Fahim and I went grocery shopping, and among the things we bought was Wattalapam, which, if I talk with my normal North American style of speech, I butcher. If I slow down, I pronounce it properly. Basically, it’s a custard. It’s only got five ingredients, or ingerdients, as the manufacturer spells it. It has jaggery, eggs, milk, nutmeg, and cadjunuts (cashewnuts). Jaggery, if you recall from my blog entry from 05 September 2003, is made from coconut sap. Look to that entry for a more complete explanation.
Anyway, we bought some – it comes in a small block at the grocery store, but Fahim tells me that it’s difficult to find in the stores because it’s mostly made in the homes. After seeing the recipe, I can see why. It’s very easy to make by all appearances – it is, after all, a custard, and they aren’t difficult to make at the worst of times. We paid 170 Rupees for the Wattalapam, which, now that I see the recipe, is outrageously priced.
For comparison purposes, most pastries you can buy at the local bakery, ie squares, cake pieces, that sort of thing, cost anywhere from 15 Rupees to 55 Rupees, with most costing around 30-40 Rupees. The Wattalapam we bought has, at most, four servings in it.
Oh, and in case you think that I’m butchering the spelling of it – since if you compare the label to my choice of spelling, I’ve seen it spelled both ways. But this comes from the flexible spelling rules I’ve talked so much about. I honestly don’t know if one or the other is correct, or if they’re both equally wrong and there’s another spelling out there, or what. I’ll leave it to any Sri Lankans reading my blog to answer this one. And yes, that includes Fahim. Fahim, dearest?