I am... Vijayan C.P. - Sadya cook

Vijayan C.P. Photo S. RAMESH KURUP

“My brother Unnikrishnan C.P. has been preparing sadyas, mostly for weddings, for over 40 years now. I have been working with him for close to 35 years. My brother taught me everything I know about the job. A newcomer begins by chopping vegetables and gradually moves onto bigger tasks. Now, my specialty is making payasams, mostly paal ada.

If there is a wedding the next day, we begin work by 3 p.m. the day before. We start by getting vegetables ready and then move on to making pickles and fries. By the time all this is done, it would be past 10 p.m. at night.

We take a nap for couple of hours and are up again by 2 a.m. to prepare the spread. We have around 40 people to assist us. We begin our day by making the curries which will last a while and then move onto make the rest. A standard wedding spread will have at least 21 dishes. For bigger, elaborate ones, we make 24 dishes. It will have four kinds of fries and more curries. There will be olan, so too stew, there will be a kichadi to a pachadi and also three varieties of payasam. The third payasam will mostly be something like

nei payasam which is served in smaller quantity.

It takes about four hours to make payasam. We make the

ada the previous evening. Once on fire, the payasam will change colour from white to slightly pinkish only after three hours. The job requires a certain amount of physical strength, for one has to stand beside an urali for long. Now, it is mostly youngsters who make the payasam. We have heard of instances when the person making a dish has fallen into the urali. So it is better that physically fit youngsters are at it.

Fruit payasams are the rage now. People ask for payasam made of pineapple, pumpkin, carrot and even mango. My brother gives me instructions and I follow them when we are trying out new sweet dishes. Generally, if we are using vegetables in a payasam, we have to add more sugar to get the desired sweetness.

In the past, it was a regular sight to see people having three or four cups of payasam. Now most of them restrict it to one cup. Also the quantity of food people have has come down considerably. Earlier, the norm was to clean up the banana leaf. Now, most side dishes are left untouched.

Cooking a feast, as far as I am concerned, is a matter of confidence. One should not dilly-dally, contemplating the amount of salt to be added.

One masters cooking only with abundant practical experience. As far as I remember, we haven’t committed any big goof-ups. My brother always says the difficult part is not making the feast, but setting right something that has gone wrong. For instance, someone may accidently add salt twice. Then we have to replace half the quantity and then start again.

Earlier, there were instances when things would fall short. But now people mostly give a correct estimate. If there is shortage, we cook things like rice again. Those like payasam and side dishes will be served in smaller quantities.

Things won’t go wrong if you cook from your heart. It is a matter of shame for us if a feast goes awry. There is no second chance in a wedding feast. We are not at peace until those who hired us compliments us. A sadya is branded good if your sambar, payasam and avial is spot on.”

As told to P. ANIMA

(A column on the men and women who make Kozhikode what it is.)