Vishu heralds the beginning of the New Year and almost all Hindu homes wake up to the sight of ‘Vishukani’, an auspicious occasion to welcome new beginnings. Vishu falls typically in the middle of April that is the first day of the Malayalam month ‘Medam’. Vishu is a popular and significant festival among Hindu Malayalees. It is also an occasion to pay homage to Lord Krishna for all the blessings. In every household the elderly ladies arrange the Vishukani on the night before the festival. Kani literally means ‘first sight’ and the lady of the house blindfolds the members of the family and leads them to witness the Vishukani and pray to God that the coming year be full of blessedness, wealth and prosperity. The Vishukani setting consists of auspicious things like golden cucumber, rice, golden lemon, metal mirror, religious texts, yellow konna flowers, coconut cut open, betel leaves, coins or currency notes, oil lamp and an image of Lord Vishnu. Another tradition followed is ‘Vishukaineetam’ where older family members gift younger members with money along with their blessings.
Now it’s time for the main agenda of the day, the traditional vegetarian ‘Sadya’ served on banana leaves. The Vishu Sadya is almost similar to a wedding sadya and the meals portray the splendour of cookery skills. The sequence of service is from left to right of the leaf. The feast starts off with a ‘raw mango pickle’ and the delicious ‘Puli Inji’ a sweet and hot ginger chutney. Banana chips hold an integral place and you will find a thoran dish usually beans or cabbage with generous quantity of coconut. The ‘kalan’ and ‘olan’ dish follows close behind. No Sadya is ever complete without ‘avial’, a combo of vegetables and kerala ‘papadam’. Many Sadyas also feature ‘Erisseri’ and ‘kootu curry’ also. Rice is first served with dal and ghee followed by sambar, rasam and thick buttermilk towards the end of the meal. The Sadya ends on a sweet note with one or two payasams.
Looking for Vishu Sadya Recipes? Now, here are a few that we hope would get you started for your Vishu celebration. If there is something that you are looking specifically for, reach out to us and we will definitely share those Vishu recipes in another post.
You can explore a few Vishu Sadya Recipes here that will help you celebrate the occasion:
- Sharkara Varatti for Vishu:
Sharkara Varatti is an indispensable and most popular item in Sadya and almost all festive occasions. The traditional and tasty snack dish is unique with thick plantain chips, deep fried in oil and coated in jaggery mixture.
Try the link here: https://www.pachakam.com/recipes/sharkara-varatti
- BananaChips for Vishu:
Banana Chips are a favorite crunchy and crispy snack, one of the indispensable dishes in Sadya. These traditional Bananawafers are undoubtedly the most popular snack all over India, especially in regions of Kerala, where these yellow bananas grow throughout the year. Sliced raw plantains are fried in hot boiling oil to a golden yellow color.
Try the link here : https://www.pachakam.com/recipes/banana-chips-kerala-special?swcfpc=1