What’s the story behind the popular Onam Sadhya?

We decode the ‘why’ and ‘what’ of the Sadhya that is feasted on as India celebrates Onam on 8 September

Popularly known as a harvest festival, Onam’s premise is steeped in mythology with the story dating back to how a feast was cooked in every household to celebrate the annual homecoming of the demon-king Mahabali. While celebrations across Kerala include boat-races, there is nothing that marks the success of the gathering of generations of families under one roof as the generous feast that is cooked up alongside.

Origins of the Sadhya

Known as the Sadhya, the feast is an elaborate, vegetarian affair cooked with the freshest of ingredients and served on a banana leaf for everyone to enjoy. “Onam is celebrated across Kerala and is not limited to any region or religion. But the dishes may vary based on the hyper-local availability of the ingredients,” said Chef Regi Mathew, culinary director and co-owner of Kappa Chakka Kandhari, a specialty Kerala restaurant, with outlets in Chennai and Bengaluru. Usually, the Sadhya–as served by Mathew at his restaurant too–starts with red rice, a variety of chips, pickles, relishes, curries and ends with a range of payasams. While the traditional Sadhya could have around 26 dishes, served in small portions to showcase the diversity of the local produce, one might observe minor differences between the menus in the different regions.

What’s served?

This year’s ‘Onasadhya’ celebrations at Mathew’s restaurants will see 26 traditional vegetarian dishes prepared by Namboodiri cooks from Kerala in the traditional format, along with a few other iterations available until 8 September. The dishes include uppu (a custom salt), cheru pazham (yellow banana or Yelakki banana), chena chops (yam fry), nendrakai nuruku (banana chips), sharkara varatty (jaggery-coated raw banana pieces) and pavakka kondattam (bitter gourd that is sun-dried and fried in coconut oil). Meanwhile, the pickles include mango, lemon, gooseberry, beetroot kichadi (pureed beetroot, curd and coconut that is freshly ground and tempered) and pineapple pachadi (chopped pineapple and coconut, cooked delicately and tempered with mustard seeds and curry leaves that acts as a palate cleanser).

An elaborate selection of vegetables traditionally include cabbage thoran (chopped cabbage tempered in coconut oil with mustard, dry chillies and grated coconut), avial (a combination of eight or more locally grown vegetables simmered in the traditional uruli with curry leaves and coconut) and koottu kari (black channa, yam, yellow pumpkin and raw banana cooked with a dry-roasted coconut paste along with black peppercorn and coconut oil). If you thought this was all, then think again.

The main course will then begin with a selection of nei-parippu (Toor dal simmered with ghee) with matta red rice accompanied by delicious Kerala sambar, kalan (curd and yam, slow-cooked with a rich coconut paste and flavoured with black pepper and cumin), pappadam and rasam. The elaborate feast is incomplete without dessert options such as ada pradhaman (thick rice flakes, jaggery and coconut milk simmered with dry ginger and cardamom) and palada (tiny rice flakes slow-cooked in cow milk, reduced and sweetened). To end the meal, sambharam (tempered butter milk), cheru pazham (a small ripe banana) and jeera water are usually served.

Attention to detail

But if you thought that the attention to detail ends with the cooking of this elaborate meal, you are mistaken. As Naren Thimmaiah, executive chef, Vivanta Bengaluru Residency Road, points out: “Unlike most other festivals, for Onam, the sequence of serving the dishes is very important, right from the salt, pickles and fryums to the curries, rice and dessert.” Thimmaiah heads the well-known south India restaurant Karavalli, where, like every year, they will follow traditions this year too, to serve the Sadhya only on 8 September for lunch.

While Thimmaiah pegs the average number of dishes varying between 18 to 24, he credited the high number of dishes to not just the festive fervour but also to the Ayurvedic origins of the Sadhya that ensure that it is a balanced meal. “The pickles are digestives, while the jaggery in the payasam is also known to aid digestion. The banana leaf itself is rich in antioxidants and has antibacterial properties,” he added. Meanwhile, Mathew went on to detail some of the traditions further such as how only some of the dishes are served on the leaf before the guest sits down to eat and how the leaf is usually folded from top to bottom by the guest after the meal is over.

Evolution over time

While cooking 26 dishes is no mean task, the Sadhya has evolved with changing times. Usually a family affair with everyone joining hands to prepare the dishes, modern times and living habits might not always be conducive to the traditional, elaborate Sadhya. “There was a phase when the grandmothers and mothers [in the family] were cooking but that was followed by more women going to work, which meant that many didn’t have time to cook such elaborate meals anymore,” explains Thimmaiah, who has been in the culinary industry for 30 years. However, he credits the recent rise in eating out and the growing interest in regional food for making the Sadhya more accessible. Even if people cannot cook all the dishes at home, they can easily step out and relish the traditional food at restaurants. “More than the chefs, it is technology and social media that have helped popularise regional cuisine,” adds Thimmaiah.

If diners don’t have the time or appetite for all the courses, restaurateurs like Mathew have ensured the availability of a number of alternate options such as takeaway, Sadhya box-meals and other such combinations. “Even if people don’t have time to spend with their entire family, they don’t want to miss out on the Sadhya as it has an element of nostalgia attached to it. When they are not able to cook it at home, they can turn to us,” signs off Mathew.

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