Onam Sadhya- What all Goes On The Leaf & The Way They Are Placed

HAPPY ONAM TO ALL THE READERS!!!

While, the games, dances and cultural festivities are great to watch and admire during the Onam celebration, what most people look forward to is the Onam Sadya.

Onam Sadya- the lavish vegetarian feast served on a fresh plantain leaf. The sumptuous meal centers around rice and over 21 vegetarian dishes, which may even go up to over 60 if you’re lucky to have some expert chefs are around!

But the following are the must-serves on the plantain leaf:

• Parippu curry: Moong dal/lentils cooked with grated coconut and spices with drizzled ghee
• Sambar: Dal-based curry with vegetables, spices, tamarind
• Pulissery: Spiced, aromatic cooked buttermilk with turmeric, vegetables and sometimes, fruits
• Rasam: Spiced, seasoned, tamarind, pepper and chili-based broth
• Olan: Curry with white gourds, yellow pumpkin, coconut milk and coconut oil
• Kaalan: Plantain, tuber or yam-based spicy-sour curry with yogurt and coconut
• Pachadi: Mildly spiced, the yoghurt-based dish made with vegetables or fruits for a cooling effort
• Kichadi: Curd and cucumber dish served raw or cooked
• Avial: Mixed vegetables in thick, seasoned coconut paste
• Thoran: Sauteed vegetables with grated coconut
• Paapad: Thin, fried crisps made of dough
• Injipuli: Tradition pickle paste with hot, sour and sweet elements to aid digestion
• Erissery or Koottukari: Vegetables, black chenna, and coconut
• Sarkara varati: Banana chips coated with jaggery, ginger and cardamom powder
• Achaar: Spicy pickles of mango or lime
• Paal Payasam: Kheer made of rice and milk
• Semiya Payasam: Kheer of vermicelli and flavored with cardamom, raisins, cashew nuts
• Parippu payasam: Thick kheer of fried dal and jaggery and flavored with cardamom, raisins, cashew nuts, and fried coconut bits

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OHHH!!! How one’s mouth waters!!!

• But let’s take a quick look at the tips to remember for Onam Sadya:
• The narrow part of the plantain leaf has to be placed pointing to the eater’s left side
• The dishes are served to start from the top-left corner of the leaf
• Order of the items served: small yellow banana, sharkara upperi, upperi, pappadam, mango pickle, injipuli, lime pickle, thoran, olan, avial, pachadi, kichadi, erissery/koottu curry and salt are placed in order on the upper half of the leaf
• Rice: bottom center of the leaf
• Main items: parippu, sambar, kaalan, rasam, paayasams. in that order
• The items are served in that order to primarily aid easy digestion of the heavy meal