The sadhya is a meal designed for a king. And rightly so. After all, as per legend, the origin of Onam sadhya — a celebratory meal of over 25-odd dishes (64 if you are having the Vallasadya version) was to commemorate the beloved Demon King Mahabali and his golden reign. The Gods in fact had to conspire against to bring an end to his era of absolute power. But on earth, his reign has been associated with a period where the Tamil Kingdom prospered and lived in abundance. Food was aplenty and well provided to the populi that even smaller gains like a sale of land, selling of a property or a good harvest would be celebrated with a lavish meal of sadhya. Thus, leading to the popular Malayali phrase Kaanam Vittum Onam Unnanam roughly translated as even if you sell your property, you need to have the Onam feast!
There is of course another legend where the origin of sadhya has been attributed to Parasurama, who is said to have created the state of erstwhile Kerala by throwing his battle-axe in the sea. Thereby curating a kingdom that was rich with flora and fauna and was worth its weight in gold — or as wise men back in the day would say, “a land that grows in abundance.” Those in the know, however, credit the Chera dynasty and its rulers, especially King Vel Kezhu Kuttuvan to not only ring in
the Golden era for Kerala but also transform Onam, a 10-day long harvest festival that was celebrated more as a community festival across the little villages, into a national event complete with the grandeur of boat races, special prayers, cultural events and of course, a feast called sadhya.
An immersive experience
Fascinatingly, sadhya, which traditionally means a banquet, was designed to be a culinary sensation — not only with the number of laborious dishes that showcased the ingenuity of the traditional cooks of Kerala but as also one of the finest examples of Ayurveda based meals. The curation of this formal meal that soon became a part of diplomatic tables was done at three levels. First was food, where the meal had to showcase the variegated dishes, after all, it was the Janam Bhoomi of Ayurveda; two, the concept of plating — each dish in the sadhya has a designated space and reason behind; and third, the style of dining, which according to Samhita is conducive not only for easy digestion and portioning but also the art of eating with hands which makes the feast, an immersive experience that works for the mind and soul as well.
This multi-dimensional thought process behind sadhya is the reason why many take a shine to the formal meal in an instant. It also explains why in spite of the over 25-odd dishes with the standard practice of innumerable refills never leaves us feeling stuffed, heavy, or discomforted. In fact, amongst all the formal meals in the country, the sadhya remains one of the healthiest. So how does sadhya, a celebratory meal, achieve it? With local ingredients, which include the oil used in making the food that generally is peanut oil for cooking and coconut for
tempering unless a dish specifically calls for it. Secondly, the clever tempering and combination of produce that gives each of the delicacies its unique nutritional code.
Take, for instance, the thoran, olan, pachadi and avial. While all of them are flavoured with some form of coconut — grated flesh, milk, or both — just by changing the tempering and the combination of vegetables, each dish justifies its presence. Avial is a quick stir-fried dish that is an antioxidant powerhouse; while olan, thanks to the use of gourd and coconut milk, has this cooling, laxative and diuretic effect along with fibre and when had along with rice works at cranking up the digestive process.
The puli inji, a sadhya must and a popular relish, is great for its anti-inflammatory properties, while manga kari or pickle is a probiotic addition. The sambar and rasam too are great formats of Umami and when combined with unpolished rice that is rich in mineral and glutamate, not only digests well but breaks the food down in phases to create this feeling of satiation long after the meal.
A feast that digests well
A similar role is of the chips or varuthath along with appalam that is served with the meal, which lends the crunch mouthfeel and is vital at improving the gut health and soothes the mind thanks to the layer of fat in it. The payasam, which is served towards the end of the meal along with the buttermilk (sambharam) though may seem like contrast work in sync to first calm the mind — a response that we often address as tripti — and then crank up the digestion process. This is why sadhya is often called “a feast that digests on its own”. To enable that to happen seamlessly, the layout of sadhya was designed. Given that most Indians eat food with the right hand, sadhya too was designed to be had from right to left and the positioning and portioning were done as per their functionality, and also as a guide to how the feast is enjoyed traditionally. A reason why salt is kept on the extreme left as you would need it the least; rice in the middle and the in seasonal varuthath on the top — but there is no rule as to how you would like to eat a sadhya.
So prolific was the making of the sadhya, which often is made of some of the most laborious delicacies of the Kerala culinary ledger, that people were specially trained in this art with two communities mastering it: the Namboothiri and cooks of Palakkad. Even today the sadhya made by these communities is considered the finest in Kerala. After all, it was the Namboothiri who standardised the sadhya’s format by turning naalu (four) curry, erissery (fried), kaalan (sour), olan (neutral) and madhura curry (sweet) as essential mains of every feast while varutha upperi (banana fries), uppalittathu (pickles) and pappadam formed the essential side dishes. They also started the tradition of serving the payasam before buttermilk.