Shall I talk of sweet things today for a change? I like sweets very much. I call these as memories since I have turned a diabetic about 20 years ago. I therefore call my love for sweets a "sweet memory."
My first job was as a medical rep in a Swiss Pharma Company called CIBA. I was sent to Guntur for my first posting in May 1972. As I was a bachelor, I was staying alone. It meant that I completely depended on hotels, restaurants and various eating places. I was thus exposed to varieties of foods. It gave me freedom to be indulgent in satiating my taste buds in many different ways. Guntur offered varieties of eating places and I frequented 2 places whenever I wanted to sweeten my mouth. Balaram Hotel, a north indian run joint, serving north-indian sweets, puri-kurma, chapathi and tea in the evening hours generally for the movie goers as it was next to a twin cinema hall complex (Ranga Mahal and Sesh Mahal) Layered pheni was my favourite item there. Run like a telangana style joint, it was the only place serving a telangana dish like pheni. It is a delicacy predominantly served in Karnataka and Maharashtra. It is also famous in parts of Telangana state. It is also known by the name chiroti in Karnataka. When a telugu guy were to ask "when are you going to offer Dal Rice (pappu annam)? he actually wants to know when you plan to get married. If a kannadiga were to ask the same question, he would ask "when can I expect Chiroti?" (తెలుగువాళ్ళు పెళ్ళెప్పుడు అనేబదులు పప్పన్నం ఎప్పుడు పెడతావు అన్నట్టు కన్నడిగులు చిరోటి ఎప్పుడు పెడతావు అంటారు.) It is served as a dessert on special occasions such as a festival or a wedding. It is served with badam milk and powdered sugar. Eaten as a semi solid mix of these together, pheni is very tasty.
Just next to Balaram Hotel, in a push cart, a rajasthani sweet maker used to sell rabdi-malpua. Very tasty dish it is. The best ever I have tasted anywhere. It is a milk based sweet. Malpua is a traditional north indian sweet. Soft, fluffy and yet crisp pancake coated with sugar syrup and served with rabri or thickened & sweetened milk. The inner texture is fluffy and the outside edges are crisp. Ghee is traditionally used for frying malpua and they are also deep fried.
Rabdi is a sweet, condensed-milk-based dish, originating from the indian subcontinent, made by boiling milk on low flame for a long time until it becomes thick and changes its colour to off-white or pale yellow. Jaggery, spices, and nuts are added to it to give it a distinct flavor. It is chilled and served as a dessert. Pour some rabri on top of malpua, garnish with the chopped almonds, pistachios and crushed saffron. Chilled rabdi is served independently as a dessert. It also is served with malpua as a malpua-rabdi combo but is served hot.
Of all the sweets I tasted, Ongole Allurayya mysore pak has a special place. In my opinion, there is nothing better than this on this planet. Mysore pak lovers vouch for Allurayya mysore pak and say that once you taste it, you will never find an equally delicious match anywhere else. I first tasted it in 1972. As a part of my job, I used to camp in Ongole for 10 days in a month. The shop was located in a small room on trunk road. It has no branches anywhere else.
Mysore pak was prepared at the owner's house. Thus prepared, mysore pak was brought to the shop in large trays between 11am -12pm. The trays were kept under a fan for cooling in the shop. Customers already would be waiting to buy, get it packed and take away mysore pak. In those days there were no designer cardboard boxes like now. Mysore pak was carefully wrapped in a thin dry leaf & newspaper. Made with pure ghee, this mysore pak is very soft and sliced into thin blocks. The block when put into mouth, will melt without any need for biting. The whole quantity prepared would be sold in 2-3 hours. One of the strongest reasons for it to become so famous was the "word of mouth publicity" At one time the answer to a question like "what is Ongole famous for?" used to be "Ongole Bull". But now Allurayya mysore pak is the most obvious answer.
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