Onam is around the corner and my mom (and I as well) have been feeling a craving to have a Sadhya for quite a while now… So, being the Onam season, I was looking for options to order home delivery and sadly most places only deliver on the Onam day alone… It was then that I came to know that today happens to be the Karikkidaka Vaavu day which even though is not something we observe usually being not that important for us North Keralites as it is in the south, turns out some places have been open for orders for today on account of the same… So, this time, I decided to try Deepthi’s Annapoornaa thru the new Tastetre website which essentially looks like a replacement to the old PinStove… So, placed the order yesterday for 2 portions of their Kerala Sadhya and here we are 🙂
So, from what I could gather,Deepthi’s Annapoornaa is basically a home-chef operation based in Kulathoor, Trivandrum and have been selling homemade food for quite some time and is a vendor at Tastetre as well… Basically, unable to find a Sadhya option I had posted in the famous foodie group in facebook and this was among the responses that I got that actually had Kerala Sadhya available for today… So, the food arrived as seen the pic above… I wish the rice had better packaging instead of just the open banana leaf dropped in carry bag arrangement, but can’t complain about the rest…
There wasn’t any info on what to expect mentioned in the website… However, on unpacking, as can be seen in the pics here, we got the Rice, though not as much as what we usually see when we buy two portions of meals from most places, Inji Curry, Lime Pickle, Cucumber Pachadi, Beetroot Pachadi, Pacha Moru, Pulissery, Sambar, Rasam, Parippu, Cabbage Thoran, Aviyal, Chammanthy Podi, Ghee, Salt, Two kinds of Pappadam, Banana and two kinds of Payasam – the Rice based Paal Payasam and Kadala Pradhaman… They had also included a couple of Banana Leaves for us to use to eat the meal…
So, the following pic shows the Sadhya served on one of the Banana Leaves, essentially what was served for me to eat 🙂 I must say that it does indeed look nice and vibrant… Now lets talk about the taste… First of all, the rice was cooked perfectly for me and had that nice fragrance of the Banana Leaf, having been packed in it… I loved both the Inji Curry and the Naranga Curry (Lime Pickle)… Both were made to be spicy just by the right amount… The Inji Curry had that balance of sweetness from the Jaggery used and the spiciness from the Chillies and Ginger… The Naranga Curry essentially reminded me of the favourite one I used to have in my childhood that used to be the masterpiece of my grandmother’s cousin… The two Pachadis felt fine… I don’t think I have seen a Cucumber Pachadi with the Cucumber so finely chopped… Both that and the Beetroot Pachadi felt very flavourful… The Chammanthy Podi was a surprise as I haven’t seen it being served as part of a Sadhya meal before… It was the Uzhunnu (Urad Dal) based version and felt nicely made and seasoned just right… I felt it was interesting to have with the rest of the meal… As for the Cabbage Thoran, again, I was surprised at how finely it was chopped but taste-wise, it was just like how it usually is from most places… Personally, I felt that the Thoran had a bit too much salt and Turmeric… Otherwise, can’t complain… The Aviyal was simply awesome for me… The flavours were just right and all the vegetables felt to have been cooked perfectly… Undoubtedly I think I can rate this Aviyal to be one of the best I have ever had… The two kinds of Pappadam were the regular Kerala style one and the other was the mini sized Tapioca based Pappadam that were given and the regular one was just like any other that we get in Trivandrum and the Tapioca one tasted nice with that flavour and fragrance of Kayam (Asafoetida) in it along with Black Sesame in it… Both were crispy as expected… I didn’t eat the Banana and instead gave it to my mom who loves them (I don’t)…
Now coming to the gravies, first of all, the Parippu was nice especially with that Ghee… It was the typical Travancore style Green Gram based version that I love to have with Rice… My parents did complain about it being not salty enough, but to me personally, it was perfect… The Sambar even though looked very watery, was packed with flavours of the Sambar masala and the vegetables used especially that of the Carrots, Tomatoes and Onions, along with of-course the fragrance given by the fried mustard seeds and curry leaves tempering… The Rasam felt to be equally flavourful but more on the side of the Tomatoes and Garlic, but without it being that sour and spicy like how we usually get… I felt it to be a great palette and throat cleanser to drink a spoon or two in between the meal… The only curry that I personally didn’t like that much was the Pulissery and the only reason for that was that it ended up being way too sour for my taste… My parents however did enjoy it… The Pacha Moru was nice with the flavours of Curry Leaves, Ginger and Green Chillies though again, I wish it wasn’t as sour as it was… Last but not least, coming to the Payasams, the Kadala Pradhaman felt nice with the richness and flavour of the Lentils along with the flavour of the Jaggery and the Coconut… It was indeed quite sweet with the flavour of the Jaggery being quite intense… However, not too sweet and I found it to be great especially when you crush and mix some of that Kerala Pappadam… My parents love mashing and mixing in the Banana too but I don’t prefer Bananas as you may already know 🙂 As for the Paal Payasam, all of us simply loved it… It was incredibly thick and the flavour of the Milk with the Cardamom felt quite perfect with just the right amount of sweetness… If I am not mistaken, I think Condensed Milk was indeed used in its preparation as I felt that caramelised milk taste which I love… Rice was indeed cooked perfectly and it was clear that the Rice was cooked in the milk base… There was also the fragrance of Ghee in it as well… All of us are of the opinion that this Paal Payasam was the best we have ever got from outside…
So, overall, I think that was a great Sadhya with that incredible homemade taste and feel… Both me and my parents loved it and I think we will try more from the menu of this home-chef very soon… After PinStove closed, we had been missing the various homemade food options and hopefully this new one will outlast the old one… 🙂 Anyways, feel free to try this sadhya if possible and let me know your thoughts in the comment section below…
Hi Anoop,
Thank you for ordering from our home chef. Glad to know Tastetre met you service expectations. As we at Tastetre along with our home chefs continue to grow, every feedback is an opportunity for us to know our customers and their expectations.
We hope to serve you more and do keep visit us at https://tastetre.com/