Vishu Sadya - A write up
Vishu is a festival celebrated by Malayalis . It is basically new year for Malayalis and we celebrate it as traditional as possible..
A sadya arrangement at our home this year .
Now on to some Trivia facts:
1. Traditional Kerala vegetarian Sadyas do not contain any onion or Garlic items as they used to be considered impure. If you notice , even in sambar , we dont put onions( nowadays people probably add them).
2. You normally keep 2 papadams . One to eat with the rice and the other one to enjoy with the payasams. Payasams are too sweet, hence after drinking one flavour , people usually eat salty papadams or pickles to neutralise the tongue . This will ensure you enjoy the other flavour of payasams better and also you dont get giddy with too much sweetness.
3. Every region has a different sadya menu and customs, What my family makes may not be cooked in north or south of kerala. I have heard that in the malabar region, they serve Chicken curry for Vishu sadya.
4.The rice is served in a long line like manner. You need to take part by part and enjoy the various courses
5. Families get up at 4 in the morning and is supposed to only enter kitchen after a bath. So nothing is prepared the day before and all these items are planned and cooked on the vishu day :O
6. Ideally we use the vegetables and rice from the vishu kani but not necessarily that only those vegetables can be used. Nobody keeps Tomatoes and potatoes for kani.
7. People are so busy making an elaborate lunch that the breakfast is usually a rice gruel spiced with coconut and cumin and pepper( i'm not really sure of this ), its called Vishu katta. Although this is the traditional method, in my house, we have a tradition of going to temple on Vishu morning.. After temple , we normally just go to the nearest hotel and eat masala dosa :P .
8. No Alcohol / non vegetarian / egg / mushrooms are consumed on Vishu .But then again, traditionally most of the hindu families were Vegetarian so It really didn't make a difference.
9. For adults , the vishu kani and sadya are the highlights , but for Kids, Vishu kai-neetam is the highlight of the day. Vishu kai -neetam is the part where elders give money to younger people . Back in our ancestral house, I've seen my grandfather giving kai-neetam to the workers / maids of the house too so probably this tradition is a token like" May you get wealth this year" .
How to eat the sadya:
Course 1:
Well as I mentioned above, if you are serving Parippu and Ghee, then this becomes the first course. The person will move a part of the rice to his right side and mix in the paripu. Hot ghee is poured over this. This is then eaten with Papadam. After this course ,normally people eat the sweet chips, sharkaravaratti.
Course 2:
Rice and Sambar is mixed and is enjoyed with most of the dishes excluding the pulishery / kalan.
Course 3:
Rice is usually had with the yogurt dish of Pulisherry or Kalan. Pickles /chips /avial are enjoyed with this course
Course 4:
This is usually the dessert course and the payasam (s) will be served . Payasam is usually poured onto the banana leaf and sort of eaten in a traditional manner. While this is thoroughly enjoyable, an outsider might find it less appealing , hence nowadays people just have it poured into a glass . In between gulps of payasams, one can eat a banana, crush some papadams and have that and if it gets too sweet for you a touch of pickle will get your tastebuds wanting more payasams.
Lastly most people drink moru or chaas or simply some water and take an additional banana and have it with banana chips.
Well I feel like I just had a Sadya.. After meal , its usually siesta time and people generally laze out, sleep or at least stretch out for a while till the kids bug you to go out and play.
Most men are seen rubbing their tummies and burping loudly is so common that you dont even notice. After meals, everyone changes from their traditional attires and into comfy pants .. Finally some air and relaxation.
Usually evenings are quite and people dont normally close the festivities for the day and just lounge till dinner time, which by the way is usally heating up of the same dishes :P .
Thanks for reading.
When you think of Vishu, We think of the quintessential Cream and Gold saris / Vhesti/Mundu attire, then Lord Krishna and Vishu kani, the Vishu kai-neetam and last but not least the Vishu sadya or the grand lunch feast..
Vishu preparations:
Vishu preparations start two or three days before the actual day . One needs to gather Kani konna or "cassia fistula" , its a beautiful flower that blooms only during vishu time.Yeah it sort of looks like Yellow gulmohar flowers but its totally different, the color is more lemony and a very cute bunch. Back in old days, kids and young ladies would go around the village searching for the prettiest bunch and bring home but now we no longer live in areas where this tree is common, so we end up paying a big amount and buy them from Malayali sellers . Well vishu isn't vishu without Konna poovu( flower) so no matter what the cost, a malayali will buy them :)
Source: Google search
Then we need to buy all the seasonal Vegetables to keep the kani and for the sadya( lunch spread)
Vishu Kani:
Vishu kani is a decorative arrangement of various auspicious items that looks like the below picture.
Source: This is our Vishu kani last year.
It is believed that if this is the first sight that you wake up seeing , then your whole year will be as bright and prosperous like the vishu kani.
Vishu kani arrangement is always around a big picture or a statue of lord krishna, there is a typical statue that literally all Keralites will have . They normally buy this from Guruvayoor appan temple. I dont think i have ever visited a malayali hindu home which doesn't have this statue. Anyways most people also include other God/ Goddess pictures.
Around the deities , there will be a big bowl which is usually a traditional uruli which was used to prepare payasam back in the days. Inside the uruli / bowl, we layer a handful of Rice, over it the ripest yellow mangoes, bananas, a yellow cucumber, then a coconut and other vegetables as per your interest. Next we place a mirror, some gold ornaments over a kerala kasavu mundu . Over all these we place the konna poovu flower bunch . if you like, you can place heavier vegetables like jack fruit, Pineapples, bananas etc below the uruli to a side, just make it pretty- thats all. Some people put an assortment of traditional kajal,bangles etc along with some pooja patrams( fancy miniature ones) etc. People get creative here and ever house hold has its own designs. Also overall , people keep some cash or coins because you know all the items showcase prosperity and there is no prosperity without money ( lol ).
Source: Google search>wikipedia
This time of the year in kerala we have the chakka harvest. Chakka is nothing but the jackfruit . So technically in our sadya , chakka avial / erisherry is important. some people even make jackfruit payasam, chakka varatti ( a jam like chutney/spread), chakka uperi( jackfruit chips). Other than jackfruit, there will be plenty of Ripe yellow mangoes this season, yellow cucumbers, pumpkins etc,,
So the idea is to select and purchase the best vegetables in the market. My mom always says, pick the brightest yellow, aparently the vishu veggies should be bright and yellow and the brighter it is the more beautiful your vishu kani will be.
Coming to the sadya, vishu sadya is essentially like Onam sadya , just that traditionally you are supposed to use the veggies you kept for the kani and make the sadya, the rice from the kani is used as well.
source: shutterstock.com > search : sadya
Sadya is served in a big banana leaf .The items for the sadya are arranged in a particular fashion from left to right, Left most side will have the light items like the pickles, papaddam, chips etc and as you move to the right side you will find the heavier items like avial paripu etc. The rice should be eaten from right to left and hence its served in a line like shape. Hopefully i havent confused you. You see traditionally, you take rice and divide it to little parts and have it as different courses with the various side items / curries.
So on to the actual items:
Lets go from left to right , this is also the order in which you serve:
1. Salt : Always added to sadya as a tradition even though no one really needs it
2. Pappadam : Its also called papad and is a thin wafer like fryms made with urad dal
3. Chips: Traditional chips made by thinly slicing and deep frying bananas, jackfruit are served. 2 or three is enough
4. Sharkara varatti: This is simply banana chips coated with a spiced jaggery sauce . Nowadays people just buy them rather than make them at home.
5. Bananas: Traditional kerala small bananas are used not the normal bananas as they help in digestion
6.Pickles: Usually there will be three types of pickle . There will be a mango cut pickle and a pulli inji pickle, some people also serve Lime pickle.
7.Yogurt dishes: Yogurt based dishes are a part of all sadyas. For vishu Mambhazha pulisherry / Mango cocunut in yogurt sauce is traditionally served as Mangoes are in season . Apart from pulisherry , we also make kichadis and pachadis. Now they are a variety of yogurt based dishes but while kichadi is just deep fried veggies like okra and bittergourd in plain yogurt topped with tadka, Pachadi is more elaborate and uses a coconut and mustard paste as flavouring, Its usually a sweet dish and most of the common pachadis are Mango, Pinapples and Grapes. Another variety that is served if pulishery is not made is called kurukku kaalan which is a thick version made with raw plantains or Yams.
8. Erisherry : As i mentioned above, chakka erisherry is usually a vishu special dish. Its complicated and elaborate and my in laws are experts in making it. Its make with cooked jackfruit in a coconut sauce,now I really dont know what goes into the coconut paste but it tastes really good, Its sweet and the sweetness depends on the fruit.
The most commonly served erisherry is the pumpkin and beans erisherry, again slightly sweet but easier to prepare. I forgot to take the picture of chakka erisherry we made, but below is the picture of our pumpkin erisherry
9. Avial: Any sadya is not complete without avial. Normally a nadan dry avial is prepared. Avial just means a mixture of any veggies thrown together with some grated coconut and Jeera / cumin mixture and cooked 'al-dante' or just till the veggies are cooked but not mushy. Any veggies can be part of avial but traditionally almost all the veggies from the vishu kani are used . Mandatory items are Carrot, Cucumber,Padavalanga(bottle gourd).yams, payar ( long beans), beans. You can also include other vegetables like pumpkins , potatoes , tindora ( kovakka), raw bananas, chakka kuru ( jackfruit seeds) etc. Any combination is good, a daily avial just needs carrots, beans and potatos while the sadya version will have lot more veggies. You can look at it as a cooked salad. Its very mildly spiced and very healthy.
10. Thoran: Now Thoran is just stir fried vegetable topped with grated coconut. Any one vegetable is used . Most frequently , its Cabbage thoran as cabbage is easy to chop and is a great combination with sambar.
11: Olan/ Stew : This is actually an optional dish and is normally just made to increase the number of items. Its usually the dish that we make in the smallest quantity and really is very low in flavor. But its a mild delicate dish usually made with kumbhalanga or ash gourd and achinga payar/string beans. Its called stew if you make the same dish with potatoes only and is less common.
12. parippu : This is a basic kerala dal made with Moong dal and coconut paste served with ghee. This is usually optional and normally not seen in Home sadyas. Usually Only Sambar is served. If parippu and ghee are served then this will form the first course
13. Rice: Well we generally use the kerala Matta rice. Its obviously more healthy that the kokum / basmati rice that is eaten elsewhere as it contains the bran / husk as well. However it can be very heavy and many people dont dijest this easily. I had a friend from tamil nadu who visited kerala and the whole month that he was there , he had a terrible stomach ( i'm not gonna elaborate). So if you are serving it to non keralites, maybe normal white rice / ponni / kokum / basmati will be better alternatives.
14. Sambar: The quintessential Gravy , Sambar is usually served on top of the Rice. Sambar needs no introduction as anyone who has tasted south indian food will be familiar with the term sambar. Sambar is a spiced Lentil and vegetable soup like gravy that is often mixed with Rice and eaten along as a first or second course of the sadya. Typically papadams, pickles, erisherry and thoran are great to eat with sambar rice. The vegetables that we add for sambar ideally contains potatoes , tomatoes, ladies finger / okra and any other vegetables of your choice . Typically we can add drumsticks, pumpkins , ash gourd, carrots , etc . Please note that no Jaggery is added to the kerala Sambar and Sambar here is not at all sweet.
15. Sambaram / Moru /Chaas: Most people wash down the meal by drinking a glass or Moru which is called chaas in north india. Its essentially a drink. Mix 1/4 glass curd with 3/4 glass water for one person. Blend together ginger, a green chilly , with the yogurt mixture and top it with some chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves. In professional Sadyas , this concoction is so diluted that most people simply drink water instead. However this aids in a good digestion which is very important for a huge Spread like this one.
16. Payasams: This is the dessert part of sadya and is the only dessert that is served in tradional sadyas, Towards the south side puran poli is also served but i do not know if its served during Vishu and most impostantly whether its served in home sadyas( anything can be added in professional sadyas arranged by catering people). Now payasams can have a write up on its own. There are numerous number of payasams. Its called Kheer in North india and if you are not indian, you can probably call it a form of pudding. Broadspectrum, A payasam is of two types, Milk based which is white in color and Jaggery based which is brown in color. Milk based in more popular as its sweeter and often called Lord Krishna's Favorite and the Jaggery based are more tradional and is often more hard to make and the taste is usually enjoyed by adults and connoisseurs of food than Teens and kids.
Typically this pudding can be made from Rice, Broken rice,ada (its a small square like piece which I think is made of beaten rice? im not sure) , Wheat,vermicelli , Chickpeas( kadala), Moong dal, Jackfruit, Bananas. Most popular is Paal ada . The simplest of payasams are called paal payasam
7.Yogurt dishes: Yogurt based dishes are a part of all sadyas. For vishu Mambhazha pulisherry / Mango cocunut in yogurt sauce is traditionally served as Mangoes are in season . Apart from pulisherry , we also make kichadis and pachadis. Now they are a variety of yogurt based dishes but while kichadi is just deep fried veggies like okra and bittergourd in plain yogurt topped with tadka, Pachadi is more elaborate and uses a coconut and mustard paste as flavouring, Its usually a sweet dish and most of the common pachadis are Mango, Pinapples and Grapes. Another variety that is served if pulishery is not made is called kurukku kaalan which is a thick version made with raw plantains or Yams.
8. Erisherry : As i mentioned above, chakka erisherry is usually a vishu special dish. Its complicated and elaborate and my in laws are experts in making it. Its make with cooked jackfruit in a coconut sauce,now I really dont know what goes into the coconut paste but it tastes really good, Its sweet and the sweetness depends on the fruit.
The most commonly served erisherry is the pumpkin and beans erisherry, again slightly sweet but easier to prepare. I forgot to take the picture of chakka erisherry we made, but below is the picture of our pumpkin erisherry
9. Avial: Any sadya is not complete without avial. Normally a nadan dry avial is prepared. Avial just means a mixture of any veggies thrown together with some grated coconut and Jeera / cumin mixture and cooked 'al-dante' or just till the veggies are cooked but not mushy. Any veggies can be part of avial but traditionally almost all the veggies from the vishu kani are used . Mandatory items are Carrot, Cucumber,Padavalanga(bottle gourd).yams, payar ( long beans), beans. You can also include other vegetables like pumpkins , potatoes , tindora ( kovakka), raw bananas, chakka kuru ( jackfruit seeds) etc. Any combination is good, a daily avial just needs carrots, beans and potatos while the sadya version will have lot more veggies. You can look at it as a cooked salad. Its very mildly spiced and very healthy.
Avial made by my in laws ...really good
10. Thoran: Now Thoran is just stir fried vegetable topped with grated coconut. Any one vegetable is used . Most frequently , its Cabbage thoran as cabbage is easy to chop and is a great combination with sambar.
11: Olan/ Stew : This is actually an optional dish and is normally just made to increase the number of items. Its usually the dish that we make in the smallest quantity and really is very low in flavor. But its a mild delicate dish usually made with kumbhalanga or ash gourd and achinga payar/string beans. Its called stew if you make the same dish with potatoes only and is less common.
12. parippu : This is a basic kerala dal made with Moong dal and coconut paste served with ghee. This is usually optional and normally not seen in Home sadyas. Usually Only Sambar is served. If parippu and ghee are served then this will form the first course
13. Rice: Well we generally use the kerala Matta rice. Its obviously more healthy that the kokum / basmati rice that is eaten elsewhere as it contains the bran / husk as well. However it can be very heavy and many people dont dijest this easily. I had a friend from tamil nadu who visited kerala and the whole month that he was there , he had a terrible stomach ( i'm not gonna elaborate). So if you are serving it to non keralites, maybe normal white rice / ponni / kokum / basmati will be better alternatives.
14. Sambar: The quintessential Gravy , Sambar is usually served on top of the Rice. Sambar needs no introduction as anyone who has tasted south indian food will be familiar with the term sambar. Sambar is a spiced Lentil and vegetable soup like gravy that is often mixed with Rice and eaten along as a first or second course of the sadya. Typically papadams, pickles, erisherry and thoran are great to eat with sambar rice. The vegetables that we add for sambar ideally contains potatoes , tomatoes, ladies finger / okra and any other vegetables of your choice . Typically we can add drumsticks, pumpkins , ash gourd, carrots , etc . Please note that no Jaggery is added to the kerala Sambar and Sambar here is not at all sweet.
Sambar made in a quick manner . you can make sambar all in one shot using a pressure cooker . Normally we call those sambar as tiffin or hotel sambar as it contains only potatoes tomatoes and onion but for sadya it should be more elaborate.
15. Sambaram / Moru /Chaas: Most people wash down the meal by drinking a glass or Moru which is called chaas in north india. Its essentially a drink. Mix 1/4 glass curd with 3/4 glass water for one person. Blend together ginger, a green chilly , with the yogurt mixture and top it with some chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves. In professional Sadyas , this concoction is so diluted that most people simply drink water instead. However this aids in a good digestion which is very important for a huge Spread like this one.
16. Payasams: This is the dessert part of sadya and is the only dessert that is served in tradional sadyas, Towards the south side puran poli is also served but i do not know if its served during Vishu and most impostantly whether its served in home sadyas( anything can be added in professional sadyas arranged by catering people). Now payasams can have a write up on its own. There are numerous number of payasams. Its called Kheer in North india and if you are not indian, you can probably call it a form of pudding. Broadspectrum, A payasam is of two types, Milk based which is white in color and Jaggery based which is brown in color. Milk based in more popular as its sweeter and often called Lord Krishna's Favorite and the Jaggery based are more tradional and is often more hard to make and the taste is usually enjoyed by adults and connoisseurs of food than Teens and kids.
Typically this pudding can be made from Rice, Broken rice,ada (its a small square like piece which I think is made of beaten rice? im not sure) , Wheat,vermicelli , Chickpeas( kadala), Moong dal, Jackfruit, Bananas. Most popular is Paal ada . The simplest of payasams are called paal payasam
And you can make them in one shot in a pressure cooker by adding 1 cup of rice, 1 litre milk , 1 cup water , 1-1/2 cup sugar . Cook this till 3 whistles and then turn the heat to the lowest setting and cook for like 45 minutes. Once done you can additionally add cardomom powder if desired.
Now on to some Trivia facts:
1. Traditional Kerala vegetarian Sadyas do not contain any onion or Garlic items as they used to be considered impure. If you notice , even in sambar , we dont put onions( nowadays people probably add them).
2. You normally keep 2 papadams . One to eat with the rice and the other one to enjoy with the payasams. Payasams are too sweet, hence after drinking one flavour , people usually eat salty papadams or pickles to neutralise the tongue . This will ensure you enjoy the other flavour of payasams better and also you dont get giddy with too much sweetness.
3. Every region has a different sadya menu and customs, What my family makes may not be cooked in north or south of kerala. I have heard that in the malabar region, they serve Chicken curry for Vishu sadya.
4.The rice is served in a long line like manner. You need to take part by part and enjoy the various courses
5. Families get up at 4 in the morning and is supposed to only enter kitchen after a bath. So nothing is prepared the day before and all these items are planned and cooked on the vishu day :O
6. Ideally we use the vegetables and rice from the vishu kani but not necessarily that only those vegetables can be used. Nobody keeps Tomatoes and potatoes for kani.
7. People are so busy making an elaborate lunch that the breakfast is usually a rice gruel spiced with coconut and cumin and pepper( i'm not really sure of this ), its called Vishu katta. Although this is the traditional method, in my house, we have a tradition of going to temple on Vishu morning.. After temple , we normally just go to the nearest hotel and eat masala dosa :P .
8. No Alcohol / non vegetarian / egg / mushrooms are consumed on Vishu .But then again, traditionally most of the hindu families were Vegetarian so It really didn't make a difference.
9. For adults , the vishu kani and sadya are the highlights , but for Kids, Vishu kai-neetam is the highlight of the day. Vishu kai -neetam is the part where elders give money to younger people . Back in our ancestral house, I've seen my grandfather giving kai-neetam to the workers / maids of the house too so probably this tradition is a token like" May you get wealth this year" .
How to eat the sadya:
Course 1:
Well as I mentioned above, if you are serving Parippu and Ghee, then this becomes the first course. The person will move a part of the rice to his right side and mix in the paripu. Hot ghee is poured over this. This is then eaten with Papadam. After this course ,normally people eat the sweet chips, sharkaravaratti.
Course 2:
Rice and Sambar is mixed and is enjoyed with most of the dishes excluding the pulishery / kalan.
Course 3:
Rice is usually had with the yogurt dish of Pulisherry or Kalan. Pickles /chips /avial are enjoyed with this course
Course 4:
This is usually the dessert course and the payasam (s) will be served . Payasam is usually poured onto the banana leaf and sort of eaten in a traditional manner. While this is thoroughly enjoyable, an outsider might find it less appealing , hence nowadays people just have it poured into a glass . In between gulps of payasams, one can eat a banana, crush some papadams and have that and if it gets too sweet for you a touch of pickle will get your tastebuds wanting more payasams.
Lastly most people drink moru or chaas or simply some water and take an additional banana and have it with banana chips.
Well I feel like I just had a Sadya.. After meal , its usually siesta time and people generally laze out, sleep or at least stretch out for a while till the kids bug you to go out and play.
Most men are seen rubbing their tummies and burping loudly is so common that you dont even notice. After meals, everyone changes from their traditional attires and into comfy pants .. Finally some air and relaxation.
Usually evenings are quite and people dont normally close the festivities for the day and just lounge till dinner time, which by the way is usally heating up of the same dishes :P .
Thanks for reading.
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