NATIONAL GETAWAY - Kerala

Sadhya - A Divine Feast In God’s Own Country

A culinary feast called Sadhya was awaiting DR MAHESH KALRA at Mountain Club in Munnar. Sadhya which means a celebration of happiness, is the common thread that binds all of Kerala people together

As a first-time visitor to Kerala, I was naturally excited at the mere thought of the cool environs of Munnar coupled with the visual treat of the lush-green backwaters of Kumarakom. I was least aware that a culinary feast was awaiting me in the cosy dining hall of Mountain Club, a five-star hotel run by the EVM group of Kerala.

On alighting from our flight at Kochi Airport, we were pleasantly surprised by the balmy weather around us which soon transformed into a cooler avatar as soon as we took off for the Munnar hills. We lumbered on the long journey feasting on the visual panorama unfolding around us in the form of tea plantations enveloping the hills like a mass of green bonsai trees. The tea leaves made the air truly fragrant and the entire area looked like a giant-sized garden interspersed with tiny roads.

Soon after our arrival at Mountain Club, we were served spiced herbal tea which helped to melt away our fatigue instantly. After settling into our pleasant Scottish cottage, I strolled up to meet the hotel’s F&B Manager, Aneesh Stephan who graciously received my request for authentic Kerala food albeit tinged with a quizzical look. He came back after briefly consulting his chef and exclaimed “Saddya! Yes we will serve you Saddya.”

Later on the eve of our dinner, we walked into the restaurant without the faintest idea of what a Sadhya was. Our bemused expressions prompted Aneesh to explain his choice for the evening.

“Sadhya, pronounced as Saddya, is a celebration of happiness. So whether it’s a wedding, festivals like Onam or Vishu or a simple house warming party, a Sadhya is in order. Preparations begin a day before, and the entire household of men and women get together to cook. The actual cooking is done in huge vessels called urli. One person presides over the procedure, which takes anywhere from 8 to 12 hours depending on the number of invitees. The food is personally served by the family hosting the meal. The act of serving cannot be delegated as it destroys the sanctity of the Sadhya.”

Aneesh went on to explain, “Sadhya is the common thread that binds all Kerala people together. The food items and the way they are to be eaten; are common to everybody irrespective of caste, religion or financial status.

Hence, it is vegetarian and doesn’t include garlic in any of the preparations. The only thing that varies is the number of items on the menu. Today, we have sixteen dishes.”

Our meal indeed turned out to be a pageant of sixteen dishes presented in a definite order; bringing about a torrent of diverse tastes in our mouths ranging from sour to sweet and tangy to spicy and even bitter in steady waves. There was a specific place for each item on the plantain leaf; for example, the pickles are served on the top left corner and banana on the bottom left corner. Thus, the waiters could easily identify the requirement of the diner by just looking at his/her leaf.

We were first served warm jeera water (a concoction made from cumin seeds) as an appetiser to aid our digestion. Aneesh preceded his serving of starters by delving into pure Kerala tradition of first providing us with a generous amount of table salt for any contingencies; the starters were all banana-based viz. ripe yellow bananas, two kind of banana chips, the regular salted ones accompanied by a sweeter version called Sarkarapertti made up of fried raw bananas immersed in a mixture of jaggery (sharkara), cardamom, dry ginger and rice flour.

The first course was traditional brown rice mixed with various lentils; like parippu (moong dal curry), sambar, injipuli (ginger and tamarind curry) and puliserry (yogurt curry).

This course was interspersed with two varieties of papadams, eaten crushed over the rice with a variety of pickles like lemon, mango and fresh turmeric. The meal was pepped up by interesting side-dishes like aviyal (grated vegetables with a sweet taste), thoran (finely-chopped cabbage sautéed with beans and beetroot), pineapple pachadi (pineapple cooked with yogurt and coconut) and kaalan (raw bananas cooked in grated coconut and curds).

However, the best side dish served was Ladyfinger kichadi, a scrumptious dish of fresh okra with a slightly sour taste as a consequence of being cooked with curds and fresh coconut. Another side dish that left us raving was Pumpkin erissery; it is made of ripe pumpkin cooked with red beans in coconut milk.

Two types of payasams served by Anil Jose, the sous-chef left an indelible impression on our palates; rice payasam and pradhanam a thicker payasam with a variety of ingredients like jaggery, cardamom, milk and coconut milk.

However, the pièce de résistance of the entire meal was reserved for the end as Aneesh bypassed the set traditions and humoured our request for Kerala seafood by serving us large succulent slices of a fresh-water fish called Kari Meen (lit. Black fish). The fish was so well grilled that it just melted away in our mouths creating true and long lasting bliss!

Before leaving, we complied with Kerala’s unique culinary etiquette by folding our banana leaves, below upwards. After folding, we duly placed our glasses over the leaves to keep them covered.

The meal left us amused and thoroughly satiated at the same time. We couldn’t have asked for more but the Executive Chef, Nibu James who was personally absent during our dinner, made up for it by serving us the next morning a healthy breakfast of appams with an enticing vegetable stew of diced vegetables made in coconut base.

Our desire to have genuine Kerala food couldn’t have been satisfied by more capable hands and we came back cherishing this lesser known aspect of God’s Own Country.