Pathanamthitta: In a unique and thrilling chutney making competition, Padmini Ramanathan bagged the first prize. The competition was conducted by the Sarvodaya mandalam and the naturopathic samiti as part of creating awareness about health and nutrition. Padmini emerged victorious in the final round, beating other contestants who qualified from the previous rounds of the competition.
Padmini made delicious chutney within just 15 minutes using 14 healthy ingredients like coconut, raw mango, ginger, sprouted horse gram, sprouted sesame, sprouted fenugreek and green gram, along with medicinal herbs like veld grape (changalamparanda), centella (kudangal), curry leaves and also averrhoa bilimbi, gooseberry, green chili and rock salt. Aneera Nizam and Sudha Konny came second and third respectively in the competition. The contestants had to make delicious chutney, with the perfect consistency, in a traditional stone ammikallu.
In the coconut scraping contest, Sasikala Naranamuzhi won the first prize while Saramma Idikkula Thimbaman came second.
The finale event was inaugurated by KK Thankamma, the elder member of the community, by making chutney on the ammikallu. The event was conducted to create awareness about the traditional eating habits and dishes which are extremely nutritious and beneficial for health.
Kuriakose Mar Climees inaugurated the closing ceremony. Beshajam Prasannakumar presided the meeting while Umman Rey Varghese, Annie Kurian and Vijayan Nadamangalthu spoke at the event. An exhibition of the medicinal herbs, naturopathic techniques and distribution of organic seeds and saplings too were organized as part of the festival.
