Popular wedding caterers of Chennai are setting up kitchens for selling traditional sweets for Deepavali

Celebrate Deepavali with traditional sweets and savouries from wedding caterers of chennai

The atmosphere at SVR Marriage Hall is celebratory, though there is no wedding. Popular wedding caterer LV Pattappa and his team are working tirelessly, taking orders, handing over the tokens, and packing Deepavali bakshanam (traditional sweets and savories) for customers. “I have been organising the Deepavali mela for the past 38 years,” says the celebrated 76-year- old cook who caters to over 160 weddings in a year. He adds, “It gives me immense pleasure to meet, greet and reconnect with our customers. This one week event brings people together and we provide breakfast, lunch and snacks along with coffee for everyone here... the celebratory ambience makes everyone cheerful.”

The team begins from scratch with each recipe, so their 250-plus staff work for eight to nine hours everyday during the mela. Balaji, Pattappa’s son explains that all their sweets and savouries are handmade, so they only prepare limited quantities. He adds that quality control is stringent: “We have masters who are assisted by two helpers each. My father and other senior cooks check every batch before packing.”

Pattappa, despite his advanced age, is in charge of preparing their signature sweet, badam halwa. He says he makes 150 kilos of it everyday. “This is a sweet that has to be prepared with care, it has to be cooked to the right padham (consistency) and without using excess ghee,” he says, scooping out a generous dollop of the still warm delicacy and handing it over to us for a taste.

Balaji says that this year they have had an overwhelming number of orders from corporate clients. As always he adds, “there are also a huge number of enthusiastic elderly people who visit so they can courier bakshanam for their children and grandchildren living abroad“. Try their bestsellers, which include jangri, ladoo, mysore pak, and ribbon pakoda. Also sample their thirattipaal (traditional milk sweet made using full fat milk, ghee and jaggery) and nukkal (whole cashews dipped in sugar syrup) which are relatively rare. Pattapas has also launched a podi range this year.

At SVR Marriage Hall (formerly Hemalalini Kalyana Mandapam),  272, Avvai Shanmugam Salai, Royapettah. On till November 11, 10am to 9pm. Overseas and domestic courier is done. 9840184546

RK Venkatesan of Sri Sastha Catering Services who conducted a live sale counter last year at a wedding hall has decided to prepare the sweets and snacks at his 10,000-square-feet central kitchen in Porur this time. At this central kitchen, his 25-plus staff work with masters who prepare sweets and savouries. Each master is assisted by two juniors. “I hire temporary staff (about 80 of them) for Deepavali season, sabha canteen and for weddings,” he says. Venkatesan says he makes approximately 13,000 kilograms of assorted sweets and 7,000 kilograms of savouries during this week. “Most of the sweets are made using ghee, we end up using 1,650 kilograms of ghee and 236 litres of groundnut oil to prepare this volume,” he says. Despite the tiring work, this is a festive time for the staff as well. Most caterers give a cash bonus to their staff, along with new outfits for their entire family, fire crackers and of course sweets and savouries.. “As a good majority of them prefer to go back to their native town or villages to celebrate the festival with their families, I give them leave for few days and hand over the bonus for permanent staff as well as cash incentive for temporary staff,” says Venkatesan.

“Due to heavy rains predicted ahead of the festival, I decided not to hire a venue, instead I am taking pre-orders from customers and delivering at home,” says Venkatesan, adding that their ladoos, including the maa ladoo, rawa ladoo and boondi ladoo, are especially popular. They are also known for their kai murukku, special mixture and kara sev. Venkatesan says that the process to make the sweets is complex. “It has to be done carefully as the margin of error is high,” he says, adding, “Especially, while making mysore pak, if the consistency goes wrong, the entire lot cannot be sold.” Over here, they make sweets that are smaller in size, so that the number of pieces per kilogram is more. “As we distribute sweets to friends and neighbours, keeping the size smaller is economical and there is value for money,” he says.