ONAM SADHYA

ONAMSADHYA

                                                           

Every state in India have harvest festival for Punjab its Baisakhi ,for Tamil Nadu its pongal ,for Assam its magh bihu and for Kerala it's onam. It falls in the Malayalam  month of Chinga. Malayalees (native keralites) all over the world celebrate onam to welcome their king mahabhali. All festivals revolves around delicious food and onam is no different but instead of one or two special dishes onam is celebrated by a platter of of traditional dish called onamsadhya

The traditional Onamsadhya used to have 26 items However, at present, this has been reduced to less than fifteen.

It begins with an elaborate plating that is a visual feast in itself. Sweet, spicy, tangy – you name it – every flavor and texture is present in the onamsadhya, including a small banana at the end to wrap up the sadhya, just before one moves on to taste the special milk dessert of Kerala – payasam, which is cooked in different ways from region to region and community to community

Sparkling clean banana leaves are placed with their tapered ends facing the left. The placement of each curry follows a specific order and is followed while plating. On the banana leaf, a potpourri of different dishes with varying flavors are served in a specific order, with the mound of piping hot rice at the centre and a dollop of ghee-flavored “parippu” or dal occupying the right hand corner.

Generally, the first ball of rice is savoured with this dash of golden colored parippu, following this piping hot sambar is poured into the rice and then it is mixed with other ingredients.

The much anticipated dessert “payasam” is served at the end of the sadhya on the banana leaf itself. It is a tricky affair to savour this traditional milk dessert without messing up the leaf. Many people opt to taste the dessert in a glass instead. However, many die-hard foodies say this does not taste as delectable as it does when payasam is served on the banana leaf