Sundown at Vellayambalam turns the thoroughfare into a foodies’ haven with food trucks, sarbath vendors and small eateries lighting up the street. A stone’s throw away from the roundabout, tucked between an eatery dishing out piping hot dosa and a sarbath store, is Makachiyude Paayasakada. Behind the counter of the little stall stands Makachi herself, serving warm ada pradhaman, paal payasam and vermicelli payasam, She doles it out of large steel vessels to customers who keep arriving one after the other.
So who is Makachi? “That’s me. Makachi is my pet name,” Preetha Pushpam quips shyly. It has been two months since she, along with her husband, artist Rajesh Thankachan, opened the wayside store and Makachi’s delights have already gained admirers.
Something sweet
Most of the customers are foodies who come to have a cup of sweet delicacy after dinner from one of the food trucks or eateries at Vellayambalam and Althara Junction. “Food trucks around here sell really spicy food and everyone loves to have something sweet afterwards. There are sarbath shops here, but many enjoy having something more homely than the sweet drink. So I have got a lot of regular customers already, a great thing so early on,” Preetha says, as she entertains a group of friends enquiring about the payasams.
A cup costs just ₹20 and it’s delicious. Jaggery-rich ada pradhaman is mouth-watering without being overtly sweet. This is the same with other payasams as well, with paal payasam being the pick of the lot.
Preetha changes the menu regularly and on odd days serves the rare papaya and chena (yam) pradhamans. “Those are made exactly like the regular pradhaman. I mash the papaya, then mix it with ghee and off it goes into sugary, creamy milk. There is nothing particularly difficult about it. Ada is still the hardest to prepare,”she adds.
A side-business
The preparation starts at around 2 pm everyday. “So that the payasams are served warm. If I prepare it too early, it will go cold by the time we start selling it,” Preetha says. They take bulk orders as well and often sell boli as well. However, the couple are not too keen on expanding the menu as they want to focus on payasams.
Preetha, who used to work at a telecom company store in the city, quit her day job a few months ago and was working from home. However, the freelance work didn’t bring her the desired remuneration and that’s when she turned to payasams. “Eateries are a dime a dozen. So we didn’t find any point in investing in another one. But there weren’t any street joints that sold payasams.”
On weekends, the couple usually go back home with empty vessels, often well before the closing time at 11 pm. But on other days, they have to wait a little longer to sell the last cup.
For now, the business is brisk, and, if all goes well, we might see a bigger Makachiyude Paayasakada as the couple hopes to open a bigger place to upgrade their sweet venture.