Deepavali Marundhu

As most of the world probably knows, Deepavali is a high-calorific festival (well, most Indian festivals are). Deepavali is extra special because until a couple of decades back it involved making buckets (literally) upon buckets of sweets and savories. So understandably, our stomach, which is not used to such a pleasurable assault of sugar and fat-laden food, goes through a pretty rough time! Therefore, our great-grandmothers devised a digestive remedy that improves digestion and neutralizes some of the negative impacts of the binging. This remedy is prepared as an integral part of the deepavali celebrations, and is handed out all through the week. “Marundhu” literally means medicine in Tamil. It involves a lot of exotic spices and ingredients which are mostly found only in India. They are extensively used in Ayurvedic medicines. These days, stores sell the medicinal powder spice-mix, making our lives infinitely more easier. Yet, just as a principle, I’m recording the entire procedure and ingredient list. 

My wonderful in-laws, who actively support and participate in much of this blog's activities (although from the background), took the effort to buy all these specialized ingredients in order to present a nice photograph here, so that readers get a visual representation of the rare spices! I'm touched by their gesture and enthusiasm, not to mention the lovely presentation! Thanks a lot to my father-in-law for patiently buying and labeling everything so neatly!

 

Ingredients

1. Omam (dried oregano) - 150 gms
2. Black pepper corns - 50 gms
3. Jeeragam (Cumin seeds) - 50 gms
4. Sukku (dried ginger) - a small quantity - maybe a couple of pieces
5. Sitharathai (I have no idea what the English term for this is, or if even one exists) - a little bit
6. Arisi-thippili (Again, no clue what it is in English) - a little bit
7. Kanda-thippili (Same as above) - a little bit - a couple of pieces.
8. Honey - 1-2 tablespoons
9. Jaggery - Depends on the amount of medicinal powder used (the ratio is usually 1:1)
10. Ghee - 4-5 teaspoons

Preparation

1. All of the spices (1-7 in the ingredient list) are dried in the sun for a day or two (around 12-16 hours)
2. The dried spices are then pounded and ground into a fine powder. The powder is further sifted to make it fine and smooth.
3. As I said, these days, we go to the store and buy this prepared medicinal powder. Assume we are using just 1 cup of this powder. (1 cup of powder results in almost 2 cups of medicine. It is substantial for two people for 10-15 days, with the assumption that one doesn’t consume more than a spoon of it everyday).
4. Dissolve 1 cup of this powder in 1.25 cups of water. Stir finely till there are no lumps. The consistency should be that of a thinned gravy.
5. Heat this on low-medium heat for 10 minutes.
6. Stir 1 cup (or slightly more) of powdered jaggery/brown sugar into this mixture. Keep stirring till the jaggery dissolves.
7. Continue heating this on low-medium heat for about 30-35 minutes or so until the mixture starts getting thick. Keep adding a few teaspoons of ghee and stir as the mixture heats, so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. The consistency of the cooled medicine should be anywhere between a jam and a slightly melted chocolate truffle. And remember, the medicine will harden/thicken as it cools. So remove from heat once it starts to thicken. To test, take a bit of it and cool. If you can roll it into a ball with your fingers, it is done. But if you prefer to have it like a jam, you can remove it a little sooner from the heat. Mine is of the latter consistency.
8. Add a tablespoon or two of honey at the very end, after removing from heat. Mix well. Let it cool. Then transfer to a clean, dry container. This medicine can remain at room temperature for a day. Place it in a refrigerator afterward.

You may wonder why a medicine should contain ghee, sugar and honey! Good question. If you try having this concoction without any honey or sugar, you will shoot to the moon, for the spices are incredibly hot! Of course, they are hot in a good way - pepper, oregano, and ginger are extremely good forms of heat. So, you do need the ghee and jaggery and honey to tone it down a bit. Honey is known to be a good anti-bacterial agent as well, and it is known to heal wounds (such as abused stomach lining!). But, the theory is that the spices override the sugar and the fat. Plus, only a couple or so teaspoons are recommended per day. Else, you would need another set of medicines to counteract the effects of this one!