JOIN USHome businesses see busiest Onam catering season in three years
After almost two years of simple celebrations, Bengalureans are looking to celebrate Onam with much gaiety by making Onam ‘sadya’ (lavish meal) bookings. City home chefs and businesses are getting more orders this season.
The main day of the 10-day long festivities observed as Thiruvonam, is on September 8. The sadya will include items like upperi (banana chips), sharkara varatti (deep-fried banana in jaggery) and puliyinji (sweet and sour ginger, jaggery and tamarind sauce), varied curries, and some side dishes. Rice, salt, pickles, bananas, and a variety of payasams (sweet dish), are other items in the sadya.
Jayakumar
Mom-daughter duo
The Daily Dish, a home kitchen run by Hannah and mother Sumathi Jayakumar, served sadya in 2021, and has come back with a feast consisting of 23 items. The venture is located in Jeevanbhima Nagar.
Making all the dishes takes a lot of effort and time, says Hannah. “We will start chopping and dicing vegetables at 4 am, for the lunch orders. Our pineapple pachadi was a hit last year and is a part of this year’s meal too,” she adds.
Hannah says that a lot of enquiries have come from new people, especially from the Bangalore Foodies Club on Facebook. “Our WhatsApp broadcast list has also attracted many customers by reference. We have got more enquiries than last time,” she says. A choice of rice is available. The sadya is priced at Rs 600, plus delivery charges. They are taking bookings till September 6.
Call: 99866 11110
Special sambar
Venus Menon runs a home kitchen Adukkala108, located in Mahadevapura. The sadya she is offering has more than 20 items, including two payasams — parippu payasam and palada payasam. There is also an option of getting the sadya with just one payasam.
Started in 2020, the kitchen is seeing increased enquiries, compared to the last two years. The sadya includes a special sambar, she adds. “The sambar I make takes more time to prepare. Unlike the more commonly available version, this includes roasted coconut and freshly grounded masalas. I am also preparing pumpkin and beetroot pachadis this year,” she says. Bookings close on September 5. The meals are priced at Rs 850 and Rs 950 respectively.
Contact: 82966 12242, 96325 01958
Chefs from Kerala
Home-based kitchen Vidhus Catering in GM Palya is offering a feast with 21 items. The venture was started two years ago by Srinivas Sundaram, and this is the first time they are offering the grand meal.
Apart from references by regular customers, orders are coming in from corporates and apartment complexes. “We are bringing in special chefs from Ernakulam, Kerala to prepare the meal,” he adds. The sadya is priced at Rs 599, with extra charges for delivery by Dunzo. The kitchen closes bookings on September 4.
Call: 94483 96412, 70226 65101
Bulk orders
Purple Plate catering, located in Veeranapalya, run by Paul Subhakar, is offering two sadyas — one with 16 items and the other with 22 items. The larger spread includes palada pradhaman, pazham pradhaman and boli. “We are getting bookings from apartment complexes. We have a dedicated team preparing the lavish meal,” says Paul. A minimum of 30 orders have to be placed.
The smaller sadya is priced at Rs 375 (for less than 75 packets), and Rs 350 (for more than 75). The larger sadya is priced at Rs 425 (for less than 75 packets) and Rs 375 (for more than 75 orders).
Call: 96204 34805
Sweet treat
The KR Puram zone of Kerala Samajam, a Malayali organisation, is selling two types of payasams this season. Reji Kumar, general secretary of the organisation, says that the response has been much bigger than in 2021. “The payasams will be made by freelance chefs,” he says.
Call: 99029 49601, 81232 36985