Shibu Sudevan stirring the halwa
| Picture Credit score: Sreejith R. Kumar
Does Thiruvananthapuram have a signature halwa? Sure, it has. It was a social media put up that took me to Kadakkavoor, practically a one-hour drive from the town, the place a household has been making and promoting selfmade halwa for over 4 many years now.
At Chekkalavilakom junction, behind the now-defunct Kadakkavoor market, is Sheeja Nivas, the place Shibu Sudevan is carrying ahead the legacy of the halwa enterprise began by his maternal grandfather, Gopalan Natarajan.
With an enormous ladle, two males are taking turns to stir the halwa in an uruli (large brass vessel) once we attain Halwa Veedu, as Shibu calls it now. “That is the primary batch of the day. Normally, we begin by 5am and it takes no less than 5 hours to get the halwa in the appropriate consistency. Right this moment, we’re working late. As soon as we take this out, we’ll begin getting ready the second batch,” says Shibu.
Damaged wheat-based halwa with jaggery and sugar
| Picture Credit score:
Sreejith R. Kumar
Gopalan, who ran a resort and had a catering enterprise, used to arrange this halwa for capabilities, together with weddings. When he handed away, his spouse, Premalatha Natarajan, and their daughter, Sheeja Sudevan, took over. “It was troublesome to proceed the catering enterprise and so we determined to focus on the halwa. That was in 1995,” says Premalatha. In 2013, her youthful son, Shajan, took over. Just a few months in the past, he moved on to begin a separate halwa outlet. That’s when Shibu, the elder one, who was working in Dubai, got here again to run the enterprise.
“I’ve been watching my grandfather at work since I used to be 12 and I couldn’t simply let it go. That’s why I made a decision to return dwelling and preserve the enterprise afloat,” says the 46-year-old Shibu.
(From left), Shibu Sudevan, his mom, Premalatha Natarajan, and his sister, Sheeja Sudevan
| Picture Credit score:
Sreejith R. Kumar
The halwa has two variants — the darkish chocolate-coloured halwa with jaggery and the sunshine brown selection with white sugar. The remainder of the components are the identical — damaged wheat, rice flour, cashew nuts, ghee, oil and cardamom. “There is no such thing as a refined flour, which is often used to make halwa,” he explains.
Watch | How is Thiruvananthapuram’s signature halwa made?
Damaged wheat is soaked for 2 hours within the night. Then it’s floor properly and strained to get the milk, which is stored apart for six hours. “It’s then combined with rice flour and sugar or jaggery syrup and cooked within the uruli. We preserve stirring it with out a break to forestall it from sticking to the underside of the uruli. Coconut oil, ghee and nuts are added at totally different phases of the preparation. Cardamom is added simply earlier than it’s taken off the range,” Shibu explains.
Shibu Sudevan
| Picture Credit score:
Sreejith R. Kumar
Premalatha recollects that her father had learnt this preparation from Thirunelveli, well-known for its halwa.
Fifty to 100 kilograms of halwa is ready each day. “It doesn’t have a protracted shelf life just like the one made with refined flour. It should keep contemporary with out refrigeration for 3 days. Nevertheless, it turns into onerous as the times go by,” Shibu says.
Throughout competition seasons, particularly Onam, no less than 1,000 kilograms of halwa are made and the boys work in a number of shifts to fulfill the demand.
Common orders come from these travelling to West Asia, or from households in and round Kadakkavoor and the close by Anchuthengu village. “There was a dent within the orders for weddings over time as a result of caterers want to serve ice lotions or muffins or different desserts to halwa,” says Shibu.
Whereas the jaggery-based halwa prices ₹180 per kilogram, the sugar-based one is priced ₹170 for a kilogram. It is going to be delivered throughout Kerala. Contact: 7025000425, 7306653872