Керальская трапеза Садья: традиции и разнообразие блюд

Traditional meal of Kerala, India

Sadya is a meal of Kerala origin and of importance to all Malayalis, consisting of a variety of traditional vegetarian dishes usually served on a banana leaf in Kerala as lunch. Sadya is typically served as a traditional feast for Onam, the state festival of Kerala and Vishu.

A typical Sadya can have about 24–28 dishes served as a single course. In cases where it is a much larger one it can have over 64 or more items, such as the Sadya for Aranmula Boatrace (Valla Sadya). Food is eaten with the right hand, without cutlery. with lime and arecanut. This helps digestion of the meal and also cleanses the palate. although a lighter version is served for dinner too. Preparations begin the night before, and the dishes are prepared before ten o'clock in the morning on the day of the celebration. On many occasions, sadya is served on tables, as people no longer find it convenient to sit on the floor. Sourcing of items/ingredients for Sadya is an elaborate and careful process to ensure quality. The lighting of the fire to prepare the sadya is done after a prayer to Agni and the first serving is offered on a banana leaf in front of a lighted nilavilallku as an offering to god. In a Sadya, the meals are served on a banana leaf. In some instances, closing the leaf toward you communicates satisfaction with the meal, while folding it away from oneself signifies that the meal can be improved. The Central Travancore style sadya is renowned to be the most disciplined and tradition bound. There is usually an order followed in serving the dishes, starting from the chips and pickles first. However, different styles and approaches to making and serving the dishes are adopted in various parts of Kerala depending on local preferences.

Pradhaman is a sweet dish in the form of a thick liquid; similar to payasam, but with more variety in terms of ingredients and more elaborately made. It is made with white sugar or jaggery to which coconut milk is added. The main difference between a pradhaman and a payasam is that the former uses coconut milk, while the liquid versions of payasam use cow's milk. Palada pradhaman is made of flakes of cooked rice, milk, and sugar. Pazha pradhaman is made of cooked "nendra" plantain or banana in jaggery and coconut milk. Gothambu pradhaman is made of broken wheat. Chakka prathaman is made of jackfruit. Ada pradhaman is made of Rice Ada (Rice flakes). Kadala pradhaman is made from black gram.