Belagavi, 08 September (HS): Sripati Patil was too humble a farmer and a native of Mutaga on the outskirts of Belagavi district headquarters in Karnataka with a couple of acres of farmland. Had he remained to continue so restricting his activities to the meagre land holdings and home, he would have gone into oblivion as another traditional land tiller struggling to make both ends meet. But, no he wasn’t into the run-of-the-mill mindset and believed in trying, upgrading and innovating and all these efforts paid him rich dividends in a very big way. The Alepakh recipe he developed is now 47 years old and has become a mouth-watering delicacy to quench the taste buds of Belagavi residents and all those who keep visiting the city.
Own crops become products: Initially, Sripati Patil ventured into business in a small way by selling Sugarcane juice with the cane grown in his own fields. Gradually and over a period of time he started making puffed rice and flattened rice from the Paddy grown in his own fields. Then, by adding some more ingredients he developed a recipe for Alepakh which transformed into a big hit slowly. Now, his outlet Sheetal Rasavanti Gruha is the talk of the town landmark hotel making it a must-visit for all foodies. The outlet also sells a variety of products including food grains, Basmati rice, types of Jaggery, Turmeric, Black Gram and Black Pea among many a other all grown in Sripati Patil’s fields.
On the way to Golden Jubilee: Thanks to the toiling of Sripati Patil in setting up the family business, his son Nilesh Patil is now a successful and thriving businessman. His father’s trade has taken him to new heights by owning prime properties and moving in a BMW. Yet, he is equally grounded and simple when it comes to dealing with either his clientele or others. Nilesh Sripati Patil, the present owner of Sheetal Hotel in Tilakwadi informs-“My father started this business in 1976, which means it’s more than 47 years. It’s basically Alepakh and not Alipakh. Ale in English also means Ginger, we crush that ginger and cut it into small pieces and that happens to be the main ingredient in Alepakh and that’s how we named the recipe Alepakh”.
Military Mahadev Mandir: You can just imagine the ambience of this location in the Tilakwadi area on Congress Road about 47 years ago. Interestingly even then the Military Mahadev Mandir was a place of attraction for paying obeisance to Lord Shiva; visit the shrine inside the military premises with family and friends for outing and entertainment. Arun Theatre was another landmark for moviegoers. Sunday being a public holiday and Monday being the day of the diety, the Military Mahadev Mandir used to be packed with pilgrims and visitors on these two days in big numbers. But, unlike now there were less or hardly any hotels on this particular road and vicinity. It was how my father Sripati Patil thought of setting up a Sugarcane juice center. But as people prefer to munch some puffed rice along with the juice, slowly and gradually over a period of time the usual puffed rice led to the invention of Alepakh and this concept has originated from Belagavi itself”.
Shahpur Sant, the originator: Nilesh Sripati Patil adds-“Earlier there was a religious person in Shahpur area, who initially came out with the recipe which was by and large little bit with the same characteristics. However, garnishing with additional substances, and adding multiple inputs to add value and develop a taste was done by my father Sripati Patil. We basically belong to an agricultural family and continue with farming practices and I have been in this business for more than 25 years after completing my graduation in Commerce. My elder brothers are engineering graduates and one of them is in the US and another brother has settled down in Pune while I am continuing the family tradition of catering to the taste buds of Alepakh loving loyal clientele”.
Own farm-grown products in use: He discloses-“As mentioned earlier ours is an agricultural family and here we use the produce grown in our fields. The Sugarcane, you see here is our own and 90 per cent of it is organically grown in the sense by treating the crop with cattle manure and Vermicompost. Generally, we use the crop when it is 11-12 months old which is the ideal time to cut. As the Sugarcane is grown in red soil it tastes different in comparison to the ones planted in the Black Cotton soil. Probably, you can say it’s the real or authentic taste of Sugarcane.
How Alepakh is made? Nilesh Sripati Patil explains the procedure of making the sought-after delicacy Alepakh-“Alepakh is made out of Puffed rice (Churamari), Poha (Flattened rice), Groundnuts, Coconut flakes and Coriander. Lemon juice is added over while small marble-shaped roasted Bengal gram balls are powdered all over the plate. This delicacy needs to be tasted with the Sugarcane juice to relish it in the required form and make it a perfect combination”.
Recipe devoid of any oil: He also stresses the reasons responsible for people enjoying Alepakh-“People love this Alepakh because we don’t use any oil in the whole process of making it; neither roast nor boil or use fire and every ingredient is made use of in its modified but raw form. Nowhere oil is deployed and Sugarcane happens to be the correct combination to taste and enjoy. Thanks to awareness these days, people prefer to have natural Sugarcane juice rather than gulp chemically treated artificial soft drinks. Now and despite it being a rainy season you can witness people enjoying the Sugarcane juice”.
From 3-4 to 8-9: When asked about the growth of popularity over a period of time Nilesh Sripati Patil says-“To start with when indices for identifying the popularity of any particular product or brand came into being, initially it used to be 3-4 out of 10 and now it has shot up to 8-9 these days. Thanks to the general public becoming health conscious we are also maintaining hygiene in the making process. We make our ice with filtered water and don’t bring ice from outside and these days we have also introduced different flavours for Sugarcane juice, like Lime, Ginger, Chat Masala, Beetroot, Pineapple etc. In fact, our clients are appreciative of our innovations and most of them are much in demand by different sections and age groups”.
Outlets elsewhere in Belagavi: On the business expansion mode he says-“We have now started two branches in Belagavi. This is the first and the second one is in the Shahpur area and the third one has come up in Tinasina Katte or Khau Katta. We are also having plans to give franchises with our own set-up. In the next year, we are planning to own franchise outlets at Nehrunagar, TV Centre and Sadashivnagar and after that, we intend to set up units in other places”.
Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti
