Coimbatore is the home to the world famous Samba Godhumai Rava Uppuma. The city is also the centre which provides the finest raw material for making uppuma in the whole world. According to Industrialist V.Sathyanathan, " The farmers of Coimbatore district used to sow cotton during the Tamil month of Adi ( July - August ) and would plan for coriander as well as samba godhumai for the Tamil month of Aippasi ( October - November ). Both these crops used to be cultivated before the arrival of cotton and they would cover the entire cost of operation. Coimbatore area is known for Irungadu regions ( rain fed dry land area with black cotton soil ) and Anuppapatti,Appinaickenpatti,Karadivavi, Sencherimalai etc., are known for this kind of soil. Again Gomangalam, Ganapathypalayam and Andiyur in the Udumalpet belt have the same kind of soil with people cultivating cotton and samba godhumai for a long time."
What does one make with this samba godhumai ? " Uppuma,payasam,idli,biriyani uppuma and many other items, in fact one can use samba wheat rava instead of white rava and make a tastier rava dosa " shares Ponmurugan of M/s Vanniyarajan & Sons, the promoters of the nationally famous" Mayil Mark" Samba Rava. Incidentally,they are the largest manufacturers of samba ravai nationally and the brand is managed by V.Chandrashekar & Brothers who further add, " We breathe samba ravai and it is our passion and our passion is our business fortunately." R.Ram Mohan a third generation resident of Race Course is happy to give his opinion, " Uppuma is an all time favourite. Preparation of uppuma can never be soddhapified. Its boring when you think of it but once you start eating, you begin to enjoy it. It's our Indian fast food and can be prepared in ten minutes in an effortless manner. Forms a good base before fellowship."
Nowadays the samba wheat is procured from Sangli,Sholapur,Bijapur,Moran and parts of Northern Karnataka through mandis. The main season is between January and April but it is available all through the year in Coimbatore, thanks to the enterprising efforts of the merchants from Rangai Gowder street in Coimbatore. In order to get a good shelf life and soft uppuma thereafter moisture has to be removed at 85 ' C. This will ensure that the family savouring uppuma will ask for more of it. A.R.Nagamanickkam Chettiar pioneered the samba godhumai arena for a long time and there is a general consensus about it. " Our firm was the first in Coimbatore to introduce packed commodities those days. The wheat granules sell in Karnataka as well. They are cooked and eaten as Rava Koodu. It is full of fibre and one can eat it to their hearts' content. A stomach full of uppuma will never make one feel heavy. " Adds ARN.Sethuramalingam, the son of A.R.Nagamanickkam Chettiar.
The Coimbatore region consumes vast quantities of uppuma and is the" Uppuma Land" of Planet Earth. Samba Rava is enjoyed as uppuma plain,uppuma with curs,rava payasams for Naivedyams ( offerings) and in dosas as well as pesarattus. A lining of uppuma in the pesarettu adds taste,flavour and above all contentment. One can mix a bit of samba godhumai ravai uppuma with spicy mango pickle and make a lining of the same in a dosai in order to make the breakfast interesting. Some homemakers soak the samba godhumai ravai in curds for some time and make perugu uppuma and this mouth watering delicacy can be had with pickles like kadamban.lime,garlic or mango. In fact this crop is also found in the Nilgiris in a smaller way. Diamonds are known as " Ravalu " in Telugu for they are faceted like Rava. M.K.Ananthakumar of the Asoka Betelnut Family shares some interesting details," Uppuma is the earliest fast food of the world and the avul uppuma ( powa - flat rice ) was given to us by the Persians while travelling on the Indian coasts long ago. They used to rub oil on powa while also adding other ingredients like tamarind and seasoning etc., and cook them in hot salt water. Perhaps the " Upputhal " that took place while cooking it caused it to be called uppuma by our people who absorbed it from them." This uppuma quest made one more Coimbatorean chuckle and he suggested," Chicken uppuma can be called chickma." One can even have curd uppumabath with fruits. Earlier Samba Ravai was cheaper and the financially under privileged used it in the place of rice. Nowadays its priced at about Rs.100 per kilogram and therefore a premium commodity. In fact one businessman from Coimbatore is known as " Uppindi Raj " due to the fact that the best Uppuma among their circle of friends is from his kitchen.
"Uppuma is eaten with ghee,also eaten with fruits and sugar at times. Its also eaten with curd and finely cut vadumangai pickle in one combination. It can be eaten with coconut and paruppu chutney but not with tomato chutney " stated businessman Barathan Srinivasan while enriching the conversation on this subject. A motor enthusiast J.Prithiviraj adds further, " Its fondly nomenclatured as gun powder and Fevicol ( while eaten with curd and pickle ) in our town." Uppuma is also eaten with kollu rasam as part of lunch by quite a few Coimbatoreans. Travellers mix uppuma with milk and add a few drops of curd which in turn ferments the milk into fresh curd over time. The result is, tasty curd uppuma for the ones driving to Tirumala Tirupathi. Some " Suvaignars " mash bananas and mix it with ghee uppuma in order to make it really divine.
According to the textile mill owner E.Ranga Rao, " Uppuma should be made with small onions,eaten with ghee and Erode Rasthali bananas before being eaten with curds. The uppuma which we eat at home is made of ingredients from our country and is truly a swadeshi dish which can be relished in an era of international commerce and globalization."
The " Uppuma " is sure to remind one about the column " Slice of Life " by the famous V.Gangadhar who waxes eloquent of the famous dish " Morkali " in an elaborate manner. Well there are many uppumas - Undrallu Uppuma, Rice Uppuma, Idli Uppuma, Semiya Uppuma, Macaroni Uppuma, Bread Uppuma, Pori Uppuma, Puli Uppuma, Sabbiyam Uppuma,Oats Uppuma, Kozhukattai Uppuma, Avul Uppuma, Dosa Uppuma ( Pappurottah ) and in fact there have been many issues of cookery magazines carrying all kinds of Uppuma recipes. The ancient Sadasiva Iyer Coffee Club at Raja Street is one of the few places like Annapoorna where one can get this great Coimbatore Uppuma. People of Bengaluru relish the white rava uppuma which is known as Ravabath and this is served as a delicacy at the Mavalli Tiffin Rooms ( MTR ) near Lal Bagh. The walkers like it so much that they have it regularly and when MTR is off on Tuesdays the crowd visiting Lal Bagh comes down drastically. This variety of white rava is used on special occasions and therefore many of the flour millers of Karnataka distribute the same as gifts to their friends/relatives living in Tamilnadu and elsewhere on the eve of Ugadhi ( Telugu and Kannada New Year ). Pioneering Industrialist Mahaveer Jain and his sons Prashant , Nishant, Vivek manufacture the same under the name " Savi " at their Apex Flour Mills on Mettupalayam Road. In Mumbai broken samba wheat given with milk known as Daliya is had by children on an everyday basis. Even today, godhumai halwa is a delicacy.
Now, coming back to our " Uppuma " we should be proud that its consumed in a big way way, making Coimbatore the " Uppuma City " of India. The former Chief Minister of Tamilnadu M.G.Ramachandran was quite fond of the Coimbatore Uppuma those days " My father N.Nataraj was the Managing Trustee of the Marudamalai Murugan Temple those days and the legendary movie producer M.M.A.Chinnnappa Devar used to invite M.G.Ramachandran to Coimbatore on special occasions associated with his movies also the Murugan Temple. The Former Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandran used to savour the Uppuma made in our home those times'" states M.N.Padmanabhan who hails from a traditional aristocratic family from Coimbatore. Thinking of Uppuma one is but reminded of Actor Vijay in a famous movie wherein he states, " Namma Ellam Uppuma Kudumbam Da Raja ". Post Navarathri and Diwali the sweets will make way to our friendly Godhumai Ravai Uppuma and it is sure to be more welcome to our dining rooms. No wonder, the famous actor N.S.Krishnan's dialogue in a Tamil movie goes on as ...... Uppuma...ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma....." The English answer from every Uppuma loving Coimbatorean will definitely be , " Not enough, I will always need more of it during the times to come."