For authentic south Indian food and snacks, visit Sweet Karam Coffee

Rajkumari Sharma Tankha

I am a pure Punjabi, born and bred across the country, thanks to my dad who belonged to the Indian Army, and that’s how I have tasted cuisines of different states. You must wonder that despite being Punjabi, Chhola Bhatura and Rajma Chawal do not fall under my ‘most-loved’ category. South Indian food is something always look for – be it snacks, sweets or vegetable dishes. Idli and Daal Vada are my favourites. Mind you, I love authentic preparations, mix & matches are huge turn-off for me.

So, when a friend spoke about – Sweet Karam Coffee (SKC), which also sells online – that sells authentic southie  homemade food, I was beside myself with happiness. After all, how long can you toil in the kitchen going through the long-drawn South Indian preparations?

On my first visit to the website, I ordered quite a number of products, and I must say I was not disappointed with any, except for the dry fruit laddoos that had too much of dry fruit in them for my taste.

The delivery was well within the time, and each item was packaged neatly, and the name of the product and its ingredients were prominently printed on each.

Among the snacks were Kai Murukku, Mullu Murukku, Thenkuzhai (a savoury snack made from rice and urad dal) – each with apt amount of crispness and softness. These were surely far better in taste, quality and freshness when compared to the ones we get from our local market. In fact, these tasted almost like what my friend’s mom used to make for me.

My family is a huge fan of the chili gun powder chutney, and SKC’s Milagai Podi is good enough, and again better than what I make at home.

The Navadhanya Aday mix, the nine grains protein dosa mix, was not much liked by me or my family, since we prefer the basic urad dal-rice dosa that we have been eating since childhood. But the very fact that healthier options are available is a heartening thing. May be a few more times of eating will help us develop a taste for it.

SKC also has a number of other products – the list keeps increasing after every few days in different specifications like vegan, gluten-free, traditional classic sweets & snacks, white-sugar free sweets, sundried papads, vinegar-free pickles, organic groceries, pickles, ground masalas etc – you name it, they have it.

One downside is that the products are a bit costly (200 gm Thenkuzhai for Rs 160 seems a bit high – other items have similar rates as well), but I am sure I am going to be their repeat customer!