Onam in Coimbatore: – The Hindu

Karthiyayini@Kovai

On Vishakam, the fourth day of Onam, one of the most dynamic days of the 10-day Onam festival where quiet households bustle with energy, and some serious culinary groundwork for a grand Onam feast kicks in, I am enjoying a special sadya at Karthiyayini Kovai. There is pavakka thoran, vendakka pachadi, pineapple madhura curry, payaru curry, and the prerequisites including pappadam, payasam, sarkaravaratti and the tangy and lingering injipuli.

“Every day, we will add two new dishes to the sadya experience. Our pookalam at the entrance will keep growing bigger too with a variety of flowers as the days progress. For example, for the fourth day, it is four colours of flowers. Onam is for 10 days, starting from August 18 to 27 with Thriuonam on August 26. From Uthradam (August 25) a grand flower carpet will take over,” says Jerin Rajan, who leads the Coimbatore operations of Karthiyayini, run by the Kochi-based couple, Jajina and Vinoo Vijayan. While it offers a Kerala-style lunch complete with fish fry, fish curry and an impressive range including crispy tiger prawns and squid roast marinated with kanthari or birds’ eye chillies, special Onam dishes have been added to the lunch menu till August 27. “We wanted to celebrate Onam with Kovai as it will be a new experience for people here,” explains Jerin as he fondly recalls memories back home in North Kerala.

Crab roast, prawns fry, Tharavadu fish fry, kalanji fry and karimeen can also be ordered
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Special Arrangement

“It meant a get together of family members on vacation at tharavadu (ancestral home) and having a good time. I remember my mother, aunts and uncles begin work with chopping vegetables as early as 3.30am to get the sadya ready for lunch. We cut banana leaves from the banana plant in our parambu. With all my cousins, we made pookalam with flowers available in our backyard, sometimes even using leaves. And the best part was the oonjal (swing) to swing away after a hearty feast.” As serving sadya can get tedious, the Onam spread is offered as a takeaway on August 26. “When there’s more crowd and waiting time takes away the thrill of festive vibe. Thiruonam is all about having a good time over a good sadya. And the best option was a takeaway,” explains Jerin adding that as always coconuts, coconut oil, and spices, and home-made chips and sarkaravaratti come from Kerala while the vegetables are sourced locally.

Onam meals at Karthiyayini Kovai
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Special Arrangement

“We start preparations the previous night so that it is packed and ready for delivery from 9am onwards on August 26. A few members from the Kochi team will be here to help us. We will open the hall entirely for our staff for Onam lunch and ring in the festivities with games post lunch.” The sadya also brings together the best of North and South. “In North Kerala, particularly in Calicut, on Uthradam, mutton curry or fish fry is part of the sadya. We are adding a slice of the North Kerala experience. People can also order crab roast, prawns fry, Tharavadu fish fry, kalanji fry and karimeen,” says Jerin. The sadya with paal payasam and adapradaman paired with the delicious boli, a part of signature Thiruvananthapuram sadya rounds off the complete Kerala Onam sadya experience.

Karthiyayini Kovai is at Kings Complex, 44/2, Sungam Bypass Road. A full sadya as takeaway has 24 items including mambazha pulissery, Ambalapuzha payasam, adapradaman, and boli. Priced at ₹799 but limited to a batch of first 500 customers. It will be ready for pick up from 10.30am onwards on August 26. There will be no dine in on August 26. Bookings close on August 23. Call 7339623222/9605495767.

Rasanai, Coimbatore

The sadya has as many as 28 dishes
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Special Arrangement

The mood is festive at Rasanai, located on Avinashi Road, with doors and windows decorated in fresh yellow marigold garlands. But the best part? A hearty sadya spread with 28 dishes. I enjoy sambharam, spiced butter milk and bite into crisp parippu vada as steaming hot kuthari choru (red rice) is served on my plate. I enjoy a portion of rice, first with parippu curry and ghee and then with olan, a flavourful stew prepared using ash gourd, red cow peas and coconut milk as base. There is sweet injipuli, beetroot pachadi and pineapple kichadi, both sweet and tangy, mildly tempered pumpkin erissery and more.

A line up of classic Kerala preparations including thoran, mezhukkuperatti, kaalan, pachadi, and kootu curry are available
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Special Arrangement

An overwhelming response to the sadya last year prompted to team to kickstart festivities early on with the sadya being served at dine-in and takeaway till August 26. While every region in Keralam, from Kannur to Kottayam, has a different take on sadya, especially the preparations and the number of dishes, the team has picked the best from across to pull off a grand festive feast. They tried a variety of sadyas at Thrissur, and also at Ernakulam, to showcase dishes from across the state.

The feast begins with the traditional accompaniments of salt, upperi, sarkaravaratti, chakka chips, pappadam, injipuli, mango and lime pickle, mulaku varuthadhu, and idi chammanthi. A line up of classic Kerala preparations including thoran, mezhukkuperatti, kaalan, pachadi, and kootu curry turns my Onam platter into a visual treat. I get my fix of kalan, made with raw banana and yam cooked in a coconut flavoured yogurt gravy, a must have for the festive sadya and the avial, a mishmash of vegetables cooked in curd and ground coconut seasoned with curry leaves and coconut oil. While the kootu curry is made Thiruvananthapuram-style, pulissery and kaalan are made in Thrissur and Kozhikode style. Most other dishes are from Kochi belt.There is also add-on non-vegetarian starters, including prawn ghee roast and kandhari kozhi to choose from.

I round off my sadya with chakka pradhaman, a delicious coming together of ripe jackfruit pulp, coconut milk, jaggery, and generous amount of ghee.

At Rasanai, Lakshmi Mills compound, Avinashi Road. Onam sadya will be served till August 26, both dine-in and takeaway. Pre-book your tables and takeaways in advance. Priced at ₹1205 per person for dine-in and takeaway at ₹1675 that serves two. Along with sadya, diners can also order add ons like prawns fry from a curated menu. On August 26, only sadya will be served on dine in. For reservations, call 7540022333

Friends Catering

Every year for over three decades now, senior cook Ramakrishna Iyer has been travelling to Coimbatore from Palakkad a week before Onam. Ramakrishnan’s sambar is said to be legendary, so is his paalada paradhaman and aviyal. He comes with his team of cooks, all of whom specialise in Palakkad food, to whip up Onam sadya for Friends Catering in the city. “He is almost 80 years old and continues to head our sadya preparations,” says R Subhashree, daughter of CV Radha Krishnan, who started the popular wedding catering service 40 years ago.

Friends is known for its elaborate sadya featuring 20 dishes, including kaalan, olan, aviyal, thoran, vellari pachadi, sambar, rasam, and kootu curry. “Ramakrishnan is up by 3am on days sadya has to be made,” says Subhashree, adding that he is very disciplined when it comes to cooking. “He starts his day with a prayer. Only then does he step into the kitchen,” she says. Ramakrishnan’s team of 40 cook 4,000 meals a day for Onam. This year, sadya is available from August 22. “There are 60 people for packaging and serving guests alone,” says Subhashree.

The Onam sadya by Friends Catering, Ramnagar
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Special arrangement

People who have had Friends’ paalada paradhaman often ask if the creamy richness is from adding condensed milk. “But it has nothing but milk, sugar, and the adai, which is made from scratch,” says Subhashree. The dessert is prepared over two days. The first day is dedicated to steaming the adai that is made with rice flour. “The team ‘writes’ on banana leaves with the flour and water mixture, which is then steamed,” she says. “These are then cut using a mesh-like equipment.” On day two, adai is cooked with mammoth quantities of milk and sugar that is let to simmer in a traditional Kerala uruli. The result is the stuff of dreams.

Another highlight of their sadya is the paruppu pradhaman, made with moong dal, jaggery and coconut milk. “Thick coconut milk is the main ingredient here,” she explains. While the sadya by Friends has more or less remained the same over the years, Subhashree says they once used to make the pazha pradhaman, a dessert that has ripe nendran bananas, jaggery, and coconut milk. “The other two desserts always have more takers and hence this one has been dropped,” she says.

Come Onam and their kitchens are enveloped in the sweet smell of coconut and jaggery and milk simmering in massive urulis. It’s a feast for the senses, one that makes all the carbs worth it.

Available from August 22 to August 26 at Subhashree Hall, Ramnagar. The dine-in sadya and take-away is priced at ₹550. For group bookings, call 9363939456