Its finally Onam today and ofcourse thanks to COVID-19, #CorOnam and #VeettilirunnOnam have been trending for the past couple of weeks or so… Having loved the Pothichoru by Spicehaus very much, when I heard that they were taking orders for the home delivery of their Onam special Sadya, I decided to convince my mom to take a much deserved break and placed the order for the three of us… The food came neatly packed in cardboard boxes accompanied by the Banana Leaves to serve and eat the Sadya, as can be seen in the pics below…
For those who are not aware, the Sadya meal of Kerala is a vegetarian feast that we Malayalis cook and eat for special occasions and Onam is the biggest festival in Kerala and we do make and eat the Sadya for it every year… Fyi, the Sadya is considered as the greatest and best tasting Vegetarian Meal in the world… Anyone who says vegetarian food is not good enough is guaranteed to change his/her mind after trying this…
Now coming to this Onam Sadya by Spicehaus, each portion of the Sadya I received, contained Rice, a small dollop of Ghee, Sharkaravaratty, Kayupperi, Banana, Poppadom, Inji Curry, Maanga Curry, Lime Pickle, Erissery, Pineapple Pachadi, Beetroot Pachadi, Kaallan, Koottu Curry, Olan, Cabbage Thoran, Aviyal, Parippu Curry, Sambar, Rasam, Pulissery, Pacha Mooru and then Paalpayasam, Parippu Sharkara Payasam and a Boli, as shown in the pics below… Everything arrived quite warm and so the overall fragrance was amazing… You can imagine how it was when we opened the rest of the packs 🙂
Now coming to taste, just like the pothichoru, loved every bit of this… Everything was seasoned so perfectly… Not too spicy but incredibly flavourful… I really can’t find words to accurately describe the Inji Curry as it turned out to be the best one I ever had with great flavour of Ginger… Both the Maanga Curry and Lime Pickle were nice where in both, the sourness from the Raw Mango and Lime respectively were really well balanced with the spiciness… The Erissery with the Red Cowpeas and pumpkin was a nice balance of sweet and savoury… The Pineapple pachadi is a sweet component usually included in Sadya to help the eater mellow down the spiciness of everything else… Definitely one of the best Pineapple Pachadis I have ever had (right next to the one I had from Villa Maya I think)… The Koottu Curry was definitely a bit different than the one I being a Thalasserian is used to, but I still loved it, especially the taste of that garam masala in it… The Cabbage Thoran tasted clean and pretty much exactly like the one I got previously as part of their Pothichoru (minus the beans ofcourse)…
The Olan with the Red Cowpeas was nice too although I felt that maybe those Cowpeas was a tiny bit undercooked… Otherwise, no complaints on the flavour… It has been a while since I saw the Coconut Milk based Olan (Mom usually makes the version without the Coconut Milk that we Thalasserians call as the Thondolan using Cucumber, Long Beans and Garlic)… The Aviyal had a nice combined aroma of all the vegetables used in it along with the Coconut, Turmeric and Mango, Curry Leaves and Coconut Oil too… What I loved the most among these curries I mentioned so far, apart from the Inji curry ofcourse, was the Kaallan… I didn’t expect it to be made with Mango at all as most versions I have had just had plantain in it… This one reminded me of my favourite side-dish of all time called Mambazapulissery as the taste was so close to it but yet not quite either which is ok cause its a Kaallan afterall 🙂
Now coming to the “Ozhichu-curries” or the liquid curries meant to be mixed with the rice, I loved the Sambar, which was the same Sambar that they gave me with the Pothichoru… Perfectly balanced and clean flavours… The Rasam made with Tomato, Onion, Pepper and Coriander was awesome to drink on its own as thats how I prefer having the Rasam and the same goes for Pacha Mooru and Pulissery as well… The Parippu curry was surprisingly thick and it tasted awesome when mixed with the rice and the Ghee… Ofcourse the Upperi and Sharkaravaratty were good as always with the Sharkaravaratty being crunchy just to that right amount where we won’t have any dental risks… 🙂
Last but not least, the desserts ie, the two Payasams and the Boli… I felt that the Boli was nice… Just sweet enough and flavourful… The Parippu Payasam was awesome… Quite thick and sweet with the flavours of the Lentils and Jaggery along with the rich flavour of Ghee… However, the Paalpayasam didn’t quite work for me as I felt it wasn’t made properly… I would suggest the chef to review its recipe for next time…
So, overall, I felt this to be a fine sadya that I can recommend to anyone and I do hope that Spicehaus continues to do this again whenever possible… The only hitch was the Paalpayasam but other than that, I can say that this ended up being one of the best tasting Onasadyas I have ever had from Trivandrum and the pricing for this was also very affordable and considering the taste, a great bargain too cause I have seen Sadyas sold for higher rates having both quantity and taste as not even close to this one… Hoping to try again next time and kudos to the team who pulled it off… 🙂