With just a day left for Mahabali to visit Chennai, restaurants and catering units are busy cooking the special Sadya. Keralites living in Chennai are joining hands with Chennaiites to celebrate the festival Onam in a grand manner. Like we all know, the Sadya, the feast of this 10-day festival, is served during the celebration of Onam in Kerala. Now, we have different catering units and restaurants to deliver the delicacies of sadya at your door step on the day of Onam. Usually, sadya is cooked at home with friends and family visiting each other and sharing joy. Women in Kerala prepare 24 dishes ranging from upperies to payasam, all cooked at home for more than 20 people. In Chennai, a lot of Keralites and Chennaiites prefer to stay at home and feast on their sadya, but they take a different route. For housewife Prema Gunasekran, a Keralaite, the festival is an opportunity for her to cook up a feast at home, but her work comes in the way, allowing her to cook only for a limited number of people. This year, she will be cooking for 10 people. “Almost 24 different dishes are cooked for the Sadya and I usually cook at home. But this year, we are planning to order the Sadya from a catering unit nearby. It is less time- consuming and we can invite more than 20 people to celebrate this festival,” she says.Many catering units in the city have an array of authentic delicacies that are included in the Sadya. Maya Catering unit in Ashok Nagar is preparing 18 dishes for Onam at a cost of `175 per head. From different vegetable preparations to fried items and different pickles to the popular payasams, Ada Pradhamam and Vermicelli, Maya will serve for 300 from customers across the city. Joel Christopher, a banker at Citibank, says, “Though I’m not from Kerala, I generally visit my Malayalee friends and have the Sadya at their homes. But this time, I might order or visit any Kerala restaurant and celebrate Onam with my folks in Chennai.”Doveton Cafe in Purasaiwalkam will also be serving the Sadya at `100 per person at their restaurant. With 20 dishes, the restaurant also has home delivery services. “The customers have to place their order the previous day or a week prior to the festival. We have 20 items packed neatly in plastic containers that can be delivered to any part of the city,” says a representative from the restaurant. Also, this year, the members of the Malayalee Club in the city will be missing out on their annual Onam Chanda and Sadya, that is usually celebrated with a lot of fanfare. “Malayalee club is under renovation. So, a small get together has been planned at the Asan Memorial School. Also, we have Sona Caterers delivering special Paalada Payasam for all the guests on the school premises,” says Nandagopan, president of the club.[email protected]
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