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Dishes should be eaten in a specific order and combination
Today is Thiruvonam, the tenth day of the countdown to Onam – an annual cultural festival marked by the Kerala people. Many restaurants in the UAE celebrate the day by serving Onasadhya (translation: Onam feast), a three-course meal of over 20 items served on a banana leaf. Today, we decipher the feast, what to offer and how to eat it.
Sadia (Feast) aims to activate all one’s taste buds by offering sweet, sour, spicy, salty and rich curries. The leaves themselves are divided into upper and lower parts. The top half is where all the curries are served and the bottom half is where the rice is served.
The dishes served to the tip are condiments such as salt, sliced bananas, sharkaravaratti (fried banana slices coated with jaggery) and pappadam. These are often considered appetizers that people eat as other sadias are being served.
Next, serve various pickles such as lime and mango. Kimchi is very good for gut health. Like puliyinji, this is a dark brown sweet and sour curry made with ginger, tamarind, green chilli and jaggery. Eat a whole banana, as it helps neutralize acids in food and aids digestion.
The rice served with Onasadhya is usually cooked Kerala matta rice (brown rice). When steaming rice is served on banana leaves, the aroma and accompaniment waft into the air. Enough to make anyone drool.
The first step is to eat a portion of the rice with parippu (dal) and ghee, which provides a good mix of protein and fat. The turmeric in parippu is said to neutralize any unwanted oxidants. The fat in ghee aids in digestion. Some people like to eat their pachadi with this. With yogurt as a base, vegetables and a dash of mustard and chili, this curry is very nutritious.
Next, diners are encouraged to dig a small hole in their rice pile and pour in the sambal. Made with different kinds of vegetables, piping hot sambal combines a variety of spices to make a delicious curry.
aviyal is a blend of more than 5 vegetables, yogurt-based, flavored with coconut oil and curry leaves. thoran is a dried vegetable made from vegetables such as broccoli cabbage. These are usually eaten with sambal.
erissery, another nutritious side dish, usually made from squash; kottu curry, made from two or three different vegetables and red beans; dried vegetables, usually beans; kichadi, made from cucumbers, to help with hydration ; Oran made from winter squash, black-eyed peas and coconut milk adds flavor and nutrition to Sadia.
Acidity stabilizers are mambazha pulissery, rasam and moru (buttermilk). Made from ripe mangoes, pulissery is mild, rich, sweet and spicy. Rasam is made from tomatoes and spices including asafoetida to help control acidity. Buttermilk is usually eaten after payasam (dessert) to aid digestion.
The final dish is payasam or dessert. Depending on the location, two or three types of payasam are offered. These are usually served on leaves or in a cup. “It’s usually best to eat the lighter payasam first, then the darker,” says Roy Pothan, corporate chef at Calicut Paragon. “Some people like to eat their pappadam with payasam. Their bananas are mixed into this mix.”
Some people like to save a handful of rice after payasam to remove the sweetness in the mouth. This rice is usually mixed with buttermilk and eaten at the end. At the end of the meal, fold the leaves and enjoy a glass of pink water. This is called karingali water and is boiled with herbs to aid digestion.
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