Kattan Kapi

Kattan Kapi is one of the few items that doesn't get the recognition it deserves. There are a lot of ways to make this, it is black coffee with sugar. There are lot of variations to it, few add jaggary, few add karipetti (I'm sorry folks don't know what it is called in English), few add ghee, but the basic is just the same. Coffee powder, water and sweetener.

At my dad's house, the first thing that they made in the morning was a huge pot of kattan with no sugar. It was then poured into a thermos. Who ever woke up would come to kitchen, take a cup, put some sugar and then pour the hot kattan from the thermos into the cup. Then he/she would sit on the ari petti (it is a box found in old homes where things like rice were stored) and drink this hot kattan. If ari petti was already taken, then the person would sit on the katala (door frame). Be it grandkids, daughter in laws of the house, sons of the house, daughters of the house, son in laws of the house - every single person followed the exact same thing. When the thermos would get empty, more kattan would be made. Last thing that ammachi did before going to bed was empty the thermos, clean it and get it all ready for the next day.

Years have gone by the house is Kerala is locked. But even today when dad visits his house the ritual of kattan comes alive.

I drink a lot of kattan. Sometimes the kattan I make tastes exactly like the one I used to drink as a kid in Kerala. And till I finish that cup I become this little girl sitting on the ari petti listening to all the elders speaking and sipping my chood chood kattan (really hot black coffee).

This whole post was inspired by one such kattan that I had few minutes ago.