Finally, Onam festival is here; to put it plain, it is basically that time of the year when kids are excited and start dreaming about having for them a pair of new dress. Or may be, Oman festival strikes in that time of the year, when you wake up in the morning to see the dew drops still hanging on the leaves and the rarest of rare flowers fully bloomed and ready to be plucked! Onam also falls in that part of the year, when the paddy fields here in Kerala is all decked up enveloping the landscape in greenery and so are the kitchens in houses, small and big, bustling with activities galore - coz, the Onam celebration rounds up with a very impressive and sumptuous treat called Onam Sadhya/Feast, the most looked forward to event!

This year Onam fall on September 2nd and 2009 Onam is going to be a lil’ different for me; all these years, wherever I used to be, I had always managed to hit back home and be there at least to enjoy the final day celebrations, simply coz, I didn’t want to regret for the whole year of not having been able to taste my mom’s Onam special recipes and my grandmom’s onam special payasam (sweet porridge). But, as I told, this year, it is different; I am away from home and is put up somewhere up in central India where not even the slightest tint of Onam festival celebs are seen or experienced!

Sad, but I have decided to make it happening here! My menu for the Onam feast is ready by now, what is left is the final pick and throw :). We have decided to call upon a few of our peers here, non-keralites, but are so damn crazy for a typical Onam feast in banana leaf.

My Onam Breakfast Menu –

I am planning to kick start the final day of Onam, which is Thiruvonam, with a typical onam special breakfast, this includes –

Steamed Big Bananas With Pappadam

I still savor the taste of it, when at my dad’s ancestral home, we kids used to have this craze for this breakfast dish. It is rather simple – all you need is to get ta few hose big yellow bananas (nenthrapazham or ethapazham). Cut the bananas into 2-3 equal parts and then steam them for about 10-15 min. There is no need to remove the peel.

To fry the pappdam (some sort of a flatbread which gets crispy when deep fried), heat enough oil in a pan and deep fry.

Now you take one banana piece a time, remove the peel, when still hot and then cut open the banana piece, if required take the veins off and roughly mash it. Take a pappad or two and then again powder it roughly with your fingers on top of the mashed bananas and then just mix it up. Make small balls of the banana-pappadam mixture and then simply savor it! I am just so crazy about it!

Onam Special Lunch Menu –

(1) Plain boiled rice
(2) Palakkadan Style Sambar
(3) Aviyal (mix of vegetables in curd and coconut)
(4) Pulinji (made using tamarind extract)
(5) Rasam
(6) Buttermilk
(7) Thoran (sauted vegetables)
(8) Elisseri
(9) Achar or pickle (often it is preferred to be cut-mango)
(10) Fried pappadam

And Payasam (sweet porridge)

Also, I have sketched a design for the beautiful flower carpet to add zing and color to the whole celebration; now all what I am worried about is will my doggie let the flower carpet stay there for long in my living room!  Also he will be the only one around, who wouldn’t be enjoying the whole feast, coz Onam Sadhya is supposed to be all-veggie kind!

So advance Happy Onam wishes to all!

P.S - Pls check back for the missing recipes, as I will be uploading them with the pictures. Also, I will be uploading the flower carpet images too, look out for it! :)

Image Credits - www.annshomestay