Monday 16 September 2013

'Ona Sadhya' & my rattlings on Onam !

I know I am a bit late here at my space, but better late than never coz the sun has just rose at some part of the world, so all my kin & kith out there celebrating Onam, 'Wish you a very happy Onam & a glorious year ahead'. Onam has always been a memorable time for me right from childhood. When I was young it was about holidays & when I grew up it was about food. And somehow it was always easier for me to talk or write for a pretty good time about Onam starting with 'Onam is the harvest festival of Kerala. It spans for 10 days & usually occurs in the month of August or September!' Now that's what Onam actually is, but for me it has struck a slightly deeper & different chord. I have always been amused when I think about it from that point of view !

It's one festival that I have seen people really thrive to be with their extended family & spend time together - be it in dicing up veggies, prepping up for the sadhya, lining the courtyards with lovely patterns of flowers & leaves or just discussing the current issues or catching up with each other ! Spirits do go down when they can't make to their hometown for an Onam hols. And what do such souls do? They do have associations which chirp in together & have the 'Ona Sadhya' & the innumerous games & programmes like Vadamvali (pulling the rope) & Kaserakali (Musical chair) to name a few ! All these feels & conveys one of the commendable aspect of the natives of 'God's own land' - their sense of oneness & their undying faith in the age ole adage 'Kanam Vittum Onam Unnanam' (You have to eat the Ona Sadhya even if it is by selling your land)

Onam 2012 - back in Kerala

Still in confusion on how to make this pookalam beautiful with the limited flowers in hand


Finally, this is what we managed !!

So moving on from my rattlings, we did celebrate Onam this year in our own small way, with whatever we could muster up. This time we had to celebrate here in Norway & couldn't get to fly back home like we did last year :( So we had a mini Ona Sadhya served in lovely plantain leaves, the traditional way. Luckily I found a pair of leaves last week from the Asia shop, it did cost me a bit but c'mon it's Onam & I wanted to gather up all that I could to make it feel as homely as it could be. But sadly, I could not find enough ingredients to make some 'Aviyal', the must have dish for any Sadhya as Deeps puts it. And also Ada for making Ada Pradhaman & that's when google gods helped me. Me & Deeps prepared some Ada yesterday. It was so exciting to do that from scratch ! Pineapple Pachadi was also prepared by Deeps & stacked up yesterday night. And Puliyinchi is from my Mil, which we got when we came back from our vacation. And the rest all was prepared today morning by me ! I did forget to get some bananas, but still the platter looks good, right? I didn't get enough time to take individual pics of the different dishes, but then maybe some other day? Do let me know if you would like to see any of the particular recipes here & I would prepare & post them soon :)




Dishes in order

  1. Pappad
  2. Manga Achar (Mango Pickle)
  3. Naranga Achar (Lemon Pickle)
  4. Puliyinchi
  5. Ishtu (Stew)
  6. Pineapple Pachadi
  7. Mathanga Erissery (Made with Vanpayar/Red Cow Peas instead of Tur Dal in recipe) 
  8. Cabbage Thoran
  9. Achinga Payar Upperi (Long Beans Stir Fry)
  10. Rice
  11. Rasam
  12. Pulissery
  13. Sambar
  14. Palada Pradhaman

Cheers,
Chitz

50 comments:

  1. That's a yummy sadya ! Lucky u , got the plantain leaf ! Happy onam Chitz !

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    2. Thanks Shree & wish u too a Happy Onam :)

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  2. Love the various dishes in plantain leaf.. Beautifully arranged.. Pookolam look simple and nice effort with limited flowers..

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  3. Wow........what a beautiful spread! Happy onam.

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  4. nice write up...lovely spread !!!Happy Onam

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  5. Happy Onam dear,lovely post and delicious spread.

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  6. Pookolam looks very cute and nice. Love the Onam sadya, wonderful and u got a banana leaf awesome...

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  7. Loved the expression of the second pic. :) hats of to u for making such an elaborate Sadya..l too made a sadhya but had contributions from Nisha ....li wanted to make Ada payasam but since I didn't get Ada I made parippu pradhaman and semiya.so when u get time pls post the Ada from scratch recipe. :)

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    1. Thanks Vinee :) Ohh ok, sure, I will post the ada recipe soon then :)

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  8. happy onam chitra. nice post and loved the food on the banana leaf

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  9. Amazing and delicious spread on the banana leaf. I just love each one of it. Happy Onam to you too.

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  10. lovely spread in banana leaf,that too celebrating there,great,happy onam

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  11. Wonderful spread in vazhaiillai...Happy Onam Dear

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  12. Happy onam.........
    x❤x❤
    http://indianveggiesbhojan.blogspot.in/

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  13. Adipoli sadhya and love the way u prepared everything.
    U even got a plantain leaf in Norway no wayy!!
    Made sadhya mini one though now feel like a perumpaambu :)))

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    1. Thanks a lot Meena :) Yes dear, luckily I managed to find some last week in the local Asia shop :) Satyam, even I felt like a pambu the whole afternoon yesterday ;)

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  14. this is really awesome, chitra... hats off to you! to make so many things at one go is definitely not easy and it is really a commendable job... :) love that second pic with the hand on the head, "sheda... eni eppo enthu cheyyum?" look... hehe...

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    1. Thanks a lot Rafee :) Haha, yes, that was our exact vikaram that day !

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  15. Wonderful Spread Chitra! And I am envious of the banana leaf that you got...couldn't find it anywhere here..though I managed to make some aviyal yesterday!

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    1. Hehe, luckily I managed Kaveri to get hold of some banana leaves :) And now I want some aviyal, pass me some from Netherlands :)

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  16. childhood festivals r the best!! .. those pix luk awesome nd sadya..yummm!!
    Ongoing Event-Back 2 School

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  17. very very beautiful pookalam and fabulous platter dear :) you have taken great efforts and the food looks so inviting :) am drooling here :)

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  18. Such a cute pookolam and ur onam sadya is just breathtaking, so much foods..drooling..

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  19. Happy Onam (slightly belated though) Chitz!, your onam spread looks beautiful even without Avial :-)

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  20. beautiful pookolam and wonderful sadhya, love it...

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  21. Happy Onam Chitz, the sadya looks delectable... I made sadya too but don't have a decent pic for the blog :( was too busy gobbling all the food hehe ;)

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  22. B'latd Happy Onam dear........... beautiful pokkalam .....Sadhya z awesome.Kudos dear....

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  23. Amazing spread dear ! loved the write up too ! Hope u had a lovely Onam ! love the pookolam too :)I'm still deciding on what recipe to ask for it,everything looks good :)

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  24. love this post...nice pictures and glad to know about this event

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  25. Wonderful spread! I am sure you had a lovely Onam.

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  26. oops..sorry me too reached here late..really, liked the "confusion theerkanamae " picture around the pookalam. It is one different feel, ella..being back home during onam time. i missing it for ages now. but atleast, hee..we do have lots of functions, so its fine...kids too get the feel. And the sadhya..wow !! so humble n lovely...gud job dear. Hey, drop by pick quicks when u get time ok..:)

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  27. Lovely clicks and an inviting spread Chitra :) And hey, would be great if you could post making that ada pradhaman from scratch :)

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