Banana sheera, a special prasadam served during Satyanarayana puja

In between takes, he would keep eating snacks and offer others the tasty homemade munchies in the sets of the serial Kappi. Though our serial never got completed, I got to work with fine actors, who gave me a share of lifetime memories.

Giri started his acting career as a child actor in Kannada movies; later, he assisted his father, the noted producer and director Dwarakish. 

TV changed his life overnight, especially, with his success in serials like Aadigaran, Roja and Kolangal. The film Ivan Thanthiran has opened the door for quite a few movies he has signed now. Giri loves to cook both vegetarian and non-vegetarian — cooking forgotten recipes that are handed down from generation to generation fascinates him. He even advises on menu planning for his friend’s restaurant in Munnar. Discussing food with him is like opening a treasure trove without any bottom! He loves his mother's cooking. Coming from a traditional family, he follows all the traditions his family has been observing, especially, the kind of food cooked for prasadam.

The actual meaning of prasadam is derived from the Sanskrit word prasada, which is considered a spiritual state, as explained in the Vedic literature. Prasada is a mental state experienced by gods, sages, and other powerful beings and is marked by spontaneous generosity and the bestowing of boons. It is an offering made by a human devotee to the divine and could be in any form. The cooked form is called naivedya, which is offered after puja and then shared amongst all present. No major puja is complete without prasadam and Giri recollects that Satyanarayana puja would be celebrated in his house every full moon day. He loved the puja because naivedya was also made for it. Banana sheera was a must for this.

In Giri’s village Chitradurga in Karnataka, there was a legendary person called Onake Obavva — it is said that her favourite offering to the god was banana sheera. It has always been a tradition every month on full moon day to offer thanks to the god by doing a Satyanarayana puja and the food cooked for it was special. There will be mixed madhwa kootu, Mysore Pak, kosambari, potato curry, Mysore rasam, curd rice and banana sheera or kesari in Tamil. Banana sheera is a tradition from the Vijayanagar times as the bananas grown there were considered auspicious. Today, I am sharing Giri's banana sheera recipe.