For me, all of it started a long time back, long before I was born. Around 34 years ago, a shy girl dressed in a pink sari appeared before a young man and his family, blushing self consciously as she felt all eyes on her. Their families allowed them a few minutes alone, to talk and get to know each other. He asked her her name (he already knew the answer), asked her where she had studied (he already knew the answer) and what she had studied (he already knew the answer). She looked at him surreptitiously as she answered, but as was appropriate for the time, did not ask him anything. She did see his overly large moustache, and I wonder if she made a mental note then and there to get him to trim it (after marriage, of course) if they were to get married.
You may have noticed that all the onam vibhavangal I shared with you till now have mild flavours and taste, and are soothing to the stomach. But the malayali (especially the non vegetarian) has been brought up on some seriously fiery stuff, and he is of the opinion that any food cooler than a forest fire is bland.
In the traditional Onam Sadhya, the Puli Inji and achar (pickles) come to the rescue. Served in small quantities on the upper left half of the banana leaf, they provide a nice kick to the meal. A touch of these will suffice with each ball of rice you eat; as such they are called thottu kootan. Another kind of thottu kootan is the Pachadi. It is not hot (in my opinion), but it is a heady mix of sour and sweet flavours - sourness from curd, and sweetness from the fruit or vegetable you use and ground coconut.
Beetroot Pachadi
Pachadi is mostly made of vegetables or fruits such as bitter gourd, mango, pineapple, beetroot which are boiled or sauted in coconut oil with green chilies and onion and sometimes coconut. Oil is tempered with mustard seeds and curry leaves and finally curd is added to the sauted fruits/vegetables.
Over 600 varieties of rice are grown in the extensive paddy fields that dot the state of Kerala. Not surprisingly, rice is the staple food of the malayali. It finds its way onto breakfast plates in the form of puttu, idli, dosa and appam; forms the main course for lunch and dinner with some curries on the side; and rice forms a main ingredient of several savory snacks and sweets.
Onam is a festival to be celebrated at home, home as in Kerala, with the rest of the family. My mom has been telling me in very enthusiastic tones about the girls and boys dressed in traditional kasavu saree, pattu pavada, kasavu mundu and juba, the increased rush and traffic in town as people go about their Onam shopping, the sales and offers everywhere; and I feel a twinge of regret that I am not home. Though I have never laid a pookalam (floral decorations), or participated in singing and dancing, or lighted crackers, or seen any vallam kalli (boat race) as part of Onam celebration, I have never missed an Onasadhya. An OnaSadhya is a lavish feast of 20 to 30 vibhavangal (dishes) served on a banana leaf; tropical vegetables of all kinds, steamed, sautéed or fried, mostly with coconut in some form or the other and curry leaves; parippu (cooked lentils) and ghee, sambar (lentils and vegetables cooked with spices), rasam (tangy tomato based soup), pulisseri (sweet and sour curd based curry), erissery (pumpkin and coconut curry) etc to soak up each serving of rice; pulli inji (sour ginger relish), pachadi (fried vegetables and sour curd) and achar (pickles) to add a hot kick to the meal; ettaka upperi (banana chips) for a sweet and salty crunch and a variety of payasam and pradhaman (white and dark milk puddings) to round off the meal. It is impossible not to enjoy the explosion of flavors and tastes that make up this lavish spread. And equally enjoyable are the futile efforts of many as they try to sit themselves in a cross legged position on the floor before their banana leaf (they shift to a dining table making lack of space an excuse, or almost lie down on the floor as they eat), the arguments whether salt should be served on the left side or the right side of the leaf, and the dire warnings to children that they should eat everything served on their leaves or else Mahabali would be displeased. (Read more about Mahabali and the Onam legend here).
