'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