Today I was quite surprised when I looked at the menu of Hotel Karthika Park in my regular food delivery app… There were a couple of new entires and among them was the Pothichoru… My regular readers here would know how much of a sucker I am for Pothichoru and that I simply can’t resist the temptation to try when a new one is seen to be available… So, I couldn’t wait to to try the same as it is the first time this hotel is seen to be doing this and having enjoyed their food before, placed the order along with a few other regular menu items for my parents and here we are 🙂
There are two versions of the Pothichoru in the menu namely, the Veg version and the Fish version… Being a fan of seafood, I went for the Fish version and as per the menu, it consists of Chemba Rice, Fish Curry, Fish Fry, Masala Omelette, Aviyal, Thoran, Sambar, Parippu Curry, Rasam, Pachamoru, Chammanthi, Achar and Pappadom… The pic above shows how the Pothichoru arrived and the pic below shows the same after unpacking… You won’t find the Pappadom in this pics here cause sadly, my parents ate it (I would’ve given them anyways since I don’t prefer having it) by the time I was unpacking the rest… 🙂
So, what arrived as can be seen from the pics is the slightly charred Banana Leaf wrapped Pothi or parcel consisting of the Chemba Rice, Fish Fry made using Mackerel, Masala Omelette, Chammanthy, Aviyal, Mango Achar, Payar Thoran and one thing not mentioned in the menu which is the Kappa… Along with this Pothi, as mentioned in the menu were pretty much a cup each of Rasam, Sambar, Parippu Curry. Fish Curry made using Cobia and the Pachamoru…
Coming to the taste, lets first talk about the contents of the Pothi… First of all, the Masala Omelette was exactly like how I got last time, which was again just a fluffy Omelette that appeared to have been made using Egg, Onion, Tomato, Green Chillies and a little bit of Ginger like how we get in most restaurants in Kerala… The Rice felt to have been cooked perfectly and seemed to have been infused with the fragrance of the Banana Leaf and the Chammanthy felt like the typical Coconut dry chutney made with Coconut, Red Chillies, Shallots, Ginger and Tamarind but seasoned perfectly with the flavours well balanced… As for the Kappa, it felt just like any other that appeared to have been made using Cassava, Turmeric, Coconut, Mustard Seeds and Curry Leaves with a little bit of Cumin in it as well… The Payar Thoran that felt like it was made with Green Long Beans, Coconut, Shallots and Mustard Seeds felt perfectly seasoned and had the fragrance of Coconut Oil as well and the Mango Achar felt like the medium spicy version that we call as the Maanga Curry that we usually see served in a typical Sadya… Again, the sourness from the Mango felt to have been perfectly balanced with the spiciness from the Chilly Powder and just salty enough to bind the two together… Lastly the Fish Fry which was clearly made using a piece of Mackerel tail appeared to have been made with the typical Kerala style basic spices ie, Chilly Powder, Turmeric, Pepper Powder and Lemon Juice… It felt to have been seasoned just right where the flavour of the fish was very much visible and the spices just complementing the dish without overpowering the Fish in any way…
Next lets talk about the contents of those pouches that came with the Pothi… These consisted of the Rasam, Sambar, Parippu Curry, Fish Curry and Pachamoru… The Rasam felt to be slightly spicy and sour with the Tom Yum kind of flavours of Tomatoes, Garlic and Chillies but along with what makes it Keralite, which is Mustard Seeds Curry Leaves and Coconut Oil with a little hint of Pepper as well… I personally like to have this kind of Rasam as a starter soup rather than how people usually have it which is by mixing it with the Rice… The Sambar was again exactly like how it was before and felt incredibly flavourful with the Spices and the vegetables used and also felt seasoned just right for my taste… Coming to the Parippu Curry, this was clearly the typical Travancore style Pacha Parippu which is a curry made with Cherupayar Parippu or Split Green gram and is typically made using Coconut, Turmeric Powder, Cumin, Mustard Seeds, Curry Leaves and Coconut Oil and seasoned with Salt… It my favourite curry to mix the rice with and this Parippu Curry felt perfectly made for me… As for the Fish Curry, as I said before, it appeared to have been made using Cobia Fish and appeared to have been the version of Keralite Fish Curry made using a spicy Ground Coconut based gravy made using Coconut, Moringa (Drumsticks), Shallots, Ginger, Garlic, Chilles, Mustard Seeds and then typically spiced with Turmeric, Chilly Powder, Fenugreek Powder, Pepper Powder and then the famous Kudampuli (Malabar Pot Tamarind) as the sour component… The Curry looked like they reduced it well when cooking(like how we see in the case of the Meen Vattichathu recipes) resulting in the gravy being quite thick and flavours being quite intense but yet well balanced… So safe to say that both me and my dad simply loved it… Lastly, the Pachamoru was pretty much Buttermilk that felt to have been spiced up with quite a lot of Ginger and seasoned with Salt… Felt great as a palette cleanser if you ask me 🙂
So, thats it… That was the Fish version of the new Pothichoru that Hotel Karthika Park has started doing… To be frank, I felt this to be the best as in most flavourful and perfectly seasoned Pothichoru option that I have had in my area and definitely one of the best that I have ever had… So, I for one am hoping that they continue doing this and never stop as I am sure I will be ordering for it again very soon… 🙂
