By manjulabharathkumar@gmail.com
I am so excited to share this vazhaiillaivirudhuwhich I thoroughly enjoyed cooking. We lovevazhaiillai saapadua lot, hailing from Chennaiwe never used to miss having meals in banana leaf when we were in India. Recently My mom and masipulled out Tamil saapadu for 20 people at my mom’s place and I was only one missing. My hubby was highly tempted just by hearing about the saapadu and so I had to make this Special virudhufor him. Nowadays even in a marwadiwedding, we have started to include a function for Tamilsaapadu.In my last visit for my bro’s marriage, we made Tamilsaapadufunction at home, when we wore pattusaree and men wore pattuvesttipattusattai and fully south Indian attire. It was so much fun dressing up and enjoying the saapaduwith Family. Ok now coming to the Virundhu I made, This is not the first time am making a banana leaf platter as you all know. I need to tell the story behind the green banana leaf I got from a restaurantnearby. A restaurantnearbygets their banana leaf from India which was so fresh and shameless went and asked if I can have one banana leaf please, The chef laughed and enquired why I needed 😛 I then had to tell him and then he gave me the banana leaf with so much excitement, it feels so good to find fresh banana leaf in foreigncountry . Thanks to the chef who had a big heart to give me a banana leaf.
It took me 3 hours to plan and cook this saapadu. I had few more in my list but hubby came and stopped me 😛 idhuvepodhumma (in tamil). I never plan my thali recipes ahead It is a day before night or early morning, the first thing I do is go and check the fridge and plan my meal accordingly with whatever veggies are available. If I have plans for making thali I do stock my fridge with most important veggies beforehand. So for this Virudhu, I asked hubby what he wanted me to include and I included some from my end. I made a list of the menu and started with my cooking nonstop.Remembering my home science days were we used to get 3 hours deadlineto make a full course meal starting from a soup to dessert, our teacher would start telling us to wind up before halfan hour and start with the cleaning. So it was 2 1/2 hour of cooking full course meal, Plating, garnishing gourmet way ( at least try to plate clean :P) and cleaning up our dishes and kitchen counter in half hour. Though I was very slow back then, I used to complete somehow.I will stop my ramblings here and start with the menu.
Today’s thali or Banana leaf platter is called as Thalai vazhaiillai( means banana leaf) Virudhu ( means feast) or saapadu( means meals). Hope I have served it right as there is some traditional way to serve.
Menu
- Starting with salt (uppu)
- Pickle ( urukkai)
- Masala Vadai
- Potato Bonda ( Urulai Bonda)
- Yam Fry ( Senai fry)
- Raw Banana Stir fry ( Vazhaikai poriyal)
- Potato Roast ( Urulai Roast)
- Cabbage Kootu ( Kosu Kootu)
- Cluster beans paruppu usli ( Kotharanga paruppu usli)
- Beans Carrot Stir fry( Beans Carrot Poriyal)
- Paruppu
- Sambhar
- Snake gourd Kozhambu
- Urundai Kuzhambu
- Rasam
- Poosnikai Mor Kuzhambu
- Rava Kesari
- Rice
- Appalum
- Banana
Senai Kizhangu Fry
My Mom makes yummy Senai fry and I learned to make this from her. The recipe is very simple and it is easy to make as well. Me and my brother as kids used to fight forSenai kizhangu fry , my mom used to measure and serve so that we get equal amount 😛 See how crazy we were. My daughter has become a fan of Senai fry after me, this is getting hereditary now.
Hope you enjoyed reading this Thalai vazha illai saapadu or virudhu post.. Do leave your valuable comments.
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Vaishali saysHats off ! I can never cook anything elaborate without planning . In fact I almost plan my daily meals too . Being a Rajasthani you have adapted the Chennai culture very well and your post depicts it . Loved the Thali , It sure is awesome !
- Manjula Bharath says
Thank you so much di ? A thali queen ? herself complimenting me means a lot ????
- Usha says
Wow, so you saved the best for the last! Now this looks like classic Manjula’s style thali! Hats off to your patience! Agree with Vaishali, sometimes seeing your cooking pics on Insta, makes me wonder if you really or a Marwadi or a Tamilian. A stranger would think the latter. Anyways, kudos to you girl for this scrumptious virtual saapadu .
- harini says
Stunning thali there. The traditional sapaadu is mouth watering and I cannot think of serving such an elaborate meal .Hats off to your instant planning and patience.
- Renu says
Wow you cooked so many dishes……..The thali looks mouth watering…….even I am searching for banana leaf…The shops do sell but they are not fresh enough …
- sapana says
Omg, that is an incredible looking Tamil spread. I am just scrolling up and down and drooling over the pics.
- Gayathri Kumar says
OMG! This is an amazing feast Manjula. You have taken thalis to a new level. Making these many in three hours is really a super woman kind of work.
- Bhawana says
I am almost fained after looking at the thali? since when you started cooking and had this thali. such elaborate thali I can only imagine myself in cooking. Kudos.
- Priya Suresh says
Almost fainted seeing your thali, just a breath taking thali. How can you cook like this Manju, seriously tell me how to be organised to prepare this much varieties of foods. Amazing and hats off to you to come up with this incredible thali.
- Priya Srinivasan says
OMG manju, that looks spectacular manju!! kudos to your efforts!! nothing can beat vazhai ilai saapadu!!! staying away from india, i always long for this kind of meal!!! i keep telling my family, somebody get married so we can get to eat kalyana saapadu!!!:)
- Jyoti Babel says
Such a lovely spread. I am only imagine to cook such an elaborate meal! hats off to you
Sema… Kalakeeteenga ponga… Edu podum enaku edu podume… (I hope you know this song from Kadal movie) Awesome virundu and liked the idea of Tamil Saapadu in Marwadi wedding. 🙂 🙂 Yummicilious spread and eating it on a banana leaf is heaven…. That’s virundu is a food heaven, food coma for sure. 🙂
- Srivalli says
Manjula, I knew something major will come when you signed up for Thalis and this surely keeps it to that level!..What an awesome spread..nice reading about behind the scene in your family, so lovely to adapt to a new culture and make the best of it…enjoyed drooling over it..
- Pavani says
Oh my Manjula, I am speechless on your skills of making that elaborate meal in just 2.5 hours. KUDOS. I can never in 100 years years make that many dishes–ever. LOVE your passion for cooking and for your loving family for helping you plan the menu and also for enjoying this feast.
- Sowmya says
Whoa! What a thali….despite being a Tamilian I haven’t cooked such an elaborate thali yet. Kudos to you. Each and every dish looks fabulous and lip smacking!
- Sushma Pinjala says
Awesome, I can never cook so many varieties in 1 day. Thali looks amazing. Yam fry looks too good.
- Chef Mireille says
we already know you’re the thali queen but you have outdone yourself with this spread!
