Does Thiruvananthapuram have a signature halwa? Yes, it has. It was a social media post that took me to Kadakkavoor, nearly a one-hour drive from the city, where a family has been making and selling homemade halwa for over four decades now.
At Chekkalavilakom junction, behind the now-defunct Kadakkavoor market, is Sheeja Nivas, where Shibu Sudevan is carrying forward the legacy of the halwa business started by his maternal grandfather, Gopalan Natarajan.
With a huge ladle, two men are taking turns to stir the halwa in an uruli (huge brass vessel) when we reach Halwa Veedu, as Shibu calls it now. “This is the first batch of the day. Usually, we start by 5am and it takes at least five hours to get the halwa in the right consistency. Today, we are running late. Once we take this out, we will start preparing the second batch,” says Shibu.
