite reasonable starting from Rs 7. On the other hand, rates of chicken snacks like erachi pathiri (now Rs 20), chicken samosa (now Rs 12) have been increased by Rs 3 to Rs 5 in most stalls. This is because of the soaring price of chicken which is being sold at Rs 130 per kg. Nipah virus has also become a reason for more people turning towards snacks with reports coming out that fruit eating bats have been found to be one of the hosts of the deadly virus.