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Onam is the harvest festival celebrated by the people of Kerela. It is one of the most important days in the holiday calendar of South India. The festival is mainly meant for offering the heartfelt thanks to God for his bounteous creations. The festival continues from a minimum of four days to a maximum of about 10 days. The celebration includes various sports acitivities like snake boat races, worshipping ceremonies, fireworks, dance and musical performances. Food forms a crucial part of it. There are numerous Onam recipes. The preparation of Onam recipes are indeed exclusive form of cooking art.
The places where Onam is celebrated amidst great splendor are Kottayam, Trichur and Thiruvananthapuram . The traditional Onam recipes are mostly same all over Kerala, only the ingredients of Onam recipes and the preparations vary.
Here are some popular Onam dishes. They are,
- Idli
- Masala Dosa
- Sambhar
- Coconut Chutney
- Mor Kuzhambu
- Rice Puttu
- Vada
- Tomato Rasam
- Banana Halwa
Idli
Ingredients:
- 2cup Rice
- 1 cup Urad Daal
- A pinch of baking soda
- 11/2 tbsp Salt
- To grease the pans
Preparation:
Wash the dakl and soak them overnight. The folloing morning grind them in a mixer in a smooth paste. Also wash the rice and make a paste of it in the grinder. Mix the paste of the rice and the dal to form a batter. Add salt in the batter and keep it overnight in a warm place so that the mixture gets fermented. Grease the pan or the idly holder with the oil and fill each of them with the batter and steam over medium flame for about 10 minutes or till they all are done. Remove the idlis and if find diifficulty then use a knife. Serve them with chutney or the sambhar.
Masala Dosa
Ingredients:
- 1½ cups rice
- 1/2 cup urad dal
- 1/2 teaspoon yellow split peas
- 1 medium onion
- 2 large potatoes
- 1-2 green chili
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon oil
Preparation:
Seperately soak the dal and therice overnight. Grind them to separate paste and then mix well to form the batter. Then again keep it overnight to get fermented. Add chillies and chopped onionto the batter. Heat little oil in the pan. Spread it throughout the pan and then take a spoonfull of the batter and spread it over the pan in circular motion. Cook both the sides and the thin dosas will be prepared. Now take some oil and add the onion, mustard, peas and the other spices and fry at medium flame until the onions start becoming golden. Add the potatoes and cook till they are tender. The potato mix can be put inside the dosas and served or else can be served seperately along with the dosas. Have them hot.
Sambhar
Ingredients:
- 2 Cup Tuvar Dal
- 2 tsp. Vgetables( Drumstick,Green Pepper,Eggplant,Okra)
- 3 Green Chilles
- 3 Red chilles
- Hing
- 1/4 tsp. Methi
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- 2 tsp Mustard
- 1/4 tsp. Tamarind paste
- 1 tsp. Sambhar powder
- Curry leaves a few
- Salt to taste
- Cooking Oil
Preparation:
Mix the Tuvar dal with turmeric powder for some time and keep the dal and the water seperately. The vegetasbles should be cooked in the water of the dal. Add sald and turmeric powder to them. Then add the tamarind paste in it. Then add oil in a pan and put mustard in it and let it splatter. Add the red chilies, green chilies, curry leaves, methi, sambhar powder and turmeric powder in it and continue cooking. Then add this in the boiling vegetables. Add the dal and cook for few more minutes and serve hot.
Coconut Chutney
Ingredients:
- 1 cup grated Coconut
- 4 pieces of Garlic
- 2-3 Green Chillies
- 2 tsp Tamarind
Preparation:
Grate the coconut and add the chilli and the garlic in it. Then, put the tamarind in little water and put it in the coconut. Grind the miuxture in a mixer and the chutney is ready.
Mor Khuzambu
Ingredients:
- 2-3 tablespoons coconut
- 5 cups of buttermilk
- 4-5 green chillies
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- Curry leaves
- Salt to taste
- Oil for seasoning
Preparation:
Mix the buttermilk and the turmeric powder. If the buttermilk seems very thick then water can be added to it. Add salt and put over low flame. As it will come to room temperature, remove it from flame and keep aside. Then take oil, heat it and roast the coconut, turmeric powder, green chillis, coriander and jeera. Blend everything in a smooth paste. Add the paste to the buttermilk and cook for 4-5 minutes. Garnish with curry leaves and mustard and have it with hot rice. Never reheat this dish.
Rice Puttu
Ingredients:
- 1/2 Kg Raw Rice
- 1/2 grated Coconut
- Water to sprinkle
- Salt to taste
Preparation:
The rice needs to be soaked in water for about 4 hours. Then strain the excess waterand grind it into a thick paste. Then put the paste over flame, constantly stir, so that it shouldn’t stick to the base of the pan. A special vessel is used for making puttu and it is known as puttukutty or micro puttu. Take a handful of grated coconutand add it in the puttukutty, then put the rice powder and cover it with another handful of gratedcoconut. Fill like this till the top of the vessel and then cover it with lid and then put it in pressure and steam it. It is in deed delicious to have it with ghee and potato curry.
Vada
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup moong daal
- 1/2 cup urad daal
- 1 tsp Ginger
- 1 or 2 green chilies
- 1 Onion finely chopped
- 1/4tsp baking soda
- Salt to taste
Preparation:
Wash the dals and soak them for about 3-4 hours. Then grind the dal in a blender. Add the ginger, green chilies, baking powder and salt to the paste and keep apart for 5 minutes. Heat the oil in the pan and put a spoonfull of the batter. Deep fry it until it becomes golden. The sizzling Vadas will be ready soon. Serve them hot with chutney, Sambhar or Rasam.
Tomato Rasam
Ingredients:
- 3-4 tbsp. Red Gram Daal
- 1tsp Garlic grated
- 1-inch piece of chopped ginger
- 1 or 2 chopped green chilies
- 4 large chopped tomatoes
- 1/2 tsp. Garlic paste
- 1tsp. cumin seeds
- 1-2 whole dried red chili halved in two.
- A pinch asafoetida
- 1tsp. mustard seeds
- 21/2 cups water
- 1/2tsp. turmeric powder
- Salt and chili or pepper powder to taste.
- Few curry leaves
- Freshly chopped Coriander leaves
- 2tbsp. oil
Preparation:
Wash the dal, pressure cook it and keep aside.Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and add cumin, mustard, dery dchili asnd asfoetida in it. As the mustard will start splattering, add the tomatoes, ginger, garlic and green chilies. After that add chili and turmeric powder, salt in the pan and pour a cup of water.Cook all the ingredients on simmer for 5-6 minutes and then put the pre cooked dal and 1 and ½ cup of water to it and let it boil. Remove from the flame and serve the hot and tasty Rasam garnished with coriander leaves.
Banana Halwa
Ingredients:
- 3 medium sized ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon pure ghee
Preparation:
The ghee should be heated in a pan with a heavy bottom. Cook the mashed bananas in it by constasntly stirring it. Cook for about 10 minutes until the banas become tender and look like toffees. If it is required then one can also add more ghee. Add the sugar and stir. Lastly add nutmeg and cardamom in it and remove from the flame. The halwais prepared and spread it on a flat dish and let it cool down and then cut it into even squares.
Sigi says, enjoy the Onam with the excellent range of delectable and have a fascinating celebration.
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