Pazha Pradhaman

Ona Sadhya is not complete without the delicious desserts, payasam and pradhaman. The diffenrence between the 2 are that pradhamans are prepared using coconut milk and jaggery (except in Palada Pradhaman) where as payasams are prepared using milk and sugar . There are different varieties of pradhamans unique to Kerala like chakka pradhaman, pazha pradhaman, parippu pradhaman, ada pradhaman, wheat pradhaman, etc.

For our Ona Sadhya, I prepared pazha pradhamn. Pazha pradhaman is prepared using ripe plantains, Nendran variety (Yellow long ones). Except for the processes of extracting coconut milk, this pradhaman is quite simple to prepare. Of course canned coconut milk saves us this task. In this recipe I have used the canned coconut milk

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Ripe plantains(Nenthrapazham) - 1
Jaggery - 1/4 cup (melt in little waster and remove impurites)
Coconut milk – 1/4 cup (thick)
Ghee - 1 tbsp


Garnish:
Coconut pieces - 1 tbsp
Cashews broken into pieces - 2 tsp
Raisins - 2 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp


Method:
Steam cook the banana untill it becomes soft.
Peel and cut the banana. Remove the seeds from the cooked banana.
Remove the seeds and mash it well using hand so that there aren't any lumps.
Heat ghee in a pan and fry the mashed banana for 5-6 mins.
Then dilute 2 tbsp of thick coconut milk with 1/4 cup water and add this to the banana being fried.
Add the jaggery and let it cook for about 8-10 mins in medium heat till the mixture thickens.
Then add the rest of the coconut milk and immeidately remove from heat.
Add cardamom powder.
Fry the coconut pieces, cashew and raisins and add this to the pradhaman.

Note: If you require more sweetness, you can increase the quantity of jaggery.

Preparation Time: About 25 mins
Serves: 2 people

Per Paramanna/ Pal Payasam

'Per' in Tulu language means Milk as in 'Pal' in Malayalam and Tamil. This is a payasam made out of milk with Rice (Anna). The third ingredient is sugar and thats all is required for making this payasam. Pal payasam is one of the delicacies, served in all the auspicious occasions in Kerala. Its prepared in every home during the Onam season as well. As children we used wait eagerly to drink the payasam...So much that, we would reduce eating rice and other vegetable dishes, to equip ourselves to drink as much as payasam we can! Village life, loads of activities...Who was worried about calories then?! Its the new lifestyle, which has replaced Food and Fun with Food and Calories!

The rice, which I'm using here is the Red Matta rice (Also called as Red rice/Rosematta Rice). We get the broken matta rice, which takes lesser time in cooking. Hence, I'm using the broken matta rice. We may use the whole grain rice too. It is a rice with high fibre content and is highly recommended by dieticians for pregnant ladies and growing children. One can skip the multi-vitamin capsules, if having Red matta rice. Such is its glory!

Ingredients:
Red Matta Rice- 1/2 cup
Milk- 4 cups
Sugar- 1 1/2 cup

Method:

Pressure cook the Rice with a cup of water and a cup of milk. After it has cooked, transfer it to a thick bottomed vessel and add the remaining milk. Also, add the sugar and let the payasam boil in medium heat continuosly for about 45 minutes. Keep stirring constantly. The payasam will attain a thick consistancy and the you will get the lovely rice aroma. Serve hot!

TIP: If you do not have enough time to prepare payasam in such an elaborate manner, then you can use Condensed Milk. After you have transferred the cooked rice-water-milk mixture into a vessel, add just 1/2 cup sugar, remaining milk and 1/2 the tin of Condensed milk. Let it boil for about 15 minutes and an equally tasty payasam is ready!

Preparation Time: 50 Minutes
Serves: 4 People

Aviyal

Aviyal is a delightful mix of many vegetables. It is a must for festivals like Onam or wedding sadhya. It can be prepared with thick gravy as a side dish or by adding more curds you can make the gravy thin to mix with rice. This is a very simple and healthy dish.

All vegetables go in it, except perhaps, some mushy vegetables like ladies fingers, tomato, brinjal, beetroot (because of the colour) , cabbage, cauliflower, radish, onion etc. Since a variety of vegetables are used for this, you require only small quantities of each of them.

The wonderful aroma to this dish comes from the coconut oil. So the oil cannot be substituted.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Vegetables cut lengthwise around 2" pieces - 2 cups
(Vegetables like Yam, Raw banana, Cluster beans, Carrot, Snake gourd, Beans, Drumstick, etc can be used)

Curds (lightly sour)- 3/4 cup
Grated fresh coconut - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 3-4
Coconut oil - 3 tbsp
Curry leaves - 5-6
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt

Method:
Grind the coconut and green chillies using little water and keep aside.
In a vessel put the vegetables and add enough water to just cover the vegetable. Add turmeric and salt and boil the vegetables till just done. The vegetables should not be overcooked.
Add the coconut mixture to the boiling vegetables. Then add the curds. Finally add the curry leaves and coconut oil and toss till the vegetables are coated with the coconut and curds mixture.
As mentioned earlier, if you want the gravy to be thin, you can add more curds. Adjust salt accordingly.
Serve as a side dish for dosa, chappathi or poori or as main dish for rice.

Preparation Time: About 20 mins
Serves: 3-4 people

Onam

Onam, the harvest festival, is the most popular festival of Kerala . It is celebrated in the Malayalam month of Chingam(between August 15 and September 15) to honor of King Mahabali. The celebrations last for 10 days, starting from Atham or Hastham. The tenth day after atham is Thiruvonam. It is believed that on the last day, King Maveli (Mahabali) visits Kerala. Hence the day is marked by feast and festivities. Intricately decorated Pookalam, delicious Onasadya, Snake Boat Race and the Kaikottikali dance are some of the most remarkable features of Onam.

The delicious part of Onam is Onasadhya. 'Onasadhya' is the grand feast served during the celebration of Onam in Kerala. It is served in Banana leafs. There is a way of placing the leaf and an order of serving the dishes. Rice is the essential ingredient of this strictly vegetarian meal. All together there are 11 essential dishes which have to prepared for Onasadya. Number of dishes may at times also go upto 13.

Back home on thiruvonam, me and my sister would decorate our front yard with flowers from our own garden and have a sumptuous Onam sadya prepared by mom. Here since onam was on was on a weekday, I could not prepare a elaborate onasadhya. But we will try to post the recipes of dishes. This months posts are dedicated to Onasadhya. Below are the some of the dishes prepared. (Click on the links for the recipes available. The rest will follow soon.)

Olan
Aviyal
Erissery
Kalan or Pulisseri
Thoran
Koottukari
Sambar
Pachchadi

Rasam
Payasam
Prathaman
Nendran Chips/ Banana Chips

Sharkara varatti/ Sharkara upperi
Pickle (Achaar)

Amaranthus (Dantu soppu) Pachadi

Pachadi is a very simple dish prepared using Yogurt and Coconut. It can be prepared in few minutes yet is really tasty and is soothing for the stomach too. We have a huge choice of the vegetables which may be used for preparing Pachadi. Okra, Brinjal, Potato, Cucumber (Requies no cooking at all...just grate it and use!!!), Capsicum etc...

I'm using Amaranthus . It was my Mothers idea to try out pachadi with these leaves, unlike the Sasmi (recipe coming soon) which we always prepare. It definitely is worth a try and is a very healthy dish for sure.

Ingredients:
Chopped Amaranthus leaves- 4 cups
Oil- 1 tsp
Urad dal- 1 tsp
Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Red chilly- 1 (Broken into peices)
Curry leaves- Few
Yogurt- 2 cups
Salt to taste

To grind:
Grated Coconut- 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
Green chillies- 2-3
Curry leaves- Few

Method:
In a pan, heat oil. Add Urad dal, Mustard seeds and Red chilly. When the Mustard seeds start to splutter, add the Curry leaves. Now add the Amaranthus leaves. Sprinkle some water and cover with lid. Let it cook. The leaves will shrink to less than half their volume upon cooking...[so dont worry if you have huge quantity of leaves :) ]. Once its cooked, remove from heat and let it cool completely. Meanwhile grind the above mentioned ingredients to a fine paste and mix it with yogurt. Once the cooked leaves mixture has cooled down, add it to the yogurt-ground paste mixture.

Mix well. Season with salt and enjoy with Rice.

Preparation Time: 20 Minutes
Serves: 4 people